I've literally been waiting for this game to come out for 11 years. This is my story.

I'm now 24 and was 15 when I first played Endlight. I played this in 2012 at Eurogamer London, loved it, and have been checking on updates this entire time.

Shortly after attending that convention, I emailed the creator, Jim, and he graciously offered 15 year old me me a demo copy of the game to play, provided I give him feedback. Back then it was about 20 levels you need to survive one after the other with the core gameplay loop of get hoops to get shields, get enough to move onto the next level and avoid obstacles moving around you. if you ran out of hoops and didn't get any for long enough, or if you drifted outside of the map for too long, you would die. A solid trippy survival game with levels that progress from easy to challenging. Very satisfying to play.

Naturally, 15 year old me sent several overlong rambling emails no professional should have to read, and communication stopped. But I signed up to the mailing list on his website and followed him on twitter for updates. At some point my laptop with the demo broke and the download link was expired.

So began the age of waiting.

10 years of waiting.

At some point in those ten years, a trailer (1 of 4, alleged the title) was released for the game on his youtube channel, with a rough arrival date in the 2010s. The trailer made the gameplay look more or less the same as it did before. It was pushed back. Sometime in the 2020s, i think 2021, another trailer, a new release date, a steam page, and a demo was released! The trailer made gameplay seem again, the same as before, with some strange additions. Voices and writing were added. Before, you would count the hoops on your cube, now there was a HUD of sorts. The audio in the voices was fairly low quality and its uses were quite baffling. It reminded me of the guy who made timecube for anyone familiar with that reference.

Still, the gameplay was more or less the same and so were the graphics. I had hope. The release date gets pushed back a few times over a couple of years until...

2023

At this point I am starting to think all of the promotional material, website, and release dates have been an elaborate troll for me as revenge for those rambling emails i sent when i was 15.

I find that there is a new trailer, an announcement, the first newsletter, and a release date of July 28th. I hold my breath. The steam page says there will be 400 levels that you cant replay, released in seasons. A big improvement from 20. Maybe.

July 30th. I moved recently and my new housemate is a filthy gremlin who's mess I have to constantly clean, so I was distracted and didn't even buy it on the day. I have a surreal feeling as i click the Endlight shortcut on my desktop and play.

What the ♥♥♥♥. I played about 40 levels.

It's no longer a survival game, each level is separate.

The core gameplay hasn't changed at all.

Raising the graphics levels beyond what I played 10 years ago makes my computer lag to hell.

The levels no longer appear to be ordered in terms of difficulty, as I replay many of the same levels I played before.

A couple of cool new levels.

Some levels are literally impossible with obstacles that fill the whole screen, worse yet, if you fail a level 6 times then the game locks you out of the level.

Every 5 levels you are forced to play a level with no collision to collect 5 rings while the creator tries to talk to you. After the first 25 levels you get the message "You did it. Anybody could have done it and you did." read out to you. Other "intermissions" every 5 levels

Other curious additions to gameplay are when the game gives you a random "extra life" or "autopilot" is engaged and you lose control for a few seconds with invincibility.

Overall, I preferred the game when it was a trance-like endurance challenge of skill, not a mostly easy, repetitive, time wasting, indulgent, sometimes impossible game with all of its best features fragmented and mixed in with a bunch of rubbish. One reviewer here said the levels seem auto generated. I would like to agree if I knew the old ones weren't, and several seemed identical this time around. Maybe they are just poorly designed copy paste jobs, but if these levels are curated, why are they so bland?

I refunded the game, and I feel disappointed for what could have been, and was.

I've literally been waiting for this game to come out for 11 years. This is my story. I'm now 24 and was 15 when I first played Endlight. I played this in 2012 at Eurogamer London, loved it, and have been checking on updates this entire time. Shortly after attending that convention, I emailed the creator, Jim, and he graciously offered 15 year old me me a demo copy of the game to play, provided I give him feedback. Back then it was about 20 levels you need to survive one after the other with the core gameplay loop of get hoops to get shields, get enough to move onto the next level and avoid obstacles moving around you. if you ran out of hoops and didn't get any for long enough, or if you drifted outside of the map for too long, you would die. A solid trippy survival game with levels that progress from easy to challenging. Very satisfying to play. Naturally, 15 year old me sent several overlong rambling emails no professional should have to read, and communication stopped. But I signed up to the mailing list on his website and followed him on twitter for updates. At some point my laptop with the demo broke and the download link was expired. So began the age of waiting. 10 years of waiting. At some point in those ten years, a trailer (1 of 4, alleged the title) was released for the game on his youtube channel, with a rough arrival date in the 2010s. The trailer made the gameplay look more or less the same as it did before. It was pushed back. Sometime in the 2020s, i think 2021, another trailer, a new release date, a steam page, and a demo was released! The trailer made gameplay seem again, the same as before, with some strange additions. Voices and writing were added. Before, you would count the hoops on your cube, now there was a HUD of sorts. The audio in the voices was fairly low quality and its uses were quite baffling. It reminded me of the guy who made timecube for anyone familiar with that reference. Still, the gameplay was more or less the same and so were the graphics. I had hope. The release date gets pushed back a few times over a couple of years until... 2023 At this point I am starting to think all of the promotional material, website, and release dates have been an elaborate troll for me as revenge for those rambling emails i sent when i was 15. I find that there is a new trailer, an announcement, the first newsletter, and a release date of July 28th. I hold my breath. The steam page says there will be 400 levels that you cant replay, released in seasons. A big improvement from 20. Maybe. July 30th. I moved recently and my new housemate is a filthy gremlin who's mess I have to constantly clean, so I was distracted and didn't even buy it on the day. I have a surreal feeling as i click the Endlight shortcut on my desktop and play. What the fuck. I played about 40 levels. It's no longer a survival game, each level is separate. The core gameplay hasn't changed at all. Raising the graphics levels beyond what I played 10 years ago makes my computer lag to hell. The levels no longer appear to be ordered in terms of difficulty, as I replay many of the same levels I played before. A couple of cool new levels. Some levels are literally impossible with obstacles that fill the whole screen, worse yet, if you fail a level 6 times then the game locks you out of the level. Every 5 levels you are forced to play a level with no collision to collect 5 rings while the creator tries to talk to you. After the first 25 levels you get the message "You did it. Anybody could have done it and you did." read out to you. Other "intermissions" every 5 levels Other curious additions to gameplay are when the game gives you a random "extra life" or "autopilot" is engaged and you lose control for a few seconds with invincibility. Overall, I preferred the game when it was a trance-like endurance challenge of skill, not a mostly easy, repetitive, time wasting, indulgent, sometimes impossible game with all of its best features fragmented and mixed in with a bunch of rubbish. One reviewer here said the levels seem auto generated. I would like to agree if I knew the old ones weren't, and several seemed identical this time around. Maybe they are just poorly designed copy paste jobs, but if these levels are curated, why are they so bland? I refunded the game, and I feel disappointed for what could have been, and was.