cool one, man.
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.
Comments
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!
Submitted
Slumber ChamberThanks 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!
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!
Submitted
Keep Off the GrassWow, 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!
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.
Submitted
Hey Kids! This is Advertising!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:
- There is indeed supposed to be video on all of the TVs - I’m not entirely sure why, but I’m fixing it as soon as possible!
- I’ll definitely add a toggle for the VHS effect in the settings!
- The hallway selection is mostly randomly generated at the moment. The narrative is split into five story areas, with a set of hallways that are intended to reflect the plot in between. In the future, I’ll be overhauling the system a LOT to include more levels and more structured spawning of hallways so there isn’t repetition! I’m sorry if that bit was annoying at all!
- I’m so sorry about the basketball game! I need to go through and make better collision for it, and I do also have a minigame actor already made for it (as well as the skeeball in the same area)!
- I’ll likely streamline the keys for the final area to avoid confusion between the note and the door key. Is there anything I can do better to convey the objective for that spot?
- I’m glad my Matt Berry impersonation was good enough to register as one right away! I’ve been imitating him since season one of What We Do in the Shadows so it’s good to hear I have it figured out after several seasons haha
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:
- You fixed that video issue QUICK, I checked the new version of the game and the videos look great :) just letting you know in case you haven't heard from anyone but the videos absolutely work now. I feel like unreal engine is really good at having random things break without anyone ever knowing LOL I know I've been there with video files.
- Dude that's INSANE that there WAS a basketball minigame and I was just BAD at it! Sorry for all the heinous things I said, you get double triple bonus points! Love that! Also there was a SKIBALL MINIGAME I can't believe it... I gotta go back in...
- As for the keys in the final area, I might have missed a pointer to what I was supposed to unlock, but in my mind I knew that the bedroom door was locked and that was ultimate goal, so after reading the note I assumed that was where I should go next. I think if there is some sort of hint there, it should maybe be telegraphed a bit more obviously? I know for the key to the box with the note Henry says something after you pick it up, so there COULD be something like that, but it might feel weird to hear "This is the key to under the sink!" after reading that note LOL. I'd say it might be better to just have that key be the one that leads to the bedroom door. Might just be me though!
- REALLY REALLY good Matt Berry impression oh my gosh I really thought you were him!
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! :)
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!
Submitted
Nothing ever had a pointThank 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!
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".
Submitted
Liminal ProjectThat 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".
Submitted
Liminal ProjectI’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?
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!
———————————————
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:
- Issues with opening sliding doors
- Some interactables not functioning
- Volume tweaks to dialog
- Key item occasionally not being detected until being picked up twice
- Keys being clicked while unlocking doors toggling their visibility on inappropriately
- Made vents easier to open/close to improve compatibility with AMD PCs
- Improved music volume
- Updated credits
- Added a hint to an environmental puzzle
- Fixed soft locks that occasionally happen on a staircase and in a curved hall
- Fixed a soft lock where the final door in the game collided with a light, preventing entry to last area
- Made door opening/closing smoother using vector interpolation instead of discrete inputs
- Reduced frequency of duplicate halls appearing in a row
- Added hints to three areas based on playtester feedback
- Changed set point angle for door open/close to make operation smoother
- Fixed an issue where videos were not properly packaged and didn't display on TV screens in game
- Fixed occasional bug where player could clip through the ground when loading the first level
- Fixed issue with locker widget visibility staying on despite being out of range of interaction
- Improved level randomization to eliminate repetition and make key areas more frequent
If you downloaded an earlier version and ran into issues, please give the updated version a shot!
Thanks again!
-James
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