This was a really cool throwback. This wouldn't have all felt out of place if I'd been playing it in an arcade instead of on my PC. I did terribly at it, I only actually collected one clue, but I got the right guy regardless, so that's a win in my book. But yeah, awesome job! There was way more depth to the mechanics than I expected walking in. I tell ya hwhat though, screw those supers-speed torches.

This game is brilliant and really captures the aesthetics, exacting difficulty and unusual learn-as-you-go mechanics of earlier games, something not unfamiliar to an Atari or Commodore. However, it's surprisingly deep, both narratively and gameplay-wise! There's a fleshed-out story, upgrade mechanics, a world to explore, and a fairly open-ended win condition that offsets some of the punishing difficulty by getting you to collect clues! I thought the different environmental effects and the inconveniences they posed to navigating the world were very cool and well executed. I think for a jam game this is really impressive and demonstrates a lot more depth than I expected. Definitely one of the games I played the longest of! Only criticism I can think of - if it can be called one - is that some of the punishing parts of the game do seem a little unfair, like thorns that drain health on the edge of a screen transition, or enemies that appear right next to you! But unfairness is 80s gaming in its essence! I had a blast playing this. 

Thanks for submitting STAKE THE HEAVENS to the SCREAM SOLSTICE game jam!

- SCREAM CATALOGUE

Ngl I felt like this game was punishing me for existing.
The graphics were very sexy, I got a finger cramp and ran around screaming a lot, a similar visual to that of a chicken with its head cut off. I gave it my college best and then my big galaxy brain best and when those did not work I gave it my caveman best, I could not beat this game, I do not know how to win, I think whoever programmed this genuinely dislikes me and I have accepted a glorious defeat.
Music was cute and fun, I had no clue where the plot was going, but it did remind me of those super old cheesy arcade game plots, and I could not use the chat or interacting with the townsfolk function at all. But man did I enjoy being able to change my color and set myself on fire and bounce around the place like a pinball <3

I really like the retro art and how it really fits with the sound effects. But the enemies are really hard to spot because they have the same color as the background and it's very confusing when I bounce and teleport all over the place, other than that, it's great!