This game is absolutely phenomenal, everything in it, from the pixel art to the gameplay are great and very detailed, congrats on winning the jam! Its well deserved
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I am your Shadow's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Gameplay | #1 | 4.500 | 4.500 |
| Horror | #1 | 4.375 | 4.375 |
| Overall | #1 | 4.375 | 4.375 |
| Creativity | #3 | 4.375 | 4.375 |
| Presentation | #4 | 4.625 | 4.625 |
| Theme | #4 | 4.375 | 4.375 |
| Story | #5 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
Ranked from 8 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Which Theme from the list did you choose to implement in your game?
Seeking Freedom
How did you choose to implement your chosen Theme in your game?
The game follows a shadowy figure trying to escape a corrupted place for their freedom. They are stopped by a mysterious figure, who told them that their freedom comes at a cost.
Did you implement any of the optional Bonus Challenges, and if so, which ones?
Nope
Comments
I really enjoyed the game and like the parrying combat (especially against the creature at the gate since it was very satisfying), but it seemed a little overpowered against the end boss. For example, I kept spamming the parry option during the boss fight and even though that uses up the gray bar, you don't have the time to heal so it's fine. It also meant that you were pretty much guaranteed to hit that small window of time right before the enemy attacks, so you reflect their damage back. I managed to only parry the boss to beat them, and I understand the combat system is designed around parrying but it works a little too well with the boss's attack pattern (since the boss does multiple hits in a row for a short period of time). Overall though, the game was very satisfying once you learn the enemies attack rhythm and I liked the art.
Have to say, I have played games like this in the past, but I'm terrible at this one. Probably because it relies on parrying so much. I made it to the knight boss which I assume is the end of the game, but the most I could manage was to bring the boss down to half HP. Healing is so slow that it's basically useless in the boss fight, which might be intentional, dunno.
The audio and visuals are great and the game overall is fine, shame I'm not better at it.
I did that five times atleast and there didn't seem to be any noticeable effect. I still seemed to get a game over just as fast as before. It might have been better to add the option of choosing the difficulty of the game instead of that, though I understand that that's not always possible for a game jam game. In general, it's better to have the game jam version of the game be easier than normal to get more people to play it.
Anyway, great work there! I think this game has potential if you wish to work on it further.
Great job! I played to the finish and really enjoyed it. It started with platformer/Hollow Knight vibes, but the main event and highlight was the head-to-head scene. This was definitely among my favorite combat scenes or boss battles on an Itch game -- really good work! It felt fast-paced and exciting. I had to try different strategies and it took many repeat plays but I finally beat it, which felt rewarding. (I never hit the "compromise" button, not sure if that changed the combat or similar.) Great battle animations, as well. Keying was perfect for me (Celeste style).
As far as feedback for further development: the moves felt a little slow or delayed at first, but I adjusted to it and it felt fair. Separately, I tried out the block move in both the platforming and battle but ultimately didn't use it at all, as it seemed like it made me vulnerable and I had trouble fluidly going from block to strike, and lost gray bar in the process.
Nice work!
Submitted
The ExecutrixAh, I think I didn't make the purpose of the guard clear enough, since it's the main reason the combat is slow. I explained it in the description, but if you guard right before the attack, you'll perform a parry which damages the enemy and won't lose any gray bar. The window is very tight, but I modeled it after Sekiro so that once you learn the attack patterns, parrying will be almost broken since you'll be doing so much damage back. (I think I ended up making the same mistake as Sekiro by not making it clear how important parry is haha)
Anyway, thanks for the comment! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Ah, I tried it out just now and saw how it works (watched a clip of Sekiro as well). It sounds like using the parry is how you would win this most quickly; for me as a jam player, it was hard to hit that window consistently enough (one miss results in a lot of damage) that I didn't feel better off leaning more on the dodge-to-strike. I'm impressed that there's this additional layer of complexity to the combat, though! Again, great work on this game!
I could not play the game on Chrome version 106.0.5249.119 on Ubuntu 22.04.1. I could hear sound but not display. I then tried Firefox 106.0.1 (same OS) and I could see the game, but no audio! So strange!
But here’s my feedback from what I did experience. The sound is very nice! And I like the beginning. It’s a bit like hollow knight. It sets the mood well. And the art is really neat! The enemies are grotesque, even though it’s pixel art. The attack animations are smooth and have that nice trailing effect. I wish I could experienced everything together.
Going with an unusual control scheme was a big, big mistake. It made the game much harder than it had to be and was frustrating. Next time, or maybe on a post-jam update, use the standard controls. And supporting gamepad would be good too.
The attacks and jump are sluggish or floaty. So, the animations are nice, but need to be sped up or altered so that they’re crisper and allow for better response times.
Seams like this could be a great game! Just remember, if you find the game challenging or hard, and you are the maker, then other’s will find it very difficult or impossible.
We would love it if you played our game, rated it and gave us some feedback! It would help us learn and grow as developers! Thanks!
Submitted
Witching HourThanks for noting the issues on other browsers, I'll definitely have to take a look. Regarding the control scheme, I actually aren't aware of a standard control for this kind of game? Could you maybe suggest the control scheme you would prefer? The main 3 games I modeled this after was Hollow Knight, Momodora, and Sekiro, which doesn't really have anything in common in terms of the controls so I just went with a mix of all 3.
Well, I’ll be! I never tried the keyboard with hollow knight before. And you DID actually use their default control scheme. So, I have to take that back. My appologies. What I was expecting was the up arrow (or W) to be jump, and space to be attack. But then what would be guard and the other actions? So, please direguard my comment on the keys. But I still would have liked using a gamepad. Thanks!
I feel like all the controls should've been simultaneously introduced within the first seconds of the game. Having them introduced to the player one by one kinda makes it seem like the game was going to be relatively long. It wasn't. This is just a game jam obv, so the length's bound to be short. Still got my expectations high, tho.
I loved the art direction, and the combat was very awesome in my opinion! The music was excellent as well. All in all, I think this game is very, very good!! Would totally play again if it got a sequel.
I definitely agree with the slow controls introduction haha, I wanted to use this jam as a chance to practice more 'diegetic' tutorials, but of course I ran out of time as always and had to cut the game shorter than my initial "small" scope so it definitely felt small.
Thanks for playing tho! I appreciate da comment <3
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