Video Game / Sundowner

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Due to the revealing nature of the tropes discussed on this page, as well as the cryptic nature of the game, all non-perdition Spoilers are Unmarked.

SUNDOWNER is a Roblox game set in a desolate, dying world. The player controls the Sundowner, a creature who ekes out a meagre living in a sun-scorched wasteland, scavenging and hunting for food amidst decaying ruins at night, as the sun's heat forces it underground during the day. The game was developed by Xetheriance and Newberiance and released initially as part of a game jam.

SUNDOWNER has a gamemode unlocked after beating the main game, called "PERDITION".These 3 acts include: "PERDITION: Firstlight", which released on 22/12/24. "PERDITION: Eventide", which released on 30/12/25, and "PERDITION: Zerohour", which released on 28/4/26.

Not be confused with the Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance character who wants to return to "the good ol' days after 9/11!"

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SUNDOWNER presents the following tropes:

• After the End: Whatever has happened to this world, it can't have been good. The land has been turned into an empty and nearly lifeless husk. Metallic ruins and decrepit shrines dot the wasteland. Few living creatures still manage to survive in these harsh conditions and even they struggle to stave off starvation for another day.
• All for Nothing: In the end, the Sundowner fails to survive, either starving to death, killed by the rainworms, the sun or some other creature.
• Ambiguous Situation: What has happened to this world? Who built the shrines and structures found in the wasteland and to what end? What was the world like before the cataclysm that struck it? Was there even a before? There are few answers to be found.
• Anti-Frustration Feature: Completing the Deliquesce ending grants access to the time shrine, allowing the player to instantly move to day 5. Useful for obtaining the other endings that require surviving until the rainfall without having to go through the entire game again.
• Arc Words: “Self”. The Sundowner is often faced with the concept of the “self”, its meaning and whether it is something that can be lost or, indeed, if it has already lost “itself”. The answers it gives change depending on the preceding circumstances and with whom it is conversing with.
• The Assimilator: The Sundowner is on the receiving end of this in the Luminesce ending, courtesy of the bird.
  Like a pool of water, my memories blur into the creature's. My flesh is sewn into the feathers of the calamity.
  • The Sun God as well in the Coalesce ending, though it is more ambiguous whether the assimilation is literal.
  It offers me a choice. I can sacrifice myself and become one with it, or I can stay with this world as it burns.
• Auto Cannibalism: An inevitability if the Sundowner is unable to gather enough food before going to sleep. By doing so, it regains some hunger and manages to survive for another day. However, this action cannot be repeated too much and affects which endings are available.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Leading a lonely existence in a desolate wasteland, this is a given. The Sundowner, unable to meaningfully interact with any other creature in way that doesn't involve devouring (or being devoured by) it, seems to have formed a system of belief based on the act of eating.
  To love is to devour.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: During its dreams, the Sundowner often refers to a "you". Whether this is indeed the player or some other person cannot be ascertained.
  • Becomes clearer in the Totality ending, where the Sundowner seems to call the player out for forcing it to go through this desolate hell for their entertainment.
• Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: Summoning the Sun God is invariably a terrible decision that leads to the Sundowner's horrible death. Doing so while it rains, however, also leads to the Sun God being destroyed by the rain and the Sundowner drowning in the aftermath.
• Cue the Rain: Occurs on the fifth day. This is far from good news, however, as the rain is deadly to the protagonist, who quickly perishes.
• The Determinator: No matter what comes its way, nothing short of death will end the Sundowner's desperate struggle.
  Not until I'm dead for good.
  • Averted in the Abdicate ending. The Sundowner finally gives in and lets the otherwise harmless bird devour it, hoping to at least die in a worthwhile way
• Disaster Scavengers: No such thing as agriculture is possible in this world, and the number of living creatures is so low that scavenging for barely edible bones and shifting through junk is the primary way for the Sundowner to survive.
• Downer Ending: Again, no pleasant fate awaits the Sundowner in any ending.
  • Totality perhaps qualifies more, as it directly leads to the nightmare that is Perdition
• Dreaming of Things to Come: The Sundowner's dreams are occasionally able to hint at the future. The rainfall on the fifth day is correctly predicted, for example.
  • The dreams (or rather, nightmares) regarding the door that appear as more endings are obtained act as a prelude to Perdition.
• Eldritch Abomination: The Sun God qualifies, as a being of pure light and the possible cause behind the world's woes.
  • The bird too, if the Sundowner feeds it the three orbs scattered around the map.
  The bir-no, the abomination- opens its disgusting maw and swallows me.
• Extreme Omnivore: Whatever the Sundowner is, it is able to derive nutrition from extremely unlikely sources, such as bony carcasses, mounds of dirt and even glowing, mysterious orbs (Though the latter is too much for even the Sundowner, who expresses intense pain if it eats one).
• Failure Is the Only Option: In no ending does the Sundowner survive. All that changes is how it died, what it managed to accomplish and what takeaways it had before perishing.
