The End Is Nigh

It’s not for everyone. My feeling is that if you got through Super Meat Boy, you’ll also enjoy The End is Nigh. It scratches the same itch, but it feels like a harder game. I enjoy figuring out how to get through any given stage, but making it happen is where the challenge is. It’s a great feeling when you come to a stage and say “how in the world…” and then beat it a few minutes (and several dozen deaths) later. Personally, I love this game to death even if it does feel like beating my head against the wall sometimes.

The End is Nigh is a marvelous and challenging game, and is both familiar but also somewhat alien for fans of both Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel’s past works. Its excellent level design and numerous hidden secrets and challenges will offer those willing to take it on hours upon hours of grueling, satisfying gameplay.

Brutally hard 2D-platformer with a bizarre setting and mainly aimed at fans of Super Meat Boy.

The End is Nigh is an extremely difficult but well-designed challenge, one which will be sought after by those who enjoy games where the challenge level doesn't stop rising and where level design is refined. While the ending of each chapter may be less climatic than thought, The End is Nigh is a piece of gaming that is worthy of every attention.

The End is Nigh proves how fun that weirdness can be. The hundreds of stages provide a ton of devilishly difficult yet delightful gameplay, the setting is interesting enough to keep me going through the gauntlet, and that signature McMillan aesthetic runs all throughout the adventure.

The End is Nigh isn't a platformer for the faint-hearted but it will keep you addicted for a good long while, and feels right at home on the Switch.

Like a spiritual successor to Super Meat Boy, The End is Nigh takes form as a similar 2D side scrolling platform game. By adding an interconnected world to the mix, it encourages exploration, while still delivering that same hardcore and challenging experience.

It's really tough to follow-up Super Meat Boy, but Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel did it nonetheless with a dreary challenging platformer.

The End is Nigh is chock-full of content that any hardcore platformer will enjoy. There are hundreds of tumours to collect, and over a dozen game cartridges to search for, along with nonlinear paths that require some exploration to find. The controls are wonderful, and besides a minor adjustment period, feel precise and responsive. Complete with multiple environments and hundreds of levels, the journey to unite Ash with friends and his favourite video games is a rewarding one that is definitely worth checking out.

There’s no doubt about it - The End Is Nigh delivers excellent platforming. It’s a manageable challenge from start to finish, and a game that becomes more and more enjoyable as you slowly adapt to its seemingly unforgiving design. At the same time you’ll never feel completely unstoppable like you would in other notable platform titles. It keeps you on your toes from start to finish and has a balance few other games associated with this genre manage to achieve. If you are a fan of the source material and happen to enjoy well-crafted and tough platform games, check this one out.

The End is Nigh is one of the premiere indie gems on Nintendo Switch. Difficulty and rewards issues aside, this one’s immensely replayable, hilarious, and genuinely well designed in both sound, visuals, and gameplay. It’s the kind of game that may drive you nuts with its difficulty, but only because you know that you’re the one making the mistakes.

Despite being a fun, challenging platformer, The End is Nigh is too similar to Super Meat Boy and the comparison does it no favours whatsoever. It does work very well on Switch though, especially in handheld mode.