The Endless Night is a top-down adventure game that starts without a back story as the main character wakes up with amnesia in a pitch black world. His only goals are to find out who he is and unravel the mystery behind the endless night.

The only controls are the arrow keys to walk around. For most of the game, the screen is completely black with only the player illuminated for movement as he stumbles through the maze like map, occasionally bumping into items or someone to talk to. Eventually, should the player happen upon it, there is town where he can get a lantern that allows the player to fully see the map. From this point on, the game becomes fairly straightforward, searching the map for items and completing fetch quests for the villagers to advance the plot.