Wings of Endless Review

Wings of Endless puts players in the proverbial shoes of Hariku, a brash bounty hunter boasting of being the best. One day, his life is turned upside down after a seemingly routine task reveals the mysteries of an ancient war that was believed to have ended generations ago. On his adventure, Hariku will come across an enigmatic talking owl, Owly, who will give him help throughout his adventures.

Wings of Endless is a 2D action RPG/Metroidvania style game. Players will explore various areas, killing enemies in order to earn Experience Points (XP) in order to improve your character’s stats. Our main hero, Hariku, uses a giant mallet as a weapon. Shortly after starting the game, you’ll earn wings which will allow you to dash and double jump. You can also dodge attacks. And a stamina bar.

As you progress through the story, you’ll come across two new party members to help you with their unique skills. First up is Diana, who uses knives and bombs. She also has the ability to become “invisible” in order to avoid enemies or certain traps like “flamethrowers” set on walls or ceilings. And then there’s Makoto, who uses ice/fire magic abilities to freeze/kill enemies. He can also freeze himself to become temporarily invincible.

If your current character get’s KO’ed, you automatically swap to another character. And you have the chance to revive the deceased character by mashing the X button, but this becomes problematic during boss fights. Throughout your adventures, you’ll also come across chests that will provide you with consumable items to ensure your survival; health potions or antidote. As with any RPG, you can purchase items and stronger gears at shops.

Also when visiting towns, you can find shops to purchase items, interact with the villagers and also take up additional side-quests. You’ll come across a board with a handful of side-quests you can sign up for; you can take them all at once. It makes things easier and avoid unnecessary back and forth. Some quests might push you to revisit earlier areas and discover items you missed your first go-round.

The game looks great; it features a vibrant and colorful 2D world to explore reminiscent of the classic 16-bit era. Each area having its unique theme and color palette. The enemy variety is decent and varies per area. However, things like poison plants and flamethrowers often mesh too well with the backdrop and can easily be missed resulting otherwise avoidable damage. The soundtrack is a cutesy score that fits the game’s overall theme.

The game does have a few nuisance. The first one being in the map. When you reach a new area, you have the blank map for you to explore, problem is that every opened path features an arrow showing which way to go. It feels unnecessary given the path shows open in the map and at first it can cause confusion as you’d think it’s where you need to go in order to progress through the story. The other nuisance is the controls. You’re forced to use the joystick to move around as the d-pad has been delegated to item selection. Doesn’t feel intuitive using the joystick in a 2D game. It also reduces any precision in terms of platforming. Bosses are also overpowered to the point where later bosses can either take out 2/3rd of your health or outright one hit kill you.

Overall, Wings of Endless is a fun, vast, non-linear action RPG/Metroidvania game that’ll keep you busy for some time. The combat is, for the most part, enjoyable and simplistic, areas are fun to navigate and explore. If you can adjust to the counterintuitive controls and learn from your mistakes during boss battles, you’ll have a decent time with Wings of Endless.