The Endless Mission – Preview
There is a limit to how meta a game can get before it crosses the line straight into confusing and The Endless Mission certainly toes that line. This is a game about making games, hacking games and playing games in a game world with an actual storyline and lore. A unique experience for sure, but for various reasons certainly not everybody’s cup of tea.
The Endless Mission opens by dropping you into an empty room with nothing in sight but a big red button. Clicking the button is the only way to proceed and gives you the opening cutscene: a beautiful world creating itself from scratch around you, with a futuristic building being the focal point. Upon entering you are introduced to Ada, a chirpy AI who will be your guide in this strange new world. She gives you a short tutorial introducing you to this place called the terminal, which serves as a kind of hub where you can choose games to play or set out on creating your own. As the game progresses you are given missions, small goals such as playing certain games, slowly revealing more about the Academy, the creators of this place, as well as the purpose of it.
All in all, there is a surprising amount of plot in The Endless Mission, way more than expected from a sandbox game, usually presented in short cutscenes or finding lore related objects that unlock journal entries where you can read up on the different story elements.
Because of the nature of this game, the graphics change a lot. The terminal and main parts of the game look like a typical realistic first-person view, though the animation is really good. When playing or creating games though, you can expect the graphics to change to match the genre. For example, the platformer games have a more colorful, cartoony look to them while the real-time strategy genre has a top-down view with pixel graphics. This is a nice touch, especially for those who are versatile gamers familiar with lots of different genres.
Tying into the above, the music in The Endless Mission also changes depending on the setting. The soundtrack is good, but not overly memorable, as other elements of the game certainly steal the stage more than the music does. One of those things being the voice-acting, particularly for Ada, the upbeat and slightly scatterbrained AI who guides you around the terminal. She is an absolute joy to listen to and Sara Amina’s comedic timing definitely kicks the performance up a notch, though the other voice actors certainly showcase their talent too.
As far as gameplay goes, The Endless Mission is a sandbox game where you play, make and share games. The games are divided up in genres, as well as there is a difference between games made by the Academy (tying into the overall plot) and UGC or user-generated content, which would be the more typical community-driven content made by other players and shared online. Of course, a large element of the game also revolves around you designing your own games, which you can share with the world at large and even get feedback on.
But it certainly doesn’t stop there, as the games you play and create aren’t meant to be enjoyed as they are. While in a game, the player can press a button to enter what is essentially a hacker-mode (the hacking elements are called lenses in this game). Lenses can be used to alter the game, from scaling objects up or down to draining the enemies their health-bar, and some games aren’t even completable without using these tricks. Things gradually get more insane as you unlock new lenses and start messing with the established code, turning off gravity for example.
When you’re making games yourself, this is also something to keep in mind. You can challenge other players by making your levels unbeatable without lenses, or prompting them to experiment for themselves. The biggest downside is that the set-up for making your own game isn’t the simplest one around. Newcomers who have never messed around in Gmod or similar sandbox games will find themselves very intimidated by the huge amount of assets and options and the controls aren’t always as intuitive as a game of this type demands (on top of not being able to change them). There is also currently a lack of content overall, but this can mostly be explained by the game still being in Early Access. Hopefully, as its popularity grows and more players discover The Endless Mission, the community will establish itself a bit more. The developers are still adding new content as well, including new game genres.
Conclusion
While there certainly is a lot of potential here, right now The Endless Mission feels just a little too rough around the edges to be enjoyable for everyone. If you’re very interested in the idea of making your own simple games and sharing them with the world, or the unique hacking element, don’t hesitate to check this game out, the surprising hidden storyline is definitely a plus also. But there are also many improvements to be had and we can only hope they’ll come sooner rather than later.
The Endless Mission - Preview,
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