Endeavor

December 10, 2010 5:26 PM

Endeavor is a game about a dwarf trying to recover an ancient secret. Or maybe it’s about exploring and collecting treasure. Or maybe it’s about collecting powerups. Or maybe it’s just about killing things. It's a metroidvania style flash game based on an idea originally created for Ludum Dare by Zillix. Playable on Newgrounds, Kongregate, & JayIsGames

Writeups on Rock Paper Shotgun & JayIsGames,

posted by juv3nal (22 comments total)

Without spoiling, I'll note that the game presents you with a subtle choice, and that the point of no return between the two options is less prominent than you might expect (which is annoying since a complete re-play is necessary to take the other path).

Also: MALOR
posted by Rhaomi at 5:42 PM on December 10, 2010

Ah, I love games like this. Definitely going to check out out. But I wish it was downloadable! For some reason I love to have these on my desktop.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 6:35 PM on December 10, 2010

Huh. I played 15 minutes before I got tired of squinting to see my character jump around and try to figure out what was background vs. wall in the ocean zone. It's basically 2D Shadow of the Colossus, except without the pretty backgrounds to really entice you into exploration.
posted by yeloson at 6:43 PM on December 10, 2010

ADDICTION FORMED!
posted by Salvor Hardin at 6:50 PM on December 10, 2010

It's decent, but I got bored and quit after about 20 minutes. I fucking hate backtracking in games.
posted by empath at 7:52 PM on December 10, 2010 [2 favorites]

You were warned. I can't remember the last time I played a "Metroidvania" without backtracking. It's almost required. For maximum impact, the final boss is located about three screens away from the start of the game, accessible only due to the last power-up and/or key.
posted by explosion at 7:56 PM on December 10, 2010 [1 favorite]

Fully hooked. Thanks for all the different site links, but those are all websensed hosts already. Who has the small Australian community gaming site link so I can play this at work?

Also, I am ever frustrated by these games because I miss one little power-up early on along the way and have to re-trace every single fucking step through every room looking for it. It's enough to drive one straight to walk-throughs.
posted by carsonb at 9:35 PM on December 10, 2010

Those who fear backtracking: The world is not really all that large. It's not super painful.
posted by shakespeherian at 9:37 PM on December 10, 2010

the game presents you with a subtle choice, and that the point of no return between the two options is less prominent than you might expect (which is annoying since a complete re-play is necessary to take the other path).

Argh, yep. It's a fun game, but I don't wanna go through that whole thing again.
posted by carsonb at 11:28 PM on December 10, 2010

It's basically 2D Shadow of the Colossus

At first I didn't know what you meant ... and then I did.
posted by Amanojaku at 12:41 AM on December 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

Getting the "bad" endings is easy and obvious. The game kinda steers you towards them. Getting the "good" ending took longer than it should have because I started getting sloppy on the controls.
posted by egypturnash at 1:17 AM on December 11, 2010

Anyone kill 10 critters to get the secret info?
posted by BrotherCaine at 6:18 AM on December 11, 2010

Also, put my in the ADD backtracker hating crowd.
posted by BrotherCaine at 6:19 AM on December 11, 2010

At first I didn't know what you meant ... and then I did.

I haven't finished the game, but I started suspecting bad things when I got the third gem.
posted by kenko at 11:43 AM on December 11, 2010

At first I didn't know what you meant ... and then I did.

I think he just means it's basically the same climbing system.
posted by mr_roboto at 4:41 PM on December 11, 2010

it seems i accidentally beat the game before collecting everything necessary/available.
um...go me?
posted by es_de_bah at 5:17 PM on December 11, 2010

That was brilliant!

I didn't kill all the creatures because I felt bad about running around murdering things, but I figured out how to finish the game before needing to anyway. Very impressive.
posted by Pecinpah at 9:29 PM on December 11, 2010

Anyone kill 10 critters to get the secret info?

Yup, it turns out there's a 3rd way to get back to the surface. Also a third ending to go with it.
posted by shakespeherian at 10:04 PM on December 11, 2010

Reminds me of An Untitled Story without the brutal difficulty. I'm glad people are still making exploration games, there need to be more of them.
Not sure if I have the patience to do it all again - are the good and bad endings what they seem to be, or is there some crazy twist?
posted by marakesh at 12:30 AM on December 12, 2010

One odd point, there appear to be more gems scattered around the landscape than are actually necessary to satisfy Malor. Is there a fourth ending if you get all of them? I'm also intrigued by the possibility of satisfying the conditions for all three endings in one game. I'd totally mak that a different ending if I were writing the game.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 9:50 AM on December 13, 2010

I got one more gem than necessary, and I'm not sure where another could be hiding, but the one didn't change the bad ending at all.
posted by shakespeherian at 12:08 PM on December 13, 2010

SPOILERS

Wow, I played that all the way through in one sitting. Got all the gems, light the pillar, found the good way to go up, realized I was working for the bad guy, decided not to help him anymore, spurned his pillar of light and climbed up myself. Then everybody hated me, and then I died. I wish I had the actual choice presented to me instead of being beyond the point of no return when a choice seemed apparent. Still, great game.
posted by tehloki at 4:12 PM on December 17, 2010