• God of Light: The Sun God is described as a being of pure light. However, its presence spells certain doom for the Sundowner and what remains of the world.
• Greater-Scope Villain: The Sun God might be responsible for the world's state, if the Sundowner's words in the Immolation ending are anything to go by. Whether it is an actual god, if it acted out of malice or indeed if it is even sentient is unknown.
• Guide Dang It!: The game is incredibly cryptic about its secrets and features, with the short tutorial only explaining the most basic mechanics. Some of the more obscure endings almost require a guide to complete.
• The Ghost: No creature (with the exception of the mole-like insects) actually appears on screen, not even the Sundowner. The worms burrow underground and devour the Sundowner without giving it as much as a glimpse when attacking, while the bird hides inside a mound of dirt, exiting only to consume the Sundowner during the Luminesce and Abdicate endings (which is described but not visually shown).
• Hunger Causes Lethargy: Hunger directly affects the protagonist's movement speed. Justified, as the Sundowner's unusual biology may react differently to the immediate consumption of food.
• Light Is Not Good: With the exception of the faint moonlight and the few flickering lightbulbs found on the map, light signals the Sundowner's imminent death, either burnt to a crisp by the rising sun or melted by the Sun God itself.
• Multiple Endings: There are 12 endings available in the vanilla game, each featuring a different way for the Sundowner to die.
  • TORPIDITY: Go to sleep without exiting the nest. The Sundowner fails to find the energy to wake up and perishes.
  • INANITION: Starve to death. The Sundowner continues to consume itself in a desperate bid to stay alive and perishes.
  • EVANESCE: Be burnt by the rising sun. The Sundowner is melted by the sun's overwhelming heat and perishes, though not before finding some beauty in the sunrise.
  • DELIQUESCE: Survive to the fifth day and die to the rain without having resorted to Auto Cannibalism. The Sundowner is consumed by the rainworms and perishes, doubting whether it made the correct decisions.
  • COALESCE: Summon the Sun God by finding the three orbs scattered around the map and placing them in their slots. The Sundowner is melted by the Sun God's radiance and perishes. The offer to become one with the Sun God is given, but the Sundowner's choice is uncertain.
  • ABDICATE: Let the bird eat you after being given the option. The Sundowner gives up and perishes after offering its body to the bird.
  • ESURIENT: Fail to shake off the worms chasing you in the dune area. The Sundowner, realizing its mistake too late, is devoured by a worm and perishes.
  • CONVALESCE: Survive to the fifth day and die to the rain having devoured parts of yourself. The Sundowner is consumed by the rainworms and perishes, as in Deliquesce, but resolves to keep moving forward in spite of its death, vowing to never lose sight of its self.
  • RECRUDESCE: Same steps as above, but interact with the mural after cannibalizing yourself. The Sundowner is consumed by the rainworms and perishes lamenting its lost ambition, stirred by the mural's words.
  • IMMOLATION: Summon the Sun God as the rain falls. The Sundowner drowns in the rain, but not before gleefully witnessing the Sun God's demise
  • LUMINESCE: Feed the bird the three orbs scattered around the map. The Sundowner nurtures the bird, who is reborn by the power of the orbs into an Eldritch Abomination. The Sundowner is then devoured and assimilated by the bird but is assured that its struggle is at an end.
  • TOTALITY: Rejoin the game after attaining every other ending. A door opens.
• Nameless Narrative: No character has a name. At best, they receive a title based on their seeming nature (Sundowner, Sun God, the Frog)
• Nice Day, Deadly Night: Inverted. The night, though bleak and foreboding, is also the only period where the Sundowner can exit its nest to scavenge the surface. The sun's heat is such that, outside of the earliest phases of sunrise, the Sundowner is killed nearly instantly.
• Not So Stoic: When met with something overwhelming, emotions bleed through the Sundowner's otherwise matter-of-fact narration. It seems to hold a particular enmity for the Sun God, and appropriately finds some events utterly terrifying. The Sundowner's dreams in particular show that it is utterly exhausted of living on.
  I can’t.....I can’t keep going....
• Rain Means Death: Once it starts raining, there is no way for the Sundowner to survive. The rain seems to contain parasitic worms, which infest and devour the Sundowner as the rain falls.
• Sand Worm: Creatures present in the dune area of the map. They are able to detect the Sundowner only if it moves without interruption for a few seconds
  * Catch-22 Dilemma: In PERDITION, there are new creatures present in the dune area of the map. They are able to detect if the Sundowner is nearby them, and will start attacking them immediately until they run away.
• Schmuck Bait: You hear rumbling underneath the ground? Surely, all the worms have moved to greener pastures by now. You should be free to keep moving.
• The Stoic: The Sundowner is largely capable of enduring the unending bleakness of its life. Its narration, while not devoid of emotion, generally never strays from accurately describing what the Sundowner perceives.
• Taking You with Me: What occurs if the Sun God is summoned during the rain. 
  The rain devours the flames, expunging the heat of the heavens. A being made of light falls from the visage. It plummets, crashing into the scorched, sodden earth below it. You've finally come down. Finally. How does Hell look? How does it taste? Sure, I'll drown. But it's not so bad if I know the bastard who made this place does too.

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