Forgot password
Enter the email address you used when you joined and we'll send you instructions to reset your password.
If you used Apple or Google to create your account, this process will create a password for your existing account.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Reset password instructions sent. If you have an account with us, you will receive an email within a few minutes.
Something went wrong. Try again or contact support if the problem persists.
Unto the End demo preview Steam Festival 2 Ton Studios Big Sugar Punch-Out!! combat

Unto the End Is a Survival Adventure Where Every Single Battle Is a Deadly Game of Punch-Out!!

This article is over 4 years old and may contain outdated information

There are only seven enemies total in the demo for Unto the End ā€” eight if you count the one peaceful guy you can attack towards the end. That doesnā€™t sound like much, but each encounter is seared into my memory, and itā€™s all thanks to the unique and gratifying approach the game takes to combat.

Recommended Videos

Thereā€™s a warning that pops up when you first start the game, telling players that fighting works a lot differently than theyā€™re used to. It requires timing, positioning, and staying calm ā€” swinging your sword around wildly will probably only kill you. Thatā€™s not an unusual way for games to work these days, especially in the soulslike genre.

Make no mistake, Unto the End clearly takes inspiration from soulslikes: You craft healing tonics at campfires, you can dodge-roll your way out of danger, and you wonā€™t get very far in the game until you git gud. But Iā€™d hesitate to call it a 2D soulslike, especially since the gameā€™s approach to fighting is completely different from what the genre usually offers.

Unto the End demo preview Steam Festival 2 Ton Studios Big Sugar Punch-Out!! combat

Fighting is a matter of blocking and countering, feinting and striking where enemies are exposed, and the developers have stated before how Punch-Out!! was a major influence on the game. The combat tutorial introducing these mechanics takes place at what appears to be an idyllic rural home, with you sparring against your wife as your kid looks on. Afterward, you find yourself in a faraway cave with the apparent goal of getting back home.

Unfortunately, the combat tutorial didnā€™t prepare me well for what else the game had in store. The first thing I saw was an upstanding rock that crushed me dead as soon as I walked too close. When I tried again, I was a little overly enthusiastic with my dodge rolls, which sent me careening head first into solid rock. This was a serious enough injury to cause heavy bleeding, as I discovered when I collapsed from blood loss a while later.

Unto the End is not a game that plays nicely. Over the course of the demo, I was impaled by one-hit-kill throwing spears, died by staggering from my wounds at just the wrong time during battle, and got struck down after I forgot I left my throwing knife lodged in another enemyā€™s chest.

Unto the End demo preview Steam Festival 2 Ton Studios Big Sugar Punch-Out!! combat

More commonly, though, I was just outmatched by my opponents. I misread their attacks, mistimed my dodges, and failed to realize that I was attacking in the same direction they were blocking. See, youā€™re not playing some superpowered hero here ā€” youā€™re just a guy with a sword, fighting for your life against other, tougher guys who can easily knock you flat, disarm you, and bash your brains in if youā€™re not careful.

You can still pull off some impressive stuff, tricking and decapitating foes in a matter of moments, but those types of moves take a lot more skill to pull off than I have at my disposal. In one of the gameā€™s tougher encounters, I found myself trying to gain some distance from my foe so I could craft a second throwing knife to join the one already sticking out of the guyā€™s rib cage.

The result is that every encounter has a weight to it that you donā€™t often see in games, especially 2D platformers. A momentā€™s hesitation can lead to a quick and brutal death, and a second enemy appearing behind you in the midst of a battle will force you to completely rethink your strategy.

Winning a fight is satisfying, but even if you come out victorious, you need to make sure you tend to your wounds before you bleed out and die unceremoniously on the cold cavern floors.

The demo is short, but I found myself playing it over and over, hoping to avoid injury, master the mechanics, and see if I could finally get good enough to kill that guy on the bridge. Sure, he doesnā€™t want to fight, but winning fights is so satisfying that I couldnā€™t help myself.

He still strikes me dead with ease, but I probably deserve it.


The Escapist is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission.Ā Learn more about our Affiliate Policy
Author
Image of Phillip Moyer
Phillip Moyer
Phillip Moyer works at the local news station KSNV-TV, but that's boring, so he also writes about video games whenever he can. His work has also appeared in EGM, TouchArcade, TheGamer, and other outlets.