STAGE 4 - The End

The End Review

Story

How does the narrative explore the philosophies of Death?

The End explores the philosophies of death through distinct culture beliefs, philosophical questions and science. The End’s narrative is about your avatar who seems to have died from a crashing meteorite. However, this is not The End of your avatar but the beginning. Your avatar awakes in a dark place in which you discover strange-looking creatures later known as guardians. There are 3 realms named mind, body, and spirit where these guardians watch over and your avatar must journey through.

After successfully passing through the challenges set in a level, the player will be asked a thoughtful question about life. The narrative of The End effectively explores the philosophies of death through these questions; Are humans cut from other parts of nature? Is there such a thing as a cause worth dying for Is it important to have children? Do we have a soul that could live on after our death? They are moral dilemma questions that provoke the player to think critical about life and death. These philosophical questions teach the player, beliefs and perspectives about cultures and religions around the world. The audience is informed about a culture or a religion’s viewpoint on a matter relating to death.  

There are 6 levels in each world. To complete a level the player must go through a series of puzzled situations, passing through deadly obstacles to proceed to the next level. The level is then ended by challenging the guardian of the realm you are currently in, to a game of death cards. As a reward, the guardian offers a ‘death object’ which strongly relates to the level’s question. Certain death objects symbolizes an idea that relates to death. For example, the death object, syringe (lethal injection) has a description saying 

Lethal injection description

Syringe

“Today, this is still one of the most controversial debates around death. Organisations like dignitas argue that terminally ill people have the right be helped to die, while others argue that this assisted suicide should never be allowed.” These death objects clearly show philosophies of death in the quote above. Explaining the moral dilemma in this description, the question; ‘Should people be able to choose how they die?’ Closely links to the death object.

I personally don’t believe in this concept because we shouldn’t have power over death, not yourself nor others. With my bias view and opinion, I’ve come to realise that there is more to it than it seems. From the description of this death object, it has really made me think about other perspectives on this matter. 

What themes/messages are clearly displayed by the story?

The End clearly displays a theme of self-realization. Through exploring the realms of body, mind and spirit, the player ultimately learns more about themselves as they play each level. The developers display this theme through a player’s experience.  “Paramahansa Togananda defined self-realization as the knowing – in body, mind and soul – that we are one with the omnipresence of God.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-realization) Relatively, the player learn their identity and the body, mind and soul by answering those thought-provoking questions. 

Which culture does the story look at?

The narrative in The End explores many eastern cultures. Ancient Egyptians believed that life continued even after death – in the “afterlife”. To them, death was only a temporary interruption or pause to life. (ipfactly.com) To an extent, entering the afterlife in The End happens right in the beginning. Ancient egyptians believed .

Art

How does the art explore the philosophies of Death?

The art in The End explores death through its illustration of worlds and diverse avatars. The End begins with character creation with several features to make your character unique and special. Some of these features refer to death in some sense, such as the option to have stitches or have a skull t-shirt. A personal favorite of mine would be the camera t-shirt because I thought of it as my avatar acting as a tourist wanting to take pictures in the after-life J Each avatar is unique with distinct colors, t-shirt, hairstyles and this diversity of characters closely mirrors our views on different cultures, religion, and beliefs.

The stage art in all 18 levels are surreal. There are 6 levels in each world, in which the art is unusual but has bright and diverse colors used which create an unreal vibe. The stage art may interpret the many different perceptions of life after death.

Taking a closer look at the spirit world, the art is most strange and beautiful. The spirit world has a variety of cold shades, purple, black and blue. These colors portray death through its dark colors and strange objects like crystals and pink grass. 

Which culture does the art look at?

Gods otherwise known as deities in eastern culture have similar beings to ones in The End especially the ‘body’ guardian who strongly mirrors deity ‘Vishnu’ from Hinduism culture.

In the End, guardians are portrayed as big and almighty beings. Just like in many religions and cultures, most have a higher being(s) they worship. Whereas in The End, these higher beings are the guardians of the galaxy who offer a death object at the end of every level.

The guardians do portray religion beliefs with almighty and divine beings. For instance, the ‘body’ guardian has several arms when provoked to play a game of death cards. This can be a reference to eastern culture Hinduism.

Game-Play

How does the game-play explore the philosophies of Death?

Game-play explores the philosophies of death through the doors of decision. There are 2 doors, one labelled ‘yes’ and the other ‘no’ and you are presented with a though-provoking question about life. The player has a choice, so it’s up to the player to answer the question. 

I recognized when playing the video game that my choices are subjective. The doors of decision ask philosophical questions about something relating to the current realm you’re in. I think that when asked these questions that the player doesn’t really think deeply enough about the question.  

Which culture does the game-play look at?

Shadow walking is an ability your player uses in some areas of the game to progress further in the level. This ability allows your avatar to walk out of your solid body into a pitch-black body and walk on to temporary surfaces - shadows. This mechanic is interesting because it refers indirectly to spiritual and scientific aspects. Personally, I first interpreted shadow walking as a way astral projecting where the player creates his/her path.