Welcome to Another Review
Unto The End is a side-scrolling combat adventure game developed by 2 Ton studios. The game is available for the ps4, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows, and Xbox One. The game sees you assume control of a nameless character on a road trip through harsh landscapes as you attempt to return home to your family. The game features two modes, adventure, and permadeath. With adventure being probably the best option to go for first.
In the brief prologue, you say farewell to your family and head off into the wilderness. The game doesn't really tell you why where you're going or for what reason. So, with no real story to pursue it's a case of moving onward into the cold and dark landscape. There aren't any tips pointers go here arrows the game really just lets you figure things out for yourself. It's a very minimalistic experience with no on-screen hud during most of the gameplay. After a little bit of exploration, you will encounter your first hostiles.
Now combat in unto the end is pretty simple in terms of controls. You can attack high or low and block high and low. If you match your opponent's moves then you'll block them attack them in the opposite area of their guard and you'll get a clean hit. You can also duck roll and use a body check. So, it might sound pretty easy to win a fight. Wrong! It's not so easy to predict your enemy's moves and jewels can go on for some time with block after block slowly building the tension in some epic confrontations.
One other factor to consider is that you can drop your torch and sword. The caves are so dark without light you're a dead man and drop your sword mid-fight and you're in for a real tense session of spamming the role button until you can gather your sword once more. Thankfully, the game features a sparring mode which acts as a flashback to a happier time hanging out with your family but even in sparring you realize until the end is not a simple combat game. When your wife kicks your ass in a sword fight you know it's going to be a rocky road. I'd say the combat excels in one-on-one situations making for tense and exciting exchanges but when you're facing two or three foes simultaneously problems do start to arise.
Being a 2d game, it means you can only go one way or the other and if you've got enemies on both sides it does render the up and down blocking kind of redundant. You end up having to just spam the roll button again until you get one of the enemies with a clean shot then repeat that process. It's almost like two completely different games in that way with one-on-one jewels being amazing and the group situation has been quite tiresome and frustrating. Add to that the bleeding damage and you need to be prepared to die a lot here. You'll be repeating the same fights over and over and I'd say for some gamers that might be a little bit of a turn-off. Also, the save points do seem quite erratic sometimes it saves regularly then at other times you'll have a number of different fights to win before you can reach a checkpoint but it's never really clear when that is.
In terms of weapons, your sword is your bread and butter but you can collect other ones as you progress. Campfires offer you an opportunity for respite where you can upgrade your armor heal your wounds or craft a special tonic. Enemy variety is okay with general foot soldiers large behemoths and wild warriors with deadly spears. You'll also have to deal with deadly traps and falling boulders along the way too.
Graphically, the game has a lovely art style with soft pastel shades, minimalistic visuals, and a beautiful world to explore. As I said there is no constant hud that really helps you immerse into the game world. The interior cave sections do however pose somewhat of a dilemma as they're very dark and have foreground objects obscuring your view from time to time. Generally, that isn't a problem but during sword fights, it can be incredibly annoying and would have perhaps been better used on the exploration sections only. One other minor issue was the falling boulders which killed me several times despite them not actually landing on me.
The sound working Unto The End is absolute perfection. The beautiful musical score, the impactful combat effects, and the subtle ambient sounds. Each part of that audio accentuates the experience and the developers clearly ever got a very good ear for sound and music matching. The art style is gorgeous and atmospheric. The sound is flawless it's a very immersive experience due to the no persistent hud and the combat has some truly tense and exciting one-on-one duels While the story is threadbare the game ends just as it starts to get going. The 2d nature of the game makes group combat very frustrating as do the foreground obstructions during cave combat and despite the combat system being simple and deliberate on occasions, it does more harm than good to the overall gameplay experience.
Final Thoughts
This game is a bit of a struggle for the first couple of hours but after that, it's a much more enjoyable adventure. It's just a shame that by the time you start to enjoy, the game ends. It's pretty difficult to like for the first hour or two despite its pleasant and atmospheric facade there is enjoyment to be had in until the end but barring the inconsistent combat scenarios, there isn't a great deal in the way of gameplay. The platforming sections are few and far between and the game could have done with some more tangible gameplay aside from combat, like puzzles, narrative, and other such elements. It's in the aesthetics where the game truly shines the art style is superb but for me, it was the audio that reached heights that the gameplay was sadly unable to reach. So, in summary, until the end is a solid indie adventure game with a beautiful game world excellent, sound work, and a combat system that falls a little short of the mark. Would I recommend it? Well, I'd say if you have the patience to deal with the combat you'll get some enjoyment from it.
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