To be honest, it's rare to find a puzzle game on my mobile phone that I'm willing to calm down and play slowly. I have been playing "Cang Shen Lu" and "Seven Nights" in the Saipan era. The mobile game market has changed so much in recent years, and fast food has become serious. There are really not many teams that can concentrate on narrative and level design.
When I first came into contact with "Endless Nightmare", I didn't really have high expectations. After all, the game is free and produced by a small team. But as soon as I entered the game, I was attracted by the realistic style of painting. There are no cash pop-ups and no stamina system. It just lets you explore, solve puzzles, and read stories. This sense of old-school purity really takes me back to the time when I secretly played games on Nokia N95 ten years ago 😌
What surprised me the most was the integrated map design. To be honest, many mobile games now still use the scene-based loading method. When entering a door, a message must be read, and when changing areas, the screen will go black. But "Endless Nightmare" is completely load-free. You can freely walk around the entire map, open every door, and climb down every flight of stairs seamlessly. This kind of smoothness is not common in 3A masterpieces on PC, let alone on mobile phones.
The puzzle design is also very sincere. It's not the kind of mindless "find the difference" where you point at the screen, but the type that really requires you to observe the environment and combine clues to make inferences. The difficulty is moderate. When you get stuck, you can find the idea by thinking about it a little, and you won't have the urge to drop your phone. The plot is also complete. Although it cannot be said to be amazing, with the realistic atmosphere and delicate environmental narrative, the immersion is indeed full.
I don't want to brag about it, but if I insist on talking about shortcomings, it may still be a niche. The subject matter is dark, and players who like exhilarating fighting or social gameplay may find it boring. In addition, there is occasionally a slight lag when moving the viewing angle. I don't know if it is a problem with the configuration of my mobile phone (I am still using an old phone from two years ago).
Overall, this game allows me to see the attempts of domestic independent game teams in narrative and puzzle solving. Although it is not as generous as a big manufacturer, the sincerity and quality are here. Free, no in-app purchases, no ads, just to tell a good story. If you also miss the era when mobile games did not rely on krypton gold but relied on content to impress people, you might as well give it a try.
By the way, is it a bit off topic to post this kind of comment in the selfie dating section? 😂 But since the game is good, I want to seriously recommend it. Anyone who is interested can try it.