Aaron Steed's Ending is the sort of puzzle game that sucks you in with its quiet, elegant simplicity. Using [WASD] or the [arrow] keys, you guide your symbol through levels one turn at a time. When you move, so too do the enemies that will destroy you with a whack when given a chance, so gameplay becomes about careful strategy to lure enemies in to destroy them by running into them before they can do the same to you on your way to the exit, all without using all 48 available moves. You can even choose the second icon from the main screen to play a randomly generated enormous gauntlet.
Easy, right? But as you go on, the levels become more intricate, more tightly designed, with enemies laid out over the map like sharks circling ever closer. With the game's minimalist approach to design and sound, it creates a sort of subtle, hypnotic experience that forces you to learn the rules of each new obstacle without words, as well as how to manipulate it to get by. Suddenly those 48 moves don't seem quite so generous, and the game winds up being much more difficult than you thought. Ending is a game that forces you to think ahead and plan, and is simple but brilliant concept and well thought out design makes it one of those puzzle games that can challenge your brain with the best of them.
Thanks to KMB, Adam, and Sean for sending this one in!
It does seem that you gain moves by destroying an enemy.
...She says, right before getting stuck on level 9.
ray9na:
To finish a level, you only need to get to the exit, there's no need to destroy things if they aren't in your way.
Okay, stuck on level 23. Doesn't seem possible, unless there's a trick?
Here is the first half. They are broken into groups of three moves for ease of verification over a choppy Skype connection. Many thanks to my kid for being a tireless amanuensis while I kept muttering things like "okay i remember solving this one but HOW?". We will try to finish up the last half tomorrow, or perhaps this weekend.
00
EEE ENE ESE
01
NEE ESE EEE
02
NSN SSS NSE EEN NE
03
ENN EEW SSS SEW NNN NEW SSS EEE EEE
04
WEW EWE SES SSE S
05
ESS WSE ESE NEE EE
06
WWW WWE SSE EEE ENE EEE EE
07
EEE SSN ENE EES E
08
SSN WSE NNN NN
09
NES SEE ENE
10
SSS WEW SSE S
11
EEE SES EEE EEE
12
EWW SSS ESS WS
13
ESS WWS SWS SWS WSN WSW WNW SSW S
14
WWW EEW WWW SEE EEE EEN EEE EE
15
SEN NES EEE NNN NEE NNN NNN WWS NNN EEE EEE E
16
EEN NEE EES SEE ENN NWN NNN NNN EES EN
17
ENE SSS EEE NNE E
18
NEE WSS EWE NEE SSE EEE
19
ESS SNS NSS SSS SS
20
SSS EWN ESS SNS SNE ENE EEE NSS SES SWN NEE SSW SSW NWE SSE
21
SES SNS ESE NWN NWS NNW NSE SSN NEE ESE WNE SNE SEW SEE ENE WSS SSS SSS
22
NEE EES SES SSS ESN ESE WSE SNS NSW WSS ESN SES SEE EEE EE
23
ENW SES NEE SE
24
ENS EES EEE EEE ENE
25
NNE WSS EEE NNW WSS SNN WW
26
NWN WNE SES WNE NWS SSS EEW WNE NNN ESE SEW NEE E
27
EEN WWN SEE ESS EWS WSE NNE EEE
28
WSE NEE EES SE
29
WWW WWN NNE EEE SSS SWW WWN WWW NW
so. many. levels.
A warning to future coffee break gamers: this game will destroy your work day.
Here are some more solutions. Note that unlike deaken.wylie, I simply use WASD instead of NWSE. Also, similarly to deaken.wylie's, some are quite suboptimal.
30-42:
30:
ssw aaa ssa aas ssa dad ddd sss ssa aaa a
31:
wws dwa sda add ddd www wsw sws ddd www aaa www
32:
dsd saa add ddd
33:
dss ssd aaw ddw dds ssd sds
34:
saw aaa aaa aww a
35:
ssw awd ssa ssd s
36:
dss ssd add ada ddw ds
37:
dsd ssd wds aww asd dww d
38:
dwd ddd ddd sas ssa asa aad dsa wsa aww aad ssd wwa waa aww waa wdd ddw www wwd dsa ddw ddw dws ddd ddd ddd ddd dd
39:
ddw dwd ddd sdd dsa ssd
40:
ssd adw sdd wwd dd
41:
www wwa swd www dwd dss ddd das dss ass sds
42:
ssd dsd wdd dds sds sss sas asd sdw saa ass ssa dad sdd sdd swd wdd ddd sd
As a bonus (or rather, an apology for not solving the rest yet), here's a shorter 29:
aaa aas aaw a
Found a secret which helps a lot to complete the levels (not by skipping levels):
You can press shift while on level to display "deadly" squares.
