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[Bartski]

Developer : 2TonStudios
Publisher: Big Sugar
Release: December 9th, 2020 for Xbox Gamepass - PS4 - PS5 - PC (Steam & GOG) / December 17th, 2020 for Nintendo Switch ; Linux TBU.





all you need to know is in this video really but let's move on​

"Our goal was to capture the feeling of melee combat without being a sword fighting simulator.
The sweaty palms, “oh no!” moments, and the back and forth of a great fight, without elaborate combos or intricate inputs.
You can drop your sword, bleed to death from your wounds, and win or lose every fight in two or three hits.
Success is all about staying calm and making the most of your opportunities."

"It was super important that every creature you meet was as smart and capable as the player – there for a reason, never just some “evil enemy”.
Every opponent you face is unique, each with their own fighting style – we don’t have simple enemies and then a boss."

​

"After lots of iteration, we honed in on three things we felt side-on does particularly well: (1) judging high vs low (2) assessing left-right
distance (3) seeing behind you. Interestingly, these are also things that “over the shoulder” or “top-down” views don’t handle as well.
We wrapped those three qualities into an overarching principle of reading and reacting and built everything around it.
Every fight, puzzle, and environmental challenge tests the player based on that foundation.
The idea is that every single aspect of gameplay is training you, not just the fights. We want you to end the game as a great fighter,
feeling a sense of mastery and accomplishment earned entirely through your efforts."

"That means every fight is a challenge and all opponents follow the same rules as the player.
High and low attacks, blocks, counters, riposte, fakes, and being knocked off balance applies to everyone.
The same goes for the health and damage, navigation, and friendly fire.
There are no massive health pools or super attacks, and enemies can chase you across diverse terrain if you run away,
jumping chasms and climbing ledges."

​

8 minutes of gameplay:





more gameplay with dev commentary:




REVIEWS:

Screen Rant - 90

Unto the End is a fascinating look at the lengths that someone will go to in order to survive and make their way home. Combat encounters are harsh and challenging, but each failure teaches the player more about the mechanics and how the world operates, and the result is an immensely satisfying experience.

Dual Shockers - 90

Unto the End is a must-play for all the Souls-Borne fans who wouldn’t miss anything in that FromSoftware vein. More importantly, it could be an excellent gateway title for players who haven’t played a Souls-like game. Winning combat in Unto The End is a matter of being smart rather than having powerful weapons or a high-level character. For me, using my own skills to conquer my enemies was the cherry on top of an exceptional title.

The Sixth Axis - 90

Unto The End is a challenging game, but not overwhelmingly so. Each combat scenario is unique which keeps things fresh, while the world itself looks nice and hints at a wider world that cares little of your character's adventure. A handful of fights are frustrating and will hold you up, but Unto The End does not overstay its welcome and is easy to recommend to those who enjoy tough fighting challenges.

Keen Gamer - 90

Unto the End is an amazing game. It does miss a few marks when communicating information to the player, and some integrated systems can come off as more tedious than fun. Nonetheless its rich combat, gorgeous visuals, and well-implemented sound effects nail all of the most important aspects. In the end, an individual's experience with the game will most likely come to their view on its extreme difficulty.

Finger Guns - 80

As a cinematic platformer that borrows all the best bits from the Soulslike genre without being too punishing then adds its own unique elements, Unto The End is a triumph. The ‘bleeding out’ feels like it’s not utilised as well as it could have been and there are a few annoying glitches but the core game here is a stiff test and a very satisfying reward.

PC Invasion - 8/10

Though it's a small package, Unto the End manages to deliver both an amazing visual experience and surprisingly deep combat systems. You won't want to miss the sort of adventure that will keep you coming back for more punishment, death after death.

Jump Dash Roll - 7 / 10

Unto The End is a beautiful game with stunning visuals, but it's held back by uneven – and sometimes downright frustrating – gameplay.

Checkpoint Gaming - 7/10

Unto The End is a beautiful and brutal journey that has clearly been crafted with a lot of heart. It presents an unapologetically skill-based combat experience with wordless narrative in a savage, hostile world. While its gameplay outside combat can be a little clunky and its high difficulty restricts its appeal to players with lots of patience and coordination, those looking for a unique and challenging 2D adventure will be well satisfied with Unto The End.

Playstation Lifestyle - 65

Unto the End has a wonderfully minimalistic style and while I enjoyed much of my time exploring its world the combat did eventually start to drag. It’s unforgiving action can start to get tiresome even with the generous checkpoint system. If you’re a button mashing kind of gamer then it’s probably best to give this one a miss.

Cultured Vultures - 6/10

While the sound design is gripping, the platforming is solid, and the puzzle solving is unique, Unto The End unfortunately suffers from a bloated combat system and harsh checkpoints. This tough-as-nails trial and error gameplay loop ultimately cheapens all of its best qualities.

Gamer Escape - 5/10

Look, I’m fine with difficult games. The early Ys titles are some of my favorites, I love the Fire Emblem franchise, and I enjoyed the time I put into titles like Code Vein. In those games, though, at least it feels like you have a fighting chance, that if you screw up and die, it was completely your fault. Unto the End just wants to punish the player. It feels like it went too far off the deep end of “purposefully difficult game” and ended up in kaizo territory. The challenge here isn’t fun, it’s just annoying.

The Digital Fix - 4/10

Even with clear intentions and a striking presentation, Unto the End's borderline broken combat mechanics drag the experience down into a spiral of misery.

Rock Paper Shotgun - unscored

just don’t feel in control. Each fight feels like my only real option is to repeatedly block until my opponent decides I’m allowed to hit him now. I haven’t mentioned the non-combat parts either, in which you explore the caves looking for supplies to patch up and improve your armour at campfires. There are a few environmental puzzles, which would be fine if they didn’t sometimes boil down to leaping off things until one of them doesn’t kill you.

Quotes nicked from Playstation Blog.
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[jshackles]

 

[Tesseract]

brilliant thread, game looks lovely

 

[Bartski]

Thanks! Despite being just a tiny bit overshadowed by the yellow neon behemoth coming out pretty much the same time I’m super excited for it and hope to play some tomorrow

The demo was available on STEAM for quite some time, seems like they took it down? Too bad as it gave a good taste of the combat system - challenging, deep and truly unique for a 2D title.

Feels like a real indie gem of 2020 and I hope people will give it a shot.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

 

[pr0cs]

Surprised there aren't any reviews or discussion on this game. Guess I need to jump in tonight and see if it's worth my time for myself.

 

[Bartski]

Updated the OP.

I actually just played through the game myself for the first time today.

Absolutely loved it - the combat system is just brilliant in its simplicity, the whole package just delivers on all fronts and I really hope their next project expands on it on a much larger scale i feel it deserves.

It really is very challenging and requires practice. For the last third, I had to aid myself with the inept mode getting absolutely destroyed! Now going for my second run without it. You have to actually get good fights as the "bleeding" system makes the game not save at checkpoints which makes it all even more intense. The art is just great, the animation. So good.

One important thing to mention - even if you haven't played the demo and you're getting wrecked at every encounter 10-20 times, the game is done in around 2 hours. With good fights, it's around an hour long.
but so was Another World... keep in mind it's an indie made by 2 people - so the scope is tiny but the game benefits from it as it all just works.

It's the perfect gamepass food and for anyone into this kind of stuff, I can't recommend it enough.

 

[The Wheel of Fortune]

This looks pretty good! Thanks for the recommendation, will definitely check it out on PC.