The End of You [Review]
Memory of God’s latest effort is a short but powerful work about grief and regret.
The End of You. Credit: Memory of God / Lambic Studios
Developer Coyan Cardenas aka Memory of God’s The End of You is a meditation on the past, a deeply introspective and obviously personal story about seeking closure. It’s a narrative game, where a man named Walter experiences memories as he finds and packs up things that belonged to his ex, Emily.
The game’s writing is powerful, ushering you toward an inevitable conclusion. You relive some moments dealing with heavy topics; the game effectively makes you experience Walter’s discomfort around them. Regardless of what you choose to say in remembered conversations, Walter creeps toward the destruction of his relationship.
The End of You. Credit: Memory of God / Lambic Studios
The aesthetics and visual language of chunky, harsh-edged PlayStation 1 era horror games also work to throw the player into the past, the realm of memory. When Walter dives into the realm of memory, any lights that were on in the apartment shut off, representing the struggle to get out of that dark place regret leaves you. Grief can change the space around you, and the visual style makes Walter’s apartment feel uncomfortable and alien.
The End of You. Credit: Memory of God / Lambic Studios
You can walk, examine, pick up, and throw items. You can interact with some things, such as a stereo or VCR that allow you to insert and play tapes. The gameplay and controls are fine, if maybe a bit clunky. The only issue I had was that once a small object is on the floor, I couldn’t pick it back up. It becomes a problem because to make progress you must toss Emily’s belongings into a box. Fortunately, the game has an option hidden in the Settings screen that will reset the position of any of those key items. It’s an ugly solution to the problem, which should have been addressed in the gameplay itself, but at least I didn’t enter a state where I couldn’t progress. I just wish having to do this didn’t pull me out of the headspace that the game creates.
I recommend this game if you appreciate mature, well crafted stories in games. The End of You is a powerful work of art.
The End of You is available now on Steam for PC.
Overall Score: 7/10
Played on: Steam Deck
