Endling in the test: When the foxes left the forest

you got lost You’re lost again. But no wonder, there used to be a lot of trees here that you used for orientation and now everything is fallow. If only it weren’t so cold and your stomach just calmed down… Your thoughts are with your children who are waiting for you and who need something to eat – imagine what happens if you don’t find anything.

Deplorable is a word that can be used to describe the mood and plot of Endling, Spanish studio Herobeat’s debut film, due out July 19 for PC, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. In a dystopian future fraught with peril, we tragically confront our mortality and maneuver as a fox through a rapidly changing world.

What is Endling about?

The plot can be summed up in two basic premises. First of all, we are probably the last fox in the world to give birth to a litter of puppies right at the start of the game. The second premise relates to environmental storytelling, i.e. the story that is told through the change in our environment. It’s basically what would happen if people stopped caring about the environment, sustainability and the broader implications of their actions through short-term profit maximization or small-scale provisioning.

As a fox, we move in 2D scroller fashion through a beautifully drawn 3D world, full of dangers that are primarily of human nature. Every night we leave the Burrow in search of food, explore the surroundings, open up new paths and follow up on events. As the game progresses, more and more circumstances appear that require us to proceed strategically and cautiously.

Like other indie games, Endling eludes (buy now €29.99) a categorization within the classic genres, but creates a pleasant mix of tactical and stealth elements, exploration and storytelling. The focus is predominantly on the latter and is carried by the atmosphere, which is part of the title’s highlight. Not only the beautiful art design, but also the soundtrack contributes to the mood and fuels the emotionality that we felt while playing through.

The graphics, setting and atmosphere are beautiful and gripping.

Source: PC games




Endling is a very short title that can be played through in just under four hours in one evening. Unfortunately, the title offers hardly any replay value for just under 30 euros. The strength of the game lies in the fact that you are constantly confronted with new situations that you would not have expected. The resulting sometimes oppressive situations encourage you to think and pause, which is simply not the case in a further game run.

So at this point we give a strong recommendation not to delve further into the title and accordingly its plot if you already intend to play Endling. Of course, we won’t include any major spoilers and will limit the plot to the first few minutes.

The goal of the game, which is our long-term motivation and framework, is to find one of our fox cubs that was kidnapped from our den right at the beginning. We regularly pick up a trail and follow it to get further information about the whereabouts of our boy. In the following we unlock further areas, meet other animals and people and observe their fate, which is often in no way inferior to ours in terms of tragedy. After a short time, the puppies accompany us through the world and eat the food as soon as we put it in front of them.
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