Endling Extinction is a game I found, and decided to play on a whim. Despite knowing nothing, it's fairly obvious what sort of game it's going to be. Those expectations were matched, it's a game where you play a mother fox protecting her cubs. It uses the inherent cuteness and lovability we have for little animals to tell a message on animal cruelty and environmentalism. However what surprised me was just how harsh the world of this game is. Playing with my partner, we were sweating and screaming multiple times desperately trying to avoid or run from encroaching hunters. Our decision to name our cubs (John, Johnathan, Jardani and Baba Yaga respectively) immediately attached us to each cub, and the game set it's stakes early on. Realizing the cubs were in very real danger, and might not make it out of the game alive made the game's dangers tense and terrifying. To the point of my detriment sometimes, as I didn't explore as much of the world in the first half as I would've liked, being too afraid to venture too far from home or take risks.

As the game's story progressed I found myself taking more and more of an interest in trying to figure out the clues it was giving me, and piecing together the background events of this world. The game surprised me with it's depth of commentary. I've often found stories like this lean towards a simplified approach of 'humans evil and bad for environment', with maybe a few good guys so we can feel good about ourselves. This game's perspective, really effectively digging into you through the increasingly oppressive environment and terrifying threat of survival, is more successful in communicating and emphasizing with the overwhelming horrendous impacts we as a species have on the world we live in, and the other species that occupy it. However, it doesn't resort to a simple 'humans are bad, they shouldn't be bad' approach. This will now be the spoiler section.

The obvious way it subverts this is the Scavenger. His intimidating character is the closest to a main antagonist for the majority of the game. The game's decision to show his life as a refugee struggling to earn money to pay for his daughter (Molly's) life-saving medicine is an emotional twist on the story that highlights individuals are often not the one's to blame for the state of the world (though some suck, looking at you, Furrier) but it's the large scale institutions and corporations that force people to do whatever they need to survive. And if the scene between the Scavenger and the mother fox upon Molly's death doesn't do something to you, I don't know what to say. Sociopath. It also puts enough onus on individuals would still try to be kind despite their pressures, as we see from encounters with kind strangers like Molly and the musician.

An image that sticks with me was early in the game hearing music from off view. As we approached, I found a view of a woman playing a lovely song to herself. In the background was the view of a large factory, and all around us rubbish and pollution. This view to me in scene encapsulated what I think is all the evil and destruction humanity is capable of, but also the creation, imagination and warmth.

Anyway, the gameplay was definitely engaging, although stressful. The story was emotional and effective. I think the game accomplished everything it was trying to achieve. A good game to play with your significant other, or if you're curious. Short enough it would be worth most people's time. Recommended!

I put off playing this game a long time after my friend recommended it. I have an admittedly low tolerance for anything I find scary or stressful. On top of that, I can't pride myself on having any skills with game combat. So the games deadly spreading infection every time I failed, haunting voices and atmosphere made me more stressed than maybe any other game has. A game past versions of me wouldn't've started, let alone finished. But alas, I did finish the game. And I'm so glad I did. The end fight and lead up was so much more thrilling and satisfying than I anticipated. Immediately after rolling credits, I watched their video explaining the processes and challenges in making the game and trying to adequately do justice to the complex experiences of those with psychosis. This video made me appreciate the game even more. I think it achieves a lot with its design, story and original game concepts and themes. For some negatives, I experienced a glitch altering the severity of Senua's infection multiple times in one play session. The lock-on combat style also created some frustrating gameplay moments, like one where I was surrounded by enemies on a bridge with an invisible wall behind me blocking movement. In these moments the game play felt frustrating to me, rather than an enjoyable challenge. However these are small moments in a game that was designed for me to hate, that I ended up loving. Strongly recommended, as I'm very glad my friend did.