Endeavor

By: ithamore

On: December 15th, 2010

Endeavor, by Zillix

Endeavor is a Metroidvania with multiple endings and a story about a dwarf who is asked by his dead father to try to gain the strength and wisdom to obtain a treasure that has been handed down their family for generations. After learning the basics while exploring your home land the story takes a sudden turn (or literally a fall). It is up to you to choose what to do from there.

Zillix started making the game for the October challenge at Ludum Dare and as a sequel to his mini-LD entry, Summit. Earlier this month he got Endeavor sponsored by Newgrounds, and he also has it up at Kongregate (where it is doing quiet well in the monthly ranking contest for new games).

I like the slightly obscured look of the tiny pixel art and the variety and quality of the music. It took me an hour or two to finish the game the first time, but the length was significantly shorter when I started over to get the other endings. I also enjoyed the non-linear, power up encapsulated exploration so much I highly recommend Endeavor.

TIGdb: Entry for Endeavor

Posted in Browser Games, Highly Recommended, Metroidvanias | Tags: Zillix

Eobet

Where the heck is the news about the Humble Indie Bundle 2???
kookaskookos

I really enjoyed this game when I played it a few weeks back. Incredibly good storytelling.
joehonkie

I was waiting for this to show up here. I loved this game. I love Metroid styled exploration games.

I also really liked the endurance mechanic. It made the gameplay pretty novel and allowed you to feel rewarded more often than you do sometimes in these games.
RazzRox

It's a fun game; I think the only thing that annoyed me was if you get the bad ending you have to play through the entire game again.
http://quiteoddgames.blogspot.com/ QOG

a squeal?
http://nuclearheart.com/ György Straub

Oh yeah, this is nice. I especially like the flower and death mechanics.

Are there more than three endings?
joehonkie

Just the three. And replaying the whole game again bugged me at first until I realized it gets so much faster every time you play it.

I forgot to mention I'm a huge fan of “pacifist” exploration games (and a fan of violent stuff too, mind you). Things like this, Knytt, Seiklus, etc. can be really fun and show not every challenge has to be about jumping on turtles. Very neat.
fog

Spoiler alert! I wish there was some sort of indication that Malor is evil BEFORE the end of the game. He seems like a perfectly cool dude, even keeping his promise to help you back home when he already has all the gems. I mean, he's even helping you get to the only weapon that can destroy him. But your dwarf friends are total pricks. In fact, there's really no indication he's evil at all except for the legend revealed at the end, passed down by the DWARVES.
joehonkie

Well, he does start talking more and more creepy. And one guy tells you to stop collecting gems and go up another way. However it's easy to miss that guy before you've collected all the gems.

I caught on, but I was like “Man I collected 8 gems already. DOIN' THIS!”
Alterchera

I enjoyed this game a great deal. The two endings I've seen are just text on a dark screen with no ending scenes to make you feel like you've accomplished something, but the gameplay is enjoyable enough cancel out that unfortunate circumstance.

The game manages to be challenging without being unfairly so, e.g. if you reach the midway point of a high climb you may an item that makes re-climbing much easier if you fall. And replays take much less time than the original play through.
Brown Emma

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