The End of the Life of a Boy Who Saves Others (Free ADV) - Introduction and Review

This is an article introducing "The End of the Boy Who Saved Others," an entry in the 15th WOLF RPG Editor Contest.
This is an adventure game where a 9-year-old boy experiences the last 10 hours before the end of the world.

The playtime was just under an hour (including collecting all endings).

Game Overview

This is a story set in a world where it has been discovered that a meteorite is going to collide with Earth, and most people have migrated to another planet.
Those who remain on Earth have their own reasons, and the protagonist boy is one of them.
As explained at the start of the game, the boy spends his last day "making the most of" the remaining 10 hours before the end of the world.

The game progresses by walking across a horizontally expanding map, talking to people, and examining objects.
In the game, one minute of time passes for every second of real time, so 60 seconds of real time corresponds to one hour of time passing in the game.
The characters that appear will move around the map according to the time of day.
Time can be fast-forwarded by pressing a specific key, so there's no need to leave the game running and wait.

You can find out who is where at what time by referring to the time schedule.
However, the time limit isn't that restrictive, so meticulous gameplay isn't required.

By talking to characters in the game, you may be asked to do various things.
Even without a direct request, presenting the person with something that seems relevant will help the event progress.

With features like a warp function that lets you instantly travel to your destination and a skip function to skip dialogue, I think you'll be able to play comfortably.
To make your final moments meaningful, try interacting with various people.

My thoughts (no major spoilers)

I was able to unlock all the endings in just under an hour.
Also, I was able to see the true ending on my first playthrough.

The difficulty level isn't high, so if you talk to everyone carefully at each time slot, I think you'll be able to progress through the event smoothly.
I felt that the event flow was designed to be smooth, making you want to complete it in one go.

The ending list, which becomes available after clearing the game once, will tell you the conditions for any endings you haven't seen yet.
I found that the endings other than the true ending were relatively easy to obtain, so you won't be forced to play through the game over and over again.

Like the previous works by the author "starice*", this piece features a gentle, fairytale-like touch interspersed with a unique sense of rawness.
Previous worksThe color is black"or"Father and daughter spot the differenceIf you were moved by this, please give it a try.
Conversely, if you enjoyed this game, playing the aforementioned titles will likely provide a more challenging and rewarding gaming experience.

It's a short game, so I think you can play it in one sitting.
Incidentally, I was relieved (or perhaps just relieved?) that the endings other than the true ending were more in line with the author's usual style.

Review (Spoiler alert)

In both the true ending and the other endings, the future in which Earth is destroyed is predetermined, and there are no convenient plot developments where destruction is avoided.
Whether you do good or bad things in your final moments, it won't affect people living outside of Earth (though streaming events might have some impact).
However, that doesn't mean the boy's experiences leading up to the true ending were worthless.

What I realized again after playing this game is that the time a person experiences can be made to be valuable or worthless depending on their own actions.
Not just within the context of fiction, but even in our reality, the Earth will eventually be swallowed by the sun and destroyed, and even if not that far in the future, it is certain that all people will face death for some reason.

Therefore, one could say that all life is worthless, or one could say that if you find joy in each and every moment of your experience, then that alone makes it worthwhile.
Those who play these kinds of free games probably feel that they have gained some kind of value from the experience.
The final scene, in which the character's vision, which should have been only gray due to their illness, is filled with rich colors, seems to symbolize this very issue.

This experience has reinforced my belief that "value" is subjective and can be controlled by one's perspective.
I'm sure there will be disagreements, but I feel that having the opposite mindset—that everything is worthless—is more inspiring and helps us to work harder.

Let's put aside the preachy ramblings for now, and I'd like to express my gratitude once again to the author, Star Ice*.
Thank you so much for the wonderful work!