Ville Heikkinen:
Pressing control also works, BTW.
Keep in mind that this highlights the squares that are not deadly, but rather "under attack". When dealing with moving walls, sometimes you have to move into one of them to get pushed by such a wall onto a desired square.
I wonder why this feature isn't mentioned anywhere in the review or the game...
Um, hitting the blue triangle in the upper right brings up a small menu. The plus one toggles between showing the "deadly squares" or not.The bottom right is full screen,and the rest you can probably figure out.
Danwareld: "[S]uboptimal"? That's way more politely than I would have described some of my solutions. My 21 is... shameful. I guess I'll let more efficient folks try to finish up (while I go back to fighting with https://jayisgames.com/archives/2013/02/dungeondiary.php ), and take another swing at it if they aren't solved by the end of the weekend.
I got too caught up in revenge, as it were, on 29. Nice solution. :)
There's an ad running - The Internship film promo - it breaks the page and renders the game unplayable. We've had the same ad breaking pages at Nitrome. Not happy with those guys running that ad.
Oh. And you didn't mention the level editor or the free desktop versions :P
deaken.wylie:
Your 21 is beautiful compared to mine:
wdd
aad dsd wda ada ddd awd ddd sww ad
aad dsd wda adw ddd sss www ad
aad dsd wda adw ddd sss sss ssa as
Note a lot of copypasta! I went as far as implementing a record/replay feature using AutoHotKey just for this level.
I should've really checked my "solutions" before posting them. Apparently, I made a bunch of mistakes. Specifically, 30, 36 and 37:
30:
aaa ass sws dds sss aaa
36:
ssd ssd dws dds s
37:
sds dww wd
To atone, here are 43-48:
43:
sas ada dad dds sss aas sds
44:
sss sws wsw wwd ddd sss sdd ssd dds dda wdd ddw saw www www sww ddd
45:
sss ddd dww aaa aww ddw wdd ddd dss sd
46:
dwd dwd wdw dwd wdw dwd wwd d
47:
dss swd daa was add dad awd dad ddw d
48:
dws daa sdd www awd ssd ddd dd
Saviour-V teleports in...
And then, of course, there's the labyrinth mode. I've only managed to get past 3 gates before getting killed by a random enemy. Also, if you spot any enemies / ally blocks tinged with black, it means they can explode.
This can be both good and bad, as I've found out far too often.
Saviour-V teleports out...
Great game. The only thing I don't really understand is when exploding blocks kill you and when they don't... sometimes feels a bit random. While I like the exploratory nature as you meet new enemies, it'd be nice to understand the underlying principles...
eamurdock, they seem to explode in all adjacent squares except the one that deals damage to them. When they are next to each other they trigger a chain reaction. The safe way of disposing them is to make sure no two exploding pieces are touching you and connected.
Has anyone solved level 49? It's the only one I can't get, and it's driving me crazy.
An Android version just hit Google Play this morning.
Cons:
No free / trial / lite / ad-supported version.
So far (only a few levels in), the levels seem to be the same as the Flash version.
Both of the control schemes (swipe and screen-quadrants) can be a little picky.
The editor is even less comprehensible (or perhaps I have lost even more of my mind in the last couple of weeks).
I think I understand why it isn't implemented, but I would surely have loved a pinch-to-zoom function.
Pros:
It's a buck. You can drop a buck on Aaron.
The frustration is now portable! Hooray!
Despite my cons outnumbering my pros, most of them are just quibbles, and I would definitely recommend picking it up.
Wow. I swear those various app store badges weren't there before I posted. I guess I was right about losing my mind... Sheesh.
Hey, has anyone solved the maze level yet? I've gotten within single-digit moves of hitting the last "gate" a handful of times, but that's it.
Talk about replayability, by the way . . . love this game.
How do you do Level 57??? I have been able to do every single one except that one. Please help :)
Update