Unto The End News

Yes, you read that right – there's an Unto The End demo and it's available to download from the game's Steam page right now: get the demo here! We're super excited as it's the first time Unto The End has been publicly playable outside a showfloor event – it's been released as part of the three-day Digital Dragons 'Indie Celebration' showcase currently being hosted on Steam.

The demo lets you begin your mastery of the game's bespoke combat system as you encounter and fight creatures through perilous caves and a blood-soaked winter forest. If you need some guidance, be sure to check out the demo playthrough video with commentary from developer 2 Ton Studios, aka husband and wife team, Stephen Danton and Sara Kitamura. The vid will be streaming on the game's Steam page over the course of the Indie Celebration.



Unto The End is one of 50 indie games selected for the Indie Celebration event by a panel of industry figures, including representatives from Eurogamer, Destructoid, and Frostpunk developer, 11 Bit Studios. We're in great company, so be sure to check out the full line-up of showcased games at the Digital Dragons Indie Celebration page on Steam.

In addition to the demo, there's also a chance to get an early listen to some of the game's music. To coincide with the start of the Indie Celebration, anyone who joins the Big Sugar (i.e. the publisher of Unto The End) mailing list will receive – completely gratis – two tracks from the Unto The End OST, composed by Francesco Ameglio and Johnny Knittle. You can add your name here: https://mailchi.mp/bigsugargames/untotheend.

Anyway, enough chatter, go and play the Unto The End demo! If you're impressed, be sure to add the game to your Wishlist (which you can do now by hitting the widget below).

Thanks!

Matt | Big Sugar

https://store.steampowered.com/app/600080/Unto_The_End/

Xbox has released a video series shining a spotlight on the games that were going to be part of its GDC plans, and I'm delighted to say that Unto The End is one of the featured indies. As well as offering a glimpse at some never-seen-before areas with new gameplay footage, the video is narrated by Stephen and Sara, so you can hear them talking about Unto in their own words:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Would highly recommend you give all the videos a watch as there's an array of quality-looking indies to check out. You can find the whole series here: ID@Xbox Spotlight Series

If you like the look of Unto The End, please do click the widget below and add it to your Wishlist. All support is really appreciated.

Thanks!

Matt | Big Sugar

https://store.steampowered.com/app/600080/Unto_The_End/

In Unto The End each fight is handcrafted, involving intelligent, unique opponents.

We set aside side-scroller convention in favour of something that is intense and high stakes. Rewarding patience, smarts and decisiveness over blind courage.

Each opponent has their own fighting style and moveset. Success comes down to reading and reacting to that moveset - mitigating their attacks so you can find an opening for yours.

Deflecting attacks with your sword is a big part of it, but so is ducking under swipes, hopping over low strikes, or rolling at just the right time.



Support us by letting your friends know about Unto The End and adding it to your wishlist.

Cheers!

- Stephen and Sara

https://store.steampowered.com/app/600080/Unto_The_End/

We've been really happy to see a steady trickle of Unto The End coverage over the last few weeks from a nice mix of online, print (including a piece in Edge magazine, which really is a dream come true), and video channels, so we thought we'd share some of it with you here!



MSPoweruser (EGX preview): "The combat felt fantastic. Each swing, impact, and dodge had a strong sense of the weight behind it, making each attack feel like a commitment so you needed to be as precise as you were brutal." Read the full article

The Escapist (interview): "The story of Unto the End emerges as a result of the player’s actions in the world... There are these key moments, at six or seven points, where the player can choose to fight, to ignore, or to befriend another character." Read the full article

The Escapist (preview): "Many aspects of Unto the End immediately reminded me of the 1991 classic Out of This World... Mystery, atmosphere, and a true sense of danger create a palpable moment-to-moment tension, where missteps are often fatal." Read the full article


Edge Magazine, Issue 340 (4-page preview):"With our sword held either high or low, we can deal blows; we can deflect them in the same way, the clang and reverberation of metal so precisely rendered that we can almost feel it in our palms as our character reels back for just a moment."

