The very first thing that drew me to Unto the End was the sound design. Watching the trailer when I saw the news it’d be EGX, I was quite excited to get my hands on what seemed to be a fairly simple hack and slash with great audio, and a decent story to go along with it. What I actually got was a challenging 2D adventure with a more complex combat system and interesting environments to traverse – and of course the aforementioned excellent sound design.
Unto the End has you take up the role of a father searching for his family, making your way through a relentless environment, fighting enemies and figuring out where to go next.
Right from the outset of the demo, there’s a piece of the landscape that’s designed to make your life difficult, and immediately shows you that you can’t just run blindly into the world. It’s here where you realise there’s a bit more to the game than it first appears, and that’s only emphasised when you reach some particularly difficult enemies at the end too.
Unto The End | EGX trailer | PS4 Watch on YouTube
After learning the combat and cutting down some troll-like enemies on your journey so far, you reach a much bigger and harder to fight troll – a prince I believe I was told – who doesn’t instantly attack you when you draw near. If you run at him with your sword drawn, he’ll attack, and likely demolish you in just a couple of blows. Sheath your sword however, and he’ll simply kneal and offer you a gift. You wouldn’t know it at the time, but the decision you just made means you won’t get mauled by his two big brothers a little further on.