Game

The End of Us

2011 · Web browser · Indie

About this game

Circling chasing bumping leading caretaking racing following friendling crashing bouncing rushing thriving finally understanding dying

"The End of Us" was designed to evoke friendship, attachment, and affinity without overt narrative. The orange comet's behaviors - introducing itself with a walloping hello, then running away can-you-catch-me style, circling around you for attention or chasing after the stars (what do those do, anyway? Do you just want them because Orange does?) - are intended to endear. It might not arise directly from the actions (Orange spends a non-trivial amount of time bashing into you after all) but emerges from the familiarity of friendship, good and bad, and the hollow that arises after one-to-one attention vanishes, permanently, for whatever reason. As you grow and age and eventually start to fade alongside your friend, you come upon an asteroid belt that chips away at both of you. Your final (only?) choice in the game is who will take the fall, and who will have to suffer a solo existence after.