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Knives Down (GMTK 2025)'s itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Creativity | #1361 | 3.900 | 3.900 |
| Narrative | #1405 | 3.067 | 3.067 |
| Artwork | #2367 | 3.467 | 3.467 |
| Audio | #2836 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Enjoyment | #3109 | 3.100 | 3.100 |
Ranked from 30 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
The murder party loops. If you make sure no one is murdered, the game (and loop) ends
(Optional) Please credit all assets you've used
I've done everything by myself
But I've taken inspiration from the music from the Sherlock Holmes movie
(Optional) What would you like to be called if GMTK features your game?
Studio Idem
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Comments
This was lots of fun!
I was quite happy when my "just swap all weapons clockwise" strat didn't work.
I actually had to pay attention to who was moving into which room.
For this sort of game, not being able to cheese it makes it more fun.
:)
The only 2 things I would suggest changing relate to the tutorial:
1) make it so that x+c resets the tutorial, rather than jumping you to the main game (I suspect you didn't have time in the jam); and
2) add, maybe, one more explanatory sentence that explicitly tells dumb dumbs like me that we are trying to prevent murders - at first I thought that I had a target of my own to kill.
Really appreciate the feedback, and very fair.
I'm glad you had fun, thanks for playing!
Very unique Cluedo-esque deduction game, gets quite hard pretty quickly, but since your notes record everything you've seen each loop you get a bit more info to work with, well done!
Thanks! I'm glad you could use the notes!
This was so fun!
I'm happy you had fun!
Cool retro graphics, i found the gameplay a bit confusing at first but kind of got a hang of it later. Nice work!
I really enjoyed your retro aesthetic (I was also inspired by retro stylings, but in a totally different way). Fun twist on the murder mystery genre, and I like your take on the time loop! I find it more unique than most of the other time looping games, so great job!
Cool and unique concept, nice job :)
Thanks!
Very cool and fun! I love how you have to learn which people need which weapons and then stop them from getting them! It's a very cool take on classic murder mysteries by making the player have to prevent all the murders! I had a great time and I loved the art and music! Great job!
Thankyou! Very much appreciated
The concept is so unique and creative!! This was so fun to play and solve!! The artstyle is so cute too :)
Thanks a lot! I'm glad you had some fun!
As a lover of Clue, I found this really unique and fun. It took me a bit to understand how the items and sequences were supposed to play out, but it was satisfying after I got it. Nicely done!
I'm happy you figured it out!
Always nice to see people understand the references/inspirations.
Thanks for playing!
Wow this is extremely well done for only 4 days! I really like how you handled the murder mystery genre and how you have to analyze and anticipate everyone's moves. I'm really glad you added the bulletin to help keep notes and keep things more organized. And the art style was also very well done! Great work!
Thankyou! I'm really glad you liked it and the notes helped you!
This is great, the art style is so flippin cute and the premise is a lot of fun. Using the loop concept as a time travelling detective trying to stop murders and not just solve them was super clever of you.
Thankyou!
These kind words mean a lot!
Hey, that's PICO-8, very cool! I've finished the game end enjoyed myself but felt like swapping weapons randomly worked, perhaps I got lucky. Maybe some simpler case at the start like the tutorial but with an option to reset the loop would help. Nonetheless I had fun playing your game and props for making it in PICO-8 :)
That's lucky indeed! And yes, maybe a simpler version would be a good addition. I also have some other ideas.
PICO-8 was a blast to pick up, it works really well!
Loved the concept and I had fun. So, at first I thought just swap every weapon, but that didn't help completely. Then I started to investigate more. :-) Interesting that the murderes are so picky with their weapon :D
Loved that you used Pico-8 - haven't tried that yet, but it sounds so interesting as an engine.
Thanks! Nice that you figured it out without needing explanations!
This is actually my first Pico-8 game after trying some things with it in the week before the jam. Its pretty easy to pick up and really cool to see all the things the community has made, I would recommend it for sure!
Loved the concept! It's really fun to observe and anticipate the murders for making the perfect loop! Very clever game design! Well done!
Thanks for the kind comment! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
very clever ! well done !
Thankyouu!
What a funky, murdery lil time loop! I like how instead of just solving who kills who, you have to proactively prevent the murders from occurring. At first, I assumed I could stand in the way of people to prevent them from reaching their target, but then they just passed through me. Not an issue, but I wonder if another fun part of gameplay could be some light buffering/blocking? Obviously you wouldn't want it to be persistent, but something about corralling murderers has appeal...
Thankyou for the kind comment!
If I would further explore this concept, I would definitely add some features to the game, thanks for suggesting this one!
i'm so obsessed with murder mystery time loops!! the art style was super cute and cohesive and really lends itself well to the thematic of the game. absolutely love the way you delivered this concept <3
That's so kind! Thank you <3
SUCH A FUN GAME I LITERALLY STARTED TAKING NOTES AND STRATEGIZING, love the retro game cartridge aesthetic, it feels really rewarding to beat the game
That's awesome! I'm happy that you figured it out, it means a lot that you took the time!
This was so creative! That knowledge board was a nice touch my brain is too small to remember that much info lol
Thank you! No worries, even though I made the game, I still had to write it down
best game ever :b
:))