[i]"Caught a Peter Panini!"[/i]
– Obligatory fishing minigame
[b]Endacopia[/b] is a bizarre point-and-click game from the mind of Andyland.
In my experience, games spawned from the mind of a single person really tend to be the most interesting ones, and Endacopia reinforces that experience.
[h2]First impressions[/h2]
I'd say much like Shovel Knight was a fusion of many 2D platformer games of the NES era, Endacopia is a fusion of Humongous Entertainment titles like Freddie Fish, Pajama Sam and Putt-Putt, and point-and-clicks such as Kings Quest and Day of the Tentacle. It also uses that weird bowling alley-style pixelated 3D-graphics for several scenes, which is reminiscent of many odd local games I used to play, and that you've perhaps played on a good old chunky PC at school... if you grew up in the 90s-00s that is. It's first and foremost a point-and-click though, and as such will involve a lot of puzzle-solving and item collection.
[h2]Rambling about Tip[/h2]
Endacopia is modernised in the way of Tip, a talking sign that can offer you advice if you ever get stuck. As a professional puzzler myself, I of course ignored him as best as I could and yet... he [i]robbed[/i] me of solving a puzzle early on!
Just a basic, non-spoilery outline: At the beginning of Chapter 1, Mellow loses his three main senses and it's up to you to find them before you can begin proper. Right, the boy's name is Mellow... or is it [spoiler]Rodger[/spoiler]? Anyway, if you prematurely leave the area where his mouth is, Tip pops up and straight up tells you how to get it. This is so you don't get stuck not being able to ask Tip for advice. It would've been better if Tip could be triggered without the mouth at all. The game already abstracts away not having eyes yet being able to see and walk around, so I don't get why it'd need to be realistic in this one minor facet. Yes I'm salty, do not take puzzles away from me, it makes me sad.
[h2]Setting[/h2]
The setting, characters, and lore is pretty bizarre. Not quite on the level of Dungeon Munchies and Super Daryl Deluxe, but it's up there. The house, the world inside the toilet, and the nooks and crannies beyond, all of it is very intriguing even after getting most of the answers in one of the endings.
As for the characters, I like that most are friendly, and Mellow himself is a pretty good-natured boy. He's like the anti-Rufus from Deponia, and solutions to puzzles rarely come at the expense of another character's well-being. That doesn't mean horrible things never happen, but you're never the instigator at least... unless you want to be in one extremely minor decision.
[h2]Horror[/h2]
On startup the game has a warning that some imagery can be disturbing. I'll confirm that yes, this is true.
Unfortunately there are several jump-scares in here as well, which is the horror equivalent of a stand-up comedian tickling you and calling it a joke well executed. It does have some proper atmospheric unsettling horror though, and I think it's well done. The one under the sand on the beach got me because it was unexpected and my mind kept on wondering what that was all about. Look forward to feeling a bit queasy.
Still docking points for the jumpscares though, I always do.
[h2]Where's the foightin'?[/h2]
Fear not, adrenaline junkies, there is actually combat in this game. It's a one-on-one battle that involves blocking and punching. These actions cost stamina which regenerates, and getting hit costs health, which does not. Battles are reserved for bosses, so no random encounters or anything weird like that. Every fight is unique in a sense, as the guards and tells and methods of inflicting damage are different between them. I don't mind the gameplay of it in general, it's just that it's an odd inclusion in a point-and-click puzzle game, and the final fight before the third ending is just cruel.
[h2]Cheevos[/h2]
I always like to take a look at the achievements even if I'm not anal about getting them, as if I'm just a few off I can always be convinced to get them anyway. So, one look at them aaaaand... yeah, never getting 100%. It got a "kick the ball 100 times" style one, and I hate those, so I'll never get it. A bit of a shame, since the rest are mostly doable with critical thinking alone.
[h2]Endings and replays[/h2]
The game has three endings. Most players will find two of them just on their own, as post-chapter 3 makes it pretty obvious where the fork in the road was. The third ending however, is quite a bit more esoteric to figure out. I'd suggest the light hint guide for this one, unless you're really, truly, feeling this game and want to extend it for as long as possible.
An interesting decision that the developer made is that the endings go from the "best" to the "worst." As such, most players will get the good ending first, while the bad one is locked behind many secrets. It gives you the most answers, so that's the appeal of it. Because of this, whether you enjoy Endacopia for 6 hours or 15 hours, you'll always walk away satisfied. I think that's a good departure from the default "secret ending is the best ending".
[h2]Save slots not included[/h2]
Cheevo and ending hunting is a bit cumbersome because of the one thing Endacopia didn't copy from the point-and-click genre: multiple save slots. You have 1 (that is one, uno, single, lone) save slot. The game is generous in that you don't really lose progress upon death, but with only one save slot you have to replay the entire game if you want to try different things. It's fairly short, but it's still a bit odd. Some areas have shortcuts you can take if you have knowledge from a previous run which is good, but I think more could've been in place. Making the party password a free-form text input instead of a learned dialogue option would've cut down Timesville considerably for example.
And yes, I know you can copy save files manually on your PC, but that's not really a convenient solution.
[h2]Conclusion[/h2]
A solid, if a bit easy, point-and-click game unless you're trying to get the third ending on your own. The characters are fun and the story is interesting all the way to the end, and the end 2, and the end 3. It also has a fishing minigame, so it's automatically a recommend. Just leave the jumpscares in your tool bag next time, Andy.
