Play liminal experience
Passage of Grief's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Liminality / (Weird/dream)core-ness | #6 | 3.867 | 3.867 |
| Visuals | #8 | 4.067 | 4.067 |
| Audio | #8 | 3.400 | 3.400 |
| Implementation | #8 | 3.667 | 3.667 |
| Intent | #9 | 3.600 | 3.600 |
Ranked from 15 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
cool one, man.
Thanks so much! I’m glad you liked it :)
Well this has been an interesting experience
The "puzzle" solutions are quite ingenious and the ambience is so cool.
I´ve been stucked a few times cause I didnt understood the way the game works tho. Just missed the Library room thing to make the game continue and traversing the same rooms but with random order only made me more confused.
It has its pros and cons, cause people rushing the game with no patience might end frustrated, but once you understand you´re missing something, it makes you to watch more carefully and feels rewarding
Didnt expected such polish for a jam game, so congrats!
Thanks so much for playing and for your thoughtful feedback! I’m really glad you enjoyed the puzzle design and the atmosphere – I put a lot of effort into those aspects!
I totally understand the confusion with the room order, especially when missing something important like the library. Right now, the hallway selection is mostly randomized, but I’m planning to overhaul the system in future updates. The goal is to include more structured spawning of rooms to reduce repetition and ensure key areas reappear more regularly!
Really appreciate the kind words about the polish – that means a lot!
As a heads up, I just pushed an update that fixes the room order causing frustration! I still have their order randomized, but it loops after the initial randomization which makes the key areas appear more predictably and frequently.
Super impressed with this game! It's clear how much love and passion went into this, and I'm amazed how much you managed to accomplish for this game jam! Without spoiling anything, the hallway(s) after "Turn that frown upside down" were a big highlight for me, as well as the arcade
My one piece of constructive criticism would be how the rooms repeat. More specifically, trying not to spoil anything, I missed something in the library, and then I didn't see the library again until about 10-15ish rooms later. It'd be nice if there was some guarantee to return to a room after a certain amount of time/other rooms.
Other than missing that though I thought the puzzles were all well designed, and I really enjoyed the experience!
Wow, thank you so much for the kind words and for taking the time to play the game! I’m really glad you enjoyed the "Turn that frown upside down" hallway and the arcade – those were some of my favorite parts to design! Especially the twisted hall - that one took a while to get working procedurally haha
I completely understand your point about the room repetition. That’s definitely something I’m planning to refine in future updates, so thanks for the constructive feedback. In the future, I’ll be overhauling the system a LOT to include more (and more varied) levels and more structured spawning of hallways so there isn’t repetition! I'm already working on a basic algorithm for it, but it'll likely be a few weeks before I have a basic version implemented. I’ll see what I can do to make those key areas more accessible on repeat visits as well :)
Thanks again, and I’m happy to hear you had a good experience!
As a heads up, I just pushed an update that fixes the room order causing frustration! I still have their order randomized, but it loops after the initial randomization which makes the key areas appear more predictably and frequently.
This is a REALLY detailed and meaty game for how fast the turnaround time was! It seems very polished in certain areas (especially the UI and pickups, those are super super cool), and the trippier locations are really awesome. I appreciated the thought that went into crafting a compelling story, and I think what you achieved so quickly is nothing short of impressive.
I will say I got a LITTLE frustrated near the end, I think I got a key for a certain location when I thought it would be another... I'm being coy because i don't want to give any spoilers, but I played your game on stream at around 3:13:05 if you want to see some live feedback.
Wow, thank you so much for the full playthrough! It was super fun and informative seeing your thoughts :)
Some general responses to questions/clarifications from your time with the game:
Thanks again! I had a lot of fun watching and I’m giving you a follow on YouTube right now! Also, here’s my Discord as well if you ever want to touch base/collaborate on anything: god_riddance
Woah, thanks for the thoughtful response! Just want to say again that your game had so much to dig into, really cool stuff and the amount of content and depth within makes it REALLY stand out among its peers.
I wanna go ahead and respond to some of your responses hehe:
Again, I really liked your game! Good work :) Also I'm adding you on discord now :P
Thank you so much! It really means a lot that you found so much to dig into – I was definitely nervous putting my first full-ish game out there, so the positive response has been amazing!
1. The video issue was a sneaky one! I had no idea Unreal doesn’t pack video files unless they’re in a specific directory – definitely one of those esoteric engine quirks. Glad it’s working for you now!
2. Haha, no worries about the basketball! Both it and the skeeball are admittedly a bit broken at the moment, but I’m working on making them essential parts of that area’s progression. I really appreciate your patience!
3. Totally agree about the final area’s key situation. It’s a bit convoluted for its own good, and I’m planning to streamline that whole section. The riddle on the fridge was supposed to help, but it’s just too far removed from the actual goal.
