Endoparasitic is a 2022 indie tactical Survival Horror game.
You play as Cynte, a scientist on a secret research facility on an asteroid. A terrible outbreak has occurred, infecting everyone with parasites and creating mutated monsters ready to kill anyone that the parasites don't get to first. Three monsters grab onto Cynte and tear off three of his limbs. With only his right arm available, Cynte must crawl around, collect vaccines to ward off the parasite within him and collect weapons to fight off the mutant monsters, all in order to save his research!
This indie game was developed by one person with the username Miziziziz. The game's core concept was created in 2021 as part of the Ludum Dare 48, which challenged game developers to create a video game in 72 hours. Miziziziz was able to finish his design in 15 hours for the contest. Miziziziz would decide to put in extra polish into the concept, introducing more enemies, weapons, mechanics, and a story into the game. The game was released on October 24, 2022.
This game contains examples of:
- A God Am I: Cynte hoped that the parasites would make him into their prime host so that he could rule over them as a God. He doesn't take it well when it's revealed that they have chosen Luce instead.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: Cynte is not the nicest person around, focusing more on his research into the parasites rather than any ethics or safety measures one would need when delving into something as dangerous as them. However, he wasn't the one responsible for their outbreak; Luce was.
- An Arm and a Leg: Cynte loses three of his limbs at the start of the game, left with only his right arm for everything.
- Artistic License – Anatomy: Cynte's legs were connected to his abdomen just where his ribcage ends.
- Bad Boss: Cynte appears to be the senior scientist in the trio who are aware and working with the parasites (the other two being Pravi and Luce). He is very dismissive of the two of them in his notes and interactions in the game.
- Bait-and-Switch: The various notes found in the levels and the dialogue with Pravi hint that Cynte may have intentionally started the outbreak for the purposes of research. However, it was Luce who started the outbreak.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: The Hunter appears to have a blade for its right arm.
- Chest Burster: If the parasite is allowed to make it to Cynte’s brain, Cynte dies and the death image shows the parasite sprouting out of his head.
- Cliffhanger: The game ends as such, with Luce taking the last escape spacecraft and stranding Cynte in the research facility. The game ends with "To be continued..."
- Cold Equation: Pravi begs Cynte to help open the air lock in order for Pravi to escape his predicament, but Cynte says doing so risks more of the mutated monsters from getting in or out of the facility. A few moments later with Pravi meeting a mutated monkey and it was not Cynte's problem anymore.
- Crawling Armory: Towards the end, Cynte is carrying four different types of weapons on his back.
- Crazy-Prepared: The vaccine syringes for the parasite were intentionally scattered all across the research facility in case of an outbreak.
- Determinator: In spite of an initially poor showing with his limbs getting torn off, in short order Cynte cauterizes his wounds, shrugs off the effects of shock after both these physically traumatizing experiences, and becomes a one-man army that guns down scores of monsters that full-bodied peers of his are slaughtered wholesale by. This is even reflected by the game's health system, which is reflected by the parasite burrowing closer to his brain. That's right: the only reason why getting mauled by mutants is lethal for him is it's accelerating the rate the parasite kills him, not any injuries he's directly given. And then he tries to outrun Luce to the escape shuttle.
- Effortless Achievement: Most of the game's achievements are easily obtainable just by playing through the game. The only arguable achievement that the player needs to earn themselves is staggering the Hunter before or during the final boss.
- Flare Gun: Cynte finds a flare gun which when fired can burn anything in its trajectory.
- Flunky Boss: The game's final boss is just a clump of writhing biomass that cannot directly defend itself and can only plant egg sacs that will hatch into more enemies. It is entirely reliant on these enemies, as well as the Hunter, to kill Cynte. Killing it kills all of them too.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Luce, Cynte's secretary, was "chosen" by the parasites, causing the outbreak while she remained safe due to some symbiosis relationship with the parasites. It is to the extent that she is able to survive outside in space.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: Sneaking in this game only refers to how fast Cynte crawls and whether he uses his firearms. His occasional coughs and the sound of empty shells dropping when reloading are not considered.
- Grid Inventory: Cynte's ammunition inventory is divided into grids for management. Though the game will automatically sort the ammunition so the player doesn't need to.
- Handicapped Badass: Being this is a necessity for Cynte to survive or fend off all of the parasite monsters and get around the research facility with only a single arm left on him.
- Heal It With Fire: Cynte uses an iron to cauterize the wounds from his limbs being ripped off so he doesn't quickly bleed to death.
- I Just Want to Be Special: One of Luce's motivation to get in touch with the parasites, feeling pushed out from Pravi's and Cynte's circle on the research facility.
- Implacable Man: The Hunter counts as one, as once it becomes active it will relentlessly pursue Cynte, killing everything in its path in pursuit of him. Attacking the Hunter is also barely worth it; if attacked right after it appears but before its own attacks, it will just teleport away. It can be damaged after attacking Cynte if you get out of the way and shoot it quickly enough, but doing enough damage to "stagger" it just makes it stop attacking you for about half a minute.
- Incurable Cough of Death: Cynte coughs up blood in the game every time the parasite inside him inches closer to his brain.
- Injured Self-Drag: This is the sole traversal method of the main protagonist, Cynte, since monsters had tore off both of his legs and his left arm.
- Ironic Echo: Done to Cynte in the end when Luce strands him on the facility while echoing a phrase Cynte said to Pravi before the latter's death.
