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Ridgewood Road's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| HOSTS' CHOICE | #1 | n/a | n/a |
| BEST GAME | #2 | 4.367 | 4.367 |
| SCARIEST GAME | #4 | 3.800 | 3.800 |
Ranked from 30 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
Really nice! I think it's hard to make properly scary top-down 2D games, but this one was. The quirky humour really draws you in (and gets you caring about the characters!) before the gut punch. The phone conversation before the first chase was fantastic. The music was great, especially the variations on the house theme. Well-paced and nicely polished.
this was the scariest thing i've ever played lmao
Fantastic job here! The story was well done, the art was great, and the creature was genuinely creepy as hell. [spoiler] I was a little disappointed the ending was as simple as a gunshot. When she went outside and spoke to the Sheriff I was half expecting it to be fake and she'd wake up inside again. Mechanically speaking, I really appreciate the shadow chasing you for a set number of screens and then disappearing. It kept it intense without becoming frustrating/keeping you from progressing.
This is an excellent horror adventure game that has a little of everything! From nice characterisation, to small puzzles, some humour, surreal encounters, morbid discoveries, and plain scary chases, I really enjoyed this from start to finish. The game has been put together with a lot of passion for old-fashioned horror games - particularly the vibe from Mother/Earthbound and it's very clear that you had a lot of fun whilst making this project! This has definitely been one of my favourites from the jam.
The plot travels along the classic 'haunted house' trope but I like how the concept has a twist of police performing a wellness check on a neighbour. This left open the source of the horror and also made it start out as a very plausible experience that built its dread gradually. The ultimate twists and turns of the plot being much darker than even the early discovery made for a good rollercoaster of suspense. I would have loved to have learnt a little more backstory behind it all for a greater sense of closure!
My favourite thing in this game is probably, as said, how the narrative gave breathing room to build suspense and tension. It really felt like the story was complete and managing to get this written and executed in a single week is a feat of its own. I particularly like the little scares once you're in the house to keep you on your toes and guessing until you make some more significant discoveries. The attention to detail is great as well and there's lots of object dialogue and a whole inventory system as well!
I don't have a lot of feedback, but one thing that stuck out were that the art assets could have been tailored to fit the setting/characters a little bit more, in that the station/officers were a bit generic. However, the art was very well done - particularly the character sprites - and its bright, cutesy nature made the contrast with the direction of the plot all the more striking once bad things begin to happen!
Thanks for submitting Ridgewood Road to the SCREAM MACHINE jam!
- SCREAM CATALOGUE
thank you so much, we were happy to participate :)
Gorgeous art for a start, and very well put together, feels like a complete experience!
Very tense! I'm impressed.
LUV IT
Great polish, art, audio, and narrative. It had a twin peaks vibe from start to finish. I really liked the car driving scene and the sheriff was a great character.
The audio for Duane's dialogue was a bit ear-piercing and annoying, all the others' were fine. Like others said, using Lahey's key did feel silly because he was already in the locked room. The laundry room was the last place I checked when the phone was ringing which quirked up my experience a bit. Also the checkpoint being before the phone call seems out of touch after the after death experience, plus a tad frustrating to click through before trying again.
Awesome mood! Loved the old point and click vibe. Also good work on the music and sound design that helped raising the tension. Very well done!
thanks! when i had this idea, i was thinking a little bit about old point and click cd rom games i used to play when i was probably about 5 years old, mostly pajama sam and stuff like that. i was also looking at stuff like 5 days a stranger and its sequels for a bit of inspiration, so that might've bled through.
Nothing to say! I LOVE THIS GAME! PERFECT SCORE
thanks a bunch!
I loved your game! As others have mentioned, the art style is gorgeous, the music fits incredibly well (very spooky), and the story was enjoyable. I particularly liked how the environment subtly changed, from the upstairs bedroom door disappearing, to other smaller touches. The game also reminded me a lot of Mother 3 (particularly the castle infiltration level, if you've played), but did not feel derivative due to the unique story. I also liked the staticky black effect around the game.
I have just a couple suggestions after playing:
1. As others have mentioned, the beautiful character portraits contrasted a little bit with the sprites. I think by just adding a few more touches to each would help (especially Rachel's face, which seemed almost eerily flat).
2. A few instances of dialogue felt a little awkward and out of place. One that stood out to me was when Officer Duane said: "I can't promise that she's okay, but we'll figure out what's going on." This was troubling, and almost felt out of character for a 9/11 responder. I would look over your script for similar occurrences.
3. This one is super minor, but I would find a different way of getting the player to enter the archive room. It felt weird that I used Lahey's key, when he would have needed it to enter the archive and lock the door.
But overall, this game was a real treat, and I thank you for sharing it.
thanks for playing! i'm not a writer by any stretch of the imagination, but i try my best with dialogue in our games. i appreciate all the critique i can get in that regard since i want to improve my scripts and dialogue.
Very enjoyable. It's a classic scenario that works well for short horror games. There is a nice artstyle and music and the whole game feels very polished. Not too scary, but it managed to make my palms sweat when running away from monsters.
My only complaint would be that the characters' sprites look very... plain, when compared to their nicely detailed face sprites.
Otherwise, I'm very impressed by the scale and quality of the game. Astounding work.
thank you so much!
Really well polished! I love the style! Unfortunately I got stuck when the phone was ringing and I went back to the long room to the left of the bedroom
i just patched that out, try again :)
Loved the art and music !
thank you!