4. Thanks! What We Do in the Shadows is one of my favorite shows, so I’m glad the impression hit the mark!
Thanks again for all your feedback and for being so engaged with the game! I’m looking forward to seeing what you think of future updates! :)
For a game that was created in less than 2 months it truly is an impressive game and experience. I had no major or even minor bugs and the game ran as it was intended. As the game continues to develop and expand i hope to see more horror to it but other than that well done.
Thanks so much for the review! I’m glad it ran well on your system. And agreed - I’d like to lean more heavily into the horror aspects (especially developing a more competent entity AI) going forward, and I fully intend to adopt some of the immersive sim roots that make games like Amnesia: The Bunker really stand out!
The way it integrates elements of suspense into the story caught my attention, creepy atmosphere and weird moments. You can see the care in details: the way the protagonist's story is constructed, even his passion for space. All of this gives a solid foundation to the narrative. The graphics are excellent, as is the sound and the mechanics. Maybe in the future it would be a good idea to add graphical optimization or options to adjust resolution/LOD, etc. I've tested it on an RTX2060 with OC and it worked well. However, on a GTX1050Ti things are already a bit slow. I haven't finished it yet anyway. [Possible spoiler alert] I've reached a certain place where I must... escape? I don't know but I think I'm dead. I'll try to finish it as soon as I can!
Thank you so much for the feedback! I did as much as I could to tie the mechanics, level design, music, and narrative to the central theme and I’m glad you noticed!
I really appreciate the benchmarks on some more varied rigs as well - I personally run a 3060 which it works well on, but I didn’t have access to anything else. Going forward I’ll do everything I can to optimize it!
If you need any hints or anything for making it out of the area just let me know - I’m happy to help!
Cool game! Atmospheric and viby. Great models and textures. But I couldnt get out of hotel nightmare, got to the library once, but then again eppeared in the hotel moonwalk room. The hard part about it is that you as a player don't get a response from the game to your actions to know that you're doping something right or wrong. I think some subtle hints would be fine here and there, for dumb players like myself lol. Thanks!
Thank you so much for the feedback! I can give you a little hint to get out through the moonwalk hallway. The secret is to moonwalk right out of there :)
If you make it through and run into any more questions just let me know! There’s a complete narrative and the library area marks the 25% completion mark!
Oh, so I was meant to moonwalk through all the hotel area? It just doesn't tie well with opening the doors - you have to turn around to open the door and then again turn around to pass through the doorway backwards - feels couterintuitive to me idk. But the game is great, don't get me wrong, there is a lot of content which gives off the right vibes. Sorry if I'm being too picky.
Moonwalking only to get out of the looping area of the moonwalk hall! Everywhere else you can walk normally :) If you’d like to get more detail without spoilers being public here you can always email me:
jamesepierceiii@gmail.com
And you’re not being picky! It does probably need slightly better tutorialization based on playtesting feedback and I’ll be implementing that soon!
Ok, thank you. Awesome!
Happy to help! I also just pushed an updated release with a hint in that area based on your feedback!
That game was very atmospheric and with a cool puzzle (especially that moonwalk). The story is quite depressing and melancholic. 3D models are the best and very good work woth audio. But sadly, I couldn't reach the ending since got stuck between "corridor library" and "mall library".
I’m glad you liked it! For the library area, there’s actually a key item on the second floor behind a hidden doorway - hopefully that helps if you feel like diving back into it! ;)
Happy to give hints or anything else needed as well!
Yea. I found the key in a chair. Gonna try to find the door for it tommorow.
Sounds great! If you need any hints I’m here!
That game was very atmospheric and with a cool puzzle (especially that moonwalk). The story is quite depressing and melancholic. 3D models are the best and very good work woth audio. But sadly, I couldn't reach the ending since got stuck between "corridor library" and "mall library".
This game was very visually appealing. I enjoyed the story and horror aspects. It challenges the player to think beyond basics. Thoroughly enjoyed playing. Great job!
Thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
well done! overall great amount of detail in here that makes everything feel filled out and convincing.i will say i struggled opening every single door. somehow it took me multiple tries every time T_T
I’m glad you liked it! And yeah, the swing doors have a tendency to be annoying on certain PC hardware for some reason - I didn’t find out until submitting it because I didn’t have any external playtesters 😬
Would you be willing to share your PC specs so I can start mapping out where the doors need adjustments?
As a heads up - the door issue is resolved in the latest bug fix!
EDIT: As a heads up - all of the major issues with Passage of Grief should be patched now! I addressed every bug I’ve had reported and it seems to be working smoothly. If you played Passage of Grief before the patch on 8-15-24 and ran into issues, it’d mean a lot to have you try it again with everything major fixed up! No pressure at all, but it’s significantly more pleasant to play now!
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Thank you so much for giving this project a look!
I'm doing live patches and bug fixes as new issues crop up, but the latest version (21) should be fully playable.
Bug fixes performed so far include:
If you downloaded an earlier version and ran into issues, please give the updated version a shot!
Thanks again!
-James