- It Can Think: The parasites. Although Cynte and Pravi's research noted that the parasites have a tendency to choose a host that would reign over, it was Luce's attempt to interact with the parasites that they showed their ability to communicate with her.
- Jerkass: Cynte's monologuing and notes found in the game paint him as an insufferable, uncaring scumbag with delusions of godhood. Once the parasites break out, he cancels all evacuation orders in order to save his research while leaving everyone else to die or be converted into monsters.
- Living on Borrowed Time: There's a parasite inside Cynte's body that is slowly inching towards his brain. The vaccines you find throughout the game cannot kill it, only temporarily undo it's progress. Cynte taking damage is what also speeds up the parasite's progress.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Part of Luce's motivation to interact with the parasites, feeling pushed out from Cynte's and Pravi's research circle on the parasites with Pravi ignoring her and Cynte being very dismissive of her in his interactions before and after the outbreak.
- Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: While pitiable for his conditions at the beginning of the game, Cynte's attitude toward the situation isn't really sympathetic, cancelling evacuation orders to preserve his research, and it's revealed that he considered testing the parasites on other researchers, something the other scientists disapproved of.
- Parasitic Horror: There is a parasite in Cynte that is slowly inching towards his brain, and the vaccine syringes scattered across the facility can't kill it, only keep it at bay.
- Playing Possum: The 'corpse traps' do this. You see them lying on the ground, seemingly dead and only part of the background. However, make too much noise (either by moving too fast or firing any weapon that isn't the crossbow), and they will reach for you with their Creepily Long Arms. If there's also another enemy (usually a mutated scientist) in the way which you have to kill... Well... good luck.
- Recycled In Space: The concept of "legless character who moves by dragging" brings to mind Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy, but this time it's a survival horror game.
- Revolvers Are Just Better: The first weapon Cynte finds is a revolver holding six rounds.
- Sawed-Off Shotgun: The shotgun Cynte finds is a double-barrel sawed-off shotgun.
- Shout-Out: Your mutilated torso is moving around using your only remaining arm and mutated rats are a common threat. Sounds familiar, right?
- Skewed Priorities: The entire research facility has undergone a catastrophic outbreak with most of its occupants dead, and Cynte's first thought in this outbreak is to save his research. An even more jarring example occurs when Cynte finds Luce's notes about her secret experimentation with the parasites, as he states he will "report her to the research board". He says this while dragging his legless body, surrounded by corpses and zombies in the middle of the facility outbreak.
- Sociopathic Hero: Depending on your perspective, Cynte can be this or Villain Protagonist. His primary concern during the outbreak is to save his research, everyone else be damned.
- Standard FPS Guns: While your weapon options are limited and the game has a top-down perspective, the emphasis on high-mobility action in many cases does make Cynte's arsenal -and the order you acquire it in- run parallel to conventions of the genre.
- Per tradition, the revolver is the first weapon you pick up. Each shot is individually weak (requiring four bullets to kill the standard mutated scientist enemy) but ammunition for it is not a big concern between the small size of individual rounds, the revolver being able to carry six rounds in it at a time, and how often you will find bullets lying on the ground to use. Even after other weapons are introduced that are stronger than it, it's the weapon best suited for dealing with rats as anything else is overkill.
- The sawed-off shotgun is found next. While its shells take up significantly more space in your inventory, a single shell is enough to kill a mutated scientist and being able to have two shells loaded at once makes it much more reliable when dealing with multiple enemies at once.
- The flaregun fills the spot usually reserved for a Grenade Launcher. As the flares pass through enemies and light them on fire until they die, it reigns supreme for dealing with a horde of approaching enemies, and the flares themselves can bounce off walls to strike enemies no other weapon is able to. Its greatest drawbacks are the rarity and large size of its ammunition, which limit how much you can carry with you and thus often renders it Too Awesome to Use.
- The crossbow is reserved for last, and functions as a powerful Sniper Rifle analogue. Its shots are silent, ammunition is held in a part of your inventory unique to it (thus it costs you nothing to carry as much as possible), it does as much damage as the shotgun, and you can recover ammunition after firing it regardless of if it hit an enemy or not. The fact its shots are "free" makes it ideal for shooting far ahead of you to deal with threats before you encounter them. Its only notable weakness is a longer reloading process than every other gun (as the drawstring must be manually rewound before loading another bolt), leaving it less effective when dealing with multiple enemies up close at once than the shotgun or the flaregun.
- To Be Continued: The game ends with this in the ending card.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Luce delivers one to Cynte.Luce: You're the ignorant one Cynte. You think being dedicated to your work, worshipping knowledge, and valuing science over others' lives and happiness. Who is above everyone else? You're not above me, you're not above Parvati, you're not even above the lab rats! You're immoral, unethical, you have no compassion, no virtues, and you haven't even got the self-awareness to care without feeling you're nothing.
- Unexpectedly Realistic Gameplay: Because Cynte only has his right arm, he has to do everything manually, including removing and reloading individual ammo casings.
- Villain Protagonist: Depending on your perspective, Cynte can be this or Sociopathic Hero. As mentioned above, his sole concern is to save his research while leaving everyone else to die in the outbreak, and notes found in the game reveal he actually considered releasing the parasites so he could rule over them as their God... Unfortunately for him, Luce beat him to it.
- You Dirty Rat!: Mutated lab rats almost as big as Cynte's torso are an enemy in the game.
