I half wanted The End of the Sun to be like A24’s Midsommar, where perhaps some maidens might be burned? Not that I’m into that, but independent cinema has skewed my narrative eye. Instead, this is a first-person Slavic fantasy that doesn’t solely depend on the tales of Baba Yaga. Our focus here is fire.
You play as an Ashter, some sort of mage, who’s hunting down a missing phoenix intent on a scorched Earth. It’s effectively a detective tale as you’re looking for clues and unravelling threads, with light puzzles along the way. Visually, it’s like Everyone’s Gone to the Rapture set in Skyrim. Your mage will stroll around some beautiful lands in search of embers, reigniting fires to evoke a memory. As you heat up the ashes, recaptured memories, like those in John Morley, appear, depicting a significant point in time that alludes to the phoenix’s whereabouts. Streams of smoke link to sometimes objects that can be interacted with, or reveal a puzzle or two.
These scenes in The End of the Sun reminded me of Rapture in that there is a disjointed memory to discover, only the characters are very clear, and there’s a lot less ambiguity associated with it all. Lighting these fires has a range to them, meaning if you leave the area, you have to reignite them. No dramas, as it’s pretty effortless to do. However, you’ll find that you’ll wander off for things to do. The End of the Sun is a beautiful game and very realistic, but in reality, as close as it looks to its counterpart in nature, there is nothing exciting to do. You’ll walk for ages without seeing a living soul and be unable to get hands on with the environment. Wait a minute… This is a walking simulator!
That’s not a huge reveal, nor is the game misleading; it’s just very pedestrian. 3D objects can be viewed and spun around, and there are numerous notes written in a playful font. The UI is a bit unsettling as you’ll see large icons pop up near points of interest, standing out as a sore thumb in retrospect to how lovely the trees are. The scenery is by far the standout, with brilliant textures and lighting, along with changes to the season. This, too, plays an important part in the game mechanics as certain hearths can only be reignited at specific times. Potentially, this evokes intrigue and appeals to those with the patience to watch paint dry or an oak tree grow, and despite having an abundance of patience (married with children), I found my interest fleeting.
The concept in The End of the Sun is appealing, but the methodical approach of walking solo through a whatever-century fantasy Poland was arduous. I didn’t like the character designs, and as petty as it sounds, the UI aspects, as they undid the graphical prowess of nature. Ultimately, though, the style of play and storytelling didn’t excite me. It’s not bad, nor is the actual dialogue – it just wasn’t for me. To be honest, I’d rather go for a walk on my own in the woods without finding my own objectives than relive the past through fire. Check out the other reviews, as this is just my opinion, as apparently on Steam, this game is fire.
