''The Ensign'' is a text-based

mobile game A mobile game is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any Mobile device, portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet computer, table ...

created by US-based indie developer Amirali Rajan and released on August 17, 2014. It is a

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term ...

to ''

A Dark Room ''A Dark Room'' is an open-source text-based role-playing game. It was originally published for web browsers by Canadian indie studio Doublespeak Games on June 10, 2013. Later that year, it was released in the App Store for iOS devices. In 201 ...

''.

Plot

''The Ensign'' takes place on an unnamed planet. The player character is part of an alien species known as "the Wanderers", so named for their lust to conquer planet by planet. At the time of the game, the Wanderers are losing a war with humans despite possessing highly advanced technology. As ''The Ensign'' starts, the player character's ship has fallen, leaving both the player and their ship's admiral heavily injured. The wounded admiral stays behind while the player seeks out the fallen ship. Eventually discovering and repairing it, the player character takes off in the ship, but it collides with an asteroid and crashes, leading into the events of ''A Dark Room''.

Gameplay

''The Ensign'' is a text based

role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing ...

mobile game with

permanent death Permadeath or permanent death is a game mechanic in both tabletop games and video games in which player characters who lose all of their health are considered dead and cannot be used anymore. Depending on the situation, this could require the p ...

characteristics. Navigating the game world is done in an interface resembling the original ''

Rogue A rogue is a person or entity that flouts accepted norms of behavior or strikes out on an independent and possibly destructive path. Rogue, rogues, or going rogue may also refer to: Companies * Rogue Ales, a microbrewery in Newport, Oregon * ...

'', in which all characters, terrain, and objects are represented by letters and symbols, as in the "Dusty Path" segment from ''

''. If the character dies, the game displays a "

Time Paradox ''Time Paradox'' is a point-and-click adventure game developed and released by Flair Software for the MS-DOS in 1996 only in Europe. Plot A futuristic agent named Kay is sent on a mission to stop the evil Morgana Le Fay. She first travels bac ...

" message in place of "

Game over "Game over" is a message in video games which informs the player that their play session has ended, usually because the player has reached a loss condition. It also sometimes appears at the successful completion of a session, especially in ga ...

". The game then restarts from the beginning.

Critical reception

TouchArcade ''TouchArcade'' (stylized as toucharcade) is a mobile games journalism website. It was launched in 2008 as a sister site of ''MacRumors'' by its founder Arnold Kim and Blake Patterson. ''TouchArcade'' also hosts a forum and a weekly podcast. ...

'' gave the game a rating of 3 out of 5 stars, writing, "If you're looking for something that takes the mechanics of the original game and builds on them, this prequel has very little to offer you. On the other hand, if you're extremely interested in its story and world to the point that you would gladly play it again to get a few more details filled in, or you want some kind of pretense to run through the RPG portion of the game again at a much higher difficulty level, spend your dollar without guilt or worry. It might not be the follow-up to ''A Dark Room'' you would like, but it's highly likely nothing could be." ''Modojo'' gave it 4 out of 5, writing, "''The Ensign'' is a fantastically weird and wonderful RPG that has plenty going for it, but only if you have the time and patience to peel away the several layers. You'll find that it's delightfully bizarre in many ways, especially if you were a previous fan of ''A Dark Room''."

Download.com CNET Download (originally Download.com) is an Internet download directory website launched in 1996 as a part of CNET. Initially it resided on the domain ''download.com'', and then ''download.com.com'' for a while, and is now ''download.cnet.com' ...

said, "''The Ensign'' is engaging and addictive, as long as you don't get too frustrated by your almost certain early failures." ''148Apps'' said, "''The Ensign'' takes most of its cues from ''A Dark Room'' to create a wonderfully weird text adventure." ''Game Mob'' gave it 8.5 out of 10, commenting, "''The Ensign'' is truly a game of its own, carrying much of the same qualities of ''A Dark Room'' which allowed this simple text-based game to be enjoyable. Although the story doesn’t feel as complete, the mechanics are there for a very good RPG experience."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ensign, The 2014 video games IOS games Role-playing video games Video games developed in the United States Indie games Science fiction video games Single-player video games Video game prequels Video games set on fictional planets Android (operating system) games Video games about extraterrestrial life Video games about space warfare Roguelike video games Fiction about interstellar travel 2010s interactive fiction Fiction portraying humans as aliens