End Of Starchild

End Of Starchild is an ambitious standalone project built on a modified GZDoom engine. Serving as a sequel to the mod Time Tripper, the game is fully self-contained: it doesn't require the original Doom II or its resources to run. The game skillfully combines a furious first-person arcade shooter with a deep, dreamlike exploration of the world, leaving the impression of a monumental, multilayered work.

Story setup and characters

The story tells of intertwined souls, obsession, and the prison of thoughts. The main character is Elph, a horned non-binary demon hunter with purple hair who wakes up every morning in their apartment in a growing fog of oblivion. Alongside them, the world contains:

• Moon: their girlfriend and partner, possessing powerful creative energy.

• Amnesiac: keeper and destroyer of records in the halls of the mind.

• Tunneler: a mysterious gremlin merchant with a creaky voice who creates checkpoints in exchange for your resources.

Gameplay and combat mechanics

Visually and mechanically, the game is a neon bullet hell at breakneck speed. Enemies (members of the Akasha cult, demons, and mages) fill the arenas with geometric patterns of pink and blue projectiles that you constantly have to weave between.

• Beyond the powerful base weapons (a shotgun with rocket-jump capability, a hyper machine gun, and a railgun that pierces enemies), opponents often drop single-use gear: throwing stars, fire bombs, gravity wells, or homing axes, which encourages improvisation.

• The resolve system serves as the local equivalent of armor. It's spent on slowing down time or can be sold to the merchant to create a save point. There are no free saves in the game.

• Difficulty dynamically adjusts to you right during combat. Kills and item pickups raise your rank (enemies become stronger), while taking damage and time reduce it. By scoring points for damage chains, you can compete for a high score.

Secrets and virtues

The game is literally woven from mysteries in the spirit of Yume Nikki. After clearing enemies, levels turn into mazes to explore, where an air dash lets you find 4 types of hidden entities:

• Memory: hidden zones with glitchy mini-bosses that reveal fragments of the hero's painful past.

• Meeting: hidden plush toys you can talk to, get hints about secrets from, or fully restore your health.

• Magnetic: upgrades for the JRPG terminal.

• Mirage: resting places (red couches/benches) where the character falls asleep and sinks into surreal platformer dreams.

A game within a game

One of the main features is SONATA, a full-fledged built-in 8-bit JRPG in an old-NES style, launched directly from the computer in Elph's apartment. It offers a completely different gameplay experience: grim text-based lore and real-time tactical battles on a 3x3 grid (in the spirit of Mega Man Battle Network). Death here is final and rolls back progress, and new zones in SONATA open up as you find secrets in the main 3D shooter.

Conclusion

End Of Starchild is a rare example of how the boundaries of an old engine can be stretched beyond recognition, turning a classic retro shooter into a melancholic, deeply personal, and stylistically flawless parable. Playing through the game leaves a lasting aftertaste: beneath the facade of neon madness hides an absorbing "well" structure, where every false wall opens onto a new, even darker depth. The game demands not only perfect reflexes to fight the Akasha cult, but also a willingness to sink into a melancholic psychedelic trip. This free indie masterpiece is definitely worth the time spent and proves that Doom's legacy is capable of evolving into the most unexpected and poetic gaming forms.