In addition, there isn't any wall-jumping in this game - instead, there are tiny ledges on walls you can cling to. Spikes, enemies, bottomless pits and more all combine to create insanely demanding precision from the player. I can safely say that this game is one of the hardest platformers I've ever played. It rivals and almost surpasses Super Meat Boy at some points. This is when the game started getting frustrating for me. My concerns about the game's difficulty were put to rest with a twist halfway through drastically increased the difficulty in an ingenious way you genuinely won't expect. The game never puts you in a situation where it feels like the controls aren't doing what you're telling them, and it's highly intuitive as to what maneuvers you can and can't execute. The controls have been fine-tuned to an insane degree, making Ash satisfying to control. It took a long time and many worlds before I really got frustrated with this game. Sure, it was challenging, but it hadn't quite reached the nigh-sadistic level of difficulty McMillen is notorious for (outside of bonus content, anyway). Those familiar with McMillen's work will be expecting a certain level of difficulty here. They won't be disappointed.įor a while, I wasn't sure how difficult The End is Nigh was going to get. Die, Die Againīelieve it or not, one of the easier screens in the game. Of course, as a McMillen platformer, the story isn't the main draw here. I won't say what, because I don't want to spoil the plot.

But there are certain elements of the plot that seem to warrant further analysis. On the surface, this is a story about the end of the world and learning to let go.

It's difficult to comment fully on the story, because in classic McMillen fashion, there's more than meets the eye. This means he must do the unthinkable and (gasp!) go outside and make a friend.Īs in, literally build a friend out of scattered body parts.

He is one of the few survivors of a seeming apocalypse, and he has a major problem - his favorite game cartridge just broke. The story centers on Ash, a blob entertainingly voiced by Rich Evans. However, level selection is replaced with a fully interconnected world, and the sentient meat cubes and evil fetuses are replaced with a delightfully weird take on the end of the world. In many ways, The End is Nigh feels like a sort of spiritual successor to that game, as it features the same art style and type of platforming.

The end is drawing nigh