One day, I'm eating my ramen with a particularly well-crafted spoon. A spoon crafted from mined and forged materials no doubt. It's not like they're going to start melting down Dewalt Aluminum ladders to make dinnerware anytime soon, that'd be stupid. Ignoring the fact that Canada is a natural resource driven economy would be stupid too, we log, grow, pump and mine to put the P in GDP. As they young folks say It's not much, but it's honest work. Workers in the resource and manufacturing sector deserve our respect, accolades, maybe even their own month among the cluttered calendar of notable groups. Heck, I'd like to see a parade for our loggers, gas workers, farmers, miners, everyone. They're not the ones sitting on their butts playing video games all day, downing enough caffeine to kill a manatee. These brave workers risk life and limb to bring both product and prosperity to uncaring, flatulent masses, and they have my respect, but what does the future hold for these mavericks? what of miners?
It's been pondered before. If you can put a man on the moon, you can give him a shovel, a Redbull, and a timecard. Space rocks are theorized to contain massive concentrated resources, enough fuel the future need of lithium, iron, nickel, etc. I myself sometimes gaze at the stars and in an old western prospector voice exclaim "there's gold in them stars, gold!". Even the 1979 film Alien stars a group of space-miners going about their under-appreciated and dangerous work, that's before all heck breaks loose. Sure Alien is a sci-fi horror film, but mining is already a dangerous profession. I can only imagine the absolute terror, being thousands of feet underground, light-years from Terra. On earth we have a pretty good idea what's underground. Hazards are a inevitable, but we know what those hazards are. But deep into the cosmos, on some god-forsaken rock, do we have any idea what lies...at the End of the Mine?
Skirmish entertainments End of the Mine released 2016, and it's been sitting in my Steam library for far too long. Yet another gifted game that needs a thorough playthrough. If I had to describe End of The Mine in a run-on sentence, it would be platforming-horror-survival-indie-shooter-rpg. There's a lot going on in this game. From the plucky upgradeable drone, to the gruesome hand-drawn bosses, there's more than enough to shake a pick at, though it'd be advisable to brandish a gun instead. End of the Mine revolves around looting, exploring, and upgrading. There's a wealth of hidden items and upgrades on every replay-able level. It all makes
The reason End of the Mine made my spooktober list is it's spooky theme. The entire game is steeped in cosmic, existential horror. Early on its isolation and mystery, but later become involves confronting what lurks at the deepest point of the mine. Boss designs range from goofy looking to bizzare and grotesque, some even dropping bits of your mining comrades as they die. Even when there's no enemies to contend with, it's possible to run out of battery life on your environmental suit and die. End of the Mine is a survival horror game, all the way to it's harrowing conclusion.
After finishing the game I feel some obligation to give some review or recommendation. End of the Mine wasn't a great game, but isn't broken or terrible either. Sure it feels a little rough in the animations and lacks cloud save, but the framework for horror survival and gruesome mob design make it a promising first game for Skirmish Entertainment. Sadly I've found no signs of additional projects from the indie developer. Like so many space-miners that disappeared never to be seen again, so has Skirmish. I can't demand you go and buy the game, but it' just over a dollar on Steam if you feel its worth a gander.
That's a moderately spoopy start to spooptober, let's see what else we can do! Comrades!
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