The ending of the rougelike pixel platformer Scourge Bringer, wherein you battle your way through a maze of twisty passages to find out who's in control of the giant Monolith drilling a hole in Earth.

Spoilers after the jump.

So I signed up for the humble choice, a monthly drop of curated games from the Humble Bundle group. One of last month's games has consumed my life. It's called Scourge Bringer.

It's an extremely challenging 2D run based game. Each area is divided into rooms you have to clear before moving to the next room. The shining light in this game is the feeling of control you gain over your character in increasingly chaotic conditions.

You eventually unlock numerous abilities which increase you capabilities to knock enemies projectiles back, smash and move enemies around the arena, clear the room of bullets, and mix and match a number of different guns and upgrades.

You never feel overpowered, but you also never feel hopeless. Like my experience with games like Nuclear Throne or Dead Cells, my mastery of the controls and understanding of the enemy types continued to increase well after all the upgrades were unlocked.

I got BETTER at the playing the game and that made my first victorious run feel earned.

The sound design is wonderful, the game pumps in intense, energetic metal when your character is combat, and meditative music when not. It's beautiful and creates a wonderful contrast.