App Army Assemble: Sixth Extinction - Does this dark, narrative-driven puzzler leave a lasting impression?

Sixth Extinction is a dark narrative-driven puzzle game that looks to make a statement about the nature of people and the world we all live in. It aims to do all of this within an hour. A short, meaningful experience is an intriguing prospect, so we decided to hand the game over to our App Army, to see what they thought.

Here's what they said:

Swapnil Jadhav

Sixth Extinction is a beautiful puzzle game with lovely art. People should use headphones while playing the game. Game mechanics are perfect and controls are easy. The only cons in this game are no tutorial and the game is very shot

Isaiah Stuart

I played this game on a Samsung S7. Right away, I really liked the sound and art style of the game. It was quite pretty. The gameplay, however, was where I felt the game came up most short. It was quite esoteric, which is usually fine with me, but this was just too abstract for me. The levels were pretty short, and not particularly challenging. The story felt absurdly self-serious, to the point where I couldn't take it seriously. All in all, not a bad game, per se, but I wouldn't pay for it.

Armaan Modi

Sixth Extinction is a very simple puzzle game with narration in between the levels. The graphics are very simple - exactly like a flash game. The game features only one kind of puzzle, one where you choose the correct steps to move forward. I played the game for an hour and reached level 6 in which I am still stuck. The UI has a problem. The main screen button and retry buttons are located on the bottom, near the movement controls, so they are pretty easy to hit by mistake and lose all your progress.

I don't recommend this game as it is a boring game that looks to be quickly put together to make money. The game doesn't justify its price as the graphics are extremely basic and gameplay is nothing new. That, and the fact that this game is also very short, I wouldn't want to pay for this game at all.

Robert Maines

Sixth Extinction is a puzzle game that slowly reveals a story as you solve puzzles. You move your paw print over a grid using direction buttons and must reach the exit to advance in the game. Things start out simple and start getting complicated fast with one-way paths and blackout areas where you don’t even see the grid! The graphics are very simple and the sound is pleasant enough. The thing is, as a puzzle game it works fine but the story that is revealed as you play is so bland that I quickly found it annoying. An option to skip the story altogether would have been nice. As it is I can’t really recommend this game.

Oksana Ryan

This is a straight forward puzzle game where you move the 'paw' along a path that has various objects which you have to avoid or activate, or so you think. As the game progresses there are more complicated scenarios, where symbols and numbers come into play. If you really get stuck there is a 'skip' button that appears at the top of the puzzle. I know some puzzlers consider this a cheat but you can go back and play any missed levels later on.

In between levels, there is a narrative talking about an enemy driving species to extinction. The problem I had was that the narrative and gameplay didn’t seem to have anything in common and the constant interruption was really unnecessary to the gaming experience. On the whole, the game plays easily enough, however, it is short and seems to end just as you’re getting into your stride. Good puzzler but needs more gaming content.

Mark Abukoff

The puzzles in this game are challenging and thought-provoking. If you’re a real fan of games like this, simplified but along the lines of Monument Valley and Tomb Raider Go, you’re probably going to enjoy it. Controls were simple and did what they’re supposed to do. The graphics style is interesting and appropriate for the mood the game is setting.

You’re allowed to skip levels that you can’t figure your way through, though I would have liked to have been shown the solution once I gave up. That’s a good way to learn your way through games like this. But for me, the very very depressing nature of the game killed it for me. I’m not saying don’t buy it. But know what you’re in for. The exceedingly depressing plot killed it for me.

Max Williams

Sixth Extinction is a puzzle game with a serious message: your planet and its lifeforms are being destroyed by "aliens", and it doesn't take long to work out that the aliens are us. I don't know what you'd call the subgenre exactly but it's a step-by-step, make a wrong move and you're screwed, grid-based kind of game. It had some interesting ideas, and a "dream sequence" bit in the middle that had a completely different style, which was more of a lateral thinking kind of thing. It's very short, though I had to skip a couple of levels, notably one which you had to complete "blind", which was just a bit annoying.

Also slightly annoyingly, in the end, you can replay the levels but it doesn't show you which ones you completed and which you skipped. In the end, the author talks about how he made it in his spare time, and I'd definitely be interested in any other games he created, especially if they were full-sized (Full-time I suppose) because he does seem to have the ability to take an existing genre and make a creative take on it. Reviewed strictly as a puzzle game, I'd say it has some interesting ideas but it's way too short. However, it gets bonus points for the reminder of our species impact on the planet. File under "Ethical".

 

Torbjörn Kämblad

In my top five game genres I do?t get or understand, Sixth Extinction certainly ticks one of the boxes. I had patience, I really had, trying to understand and enjoy both Hitman Go and Lara Croft Go, but I dit?t. Sixth Extinction moves along those lines but with far poorer presentation and storyline. Put frankly, it takes a lot of a game in the “move a box or item along a set path” game too even make me a tad bit interested. And Sixth Extinction tries hard with written text between levels about the environment, global warming and other extinction that should make me care.

But it fails, and it might be my fault as I don't really care. I am playing games to escape from impending doom. Sure I recycle and have a compost at home, use my bicycle to work and try to get my kids to get the whole “Greta” thing but when gaming I am not amused at all getting all informed. If the presentation had been great, and the levels too that might have persuaded me. Now it feels like a tired game not knowing what the purpose of it all is. A slow-paced puzzler or an attempt to save the world. It fails at both, but I will continue to keep my almost zero carbon footprint until Covid-19 is eradicated and I can go to some beach far away with my family.

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