Official Xbox Magazine, Issue 184 (2-page preview): "At first glance, Unto The End is a 2D platform adventure and it can look like a straightforward affair, but that's far from the case. There's a lot of nuance to the story and the combat takes a certain amount of practice and patience to master."

PC Gamer Magazine, Issue 338 (single-page preview): "Unto The End constantly reminds you that it's not just you who has to survive this harsh winterscape... Many of the creatures you encounter will have their own mysterious place within the world and choosing not to fight them can reveal fleeting moments of humanity in an otherwise cruel existence."

Official PlayStation Magazine, Issue 169 (preview round-up): "You have to read high and low attacks and block and counter properly to progress. But violence isn't always the answer. For example, one foe becomes an ally when we sheathe our sword and help their loved one."


Iron Lords Podcast (interview):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4Rha-38W74

Get Indie Gaming (video Top 10):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1el6ZFit3Ok

With so many fantastic indies out there that are deserving of attention, we're both humbled and delighted that Unto is getting noticed in such a positive way :)

If you haven't already, please feel free to add Unto The End to your Wishlist. Thank you!

- Stephen and Sara

https://store.steampowered.com/app/600080/Unto_The_End/

The old, beat-up piano you see below had been sitting under a tarp in the backyard of Unto The End music composer, Johnny Knittle, for over a year before he decided that, rather than leave it to the mercy of the Southern Californian weather for another 12 months, he would give it one last hurrah by – in his own words – “recording it, abusing it, and ultimately destroying it.”

We’re sure it’s what the piano would have wanted.



With the help of a couple of friends, the piano was moved into the house, which happened to be only a couple of weeks before Johnny was due to move out. With no time to waste, and between frenzied bouts of packing, he got to work creating a sample library of piano sounds.



According to Johnny, the piano was “out of tune in a cool way, the whole thing was down a half step as well, but it was mostly in tune with itself.” A state of imperfect harmony that other battered and past-their-prime instruments will undoubtedly find relatable.

He was able to record the sort of sounds you’d expect to hear from a piano, but he also used a few outlandish methods to extract various weird and wonderful tones, tunes and twangs.

In the video below, you can see and hear a few examples: a cue ball rolling along the piano strings; a vibrator (yes, a vibrator) placed on the strings; bowing the strings with fishing line; and the dramatic sound created by cutting the strings:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Other methods of noise making included hitting the strings, piano body, and soundboard with a hammer; using a heavy-duty staple gun to fire staples into the sides of the piano (a technique which produced “very quick transients and left more tail”); and resting a snare on top of the frame (this “added a great sound to the percussive hits as well as some of the music bed pads that had been created using the vibrator and bowing”).



To give you a taste of how Johnny’s adventures in piano experimentation will be woven into Unto The End’s soundtrack, listen to the ‘Cave Exit’ track in the video below. All the ambient sounds and percussion – i.e. everything you can hear that isn’t the vocalist, a violin, or a bass – were created using the piano. For example, the cue ball rolling along the strings is the opening sound.

(Note: footage is taken from the EGX demo, and not the final game)

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
After its outstanding services to sound design, where’s the old piano now? “That particular piano has gone to piano heaven,” Johnny explains. “If I had more time I would’ve cut away all the wood and kept the frame, but I was too down to the wire. I had people come haul its remnants away the day before I myself was completely moved out of that house. It’s okay though, I still have two more pianos… but there’s no way I’m destroying those, ha-ha!”

We salute the old piano (RIP) and give massive thanks to Johnny for his ongoing work in composing the perfect soundtrack for Unto The End.

Johnny can be found at the following links:

Web: https://johnnyrk.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/johnnyrk
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/johnnyrk

Hope you enjoyed this behind the scenes look at some of the work that's going into making Unto The End. If you like what you see (and hear), feel free to add us to your Wishlist.

- Stephen and Sara

https://store.steampowered.com/app/600080/Unto_The_End/