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🕹 Game Review: Mayday: No Time to Wait

Submitted by: ArleGames

🎯 First Impressions
Arle is a returning dev, and it’s always exciting to see follow-up projects—especially when previous feedback has been considered and applied. Right off the bat, I noticed you can load a save that doesn’t exist, which probably needs a safeguard in your logic to prevent triggering that function without saved data.

Jumping into the game, I’ll give credit where it’s due: mouse movement has definitely improved from your last project. However, it’s still far too slow and unresponsive, making basic navigation feel clunky. The camera sway and movement tracking is extremely disorienting—it actually triggered some nausea for me. That alone makes this an immediate high-priority issue. Remember: the two things players do most are move and look. If either one is uncomfortable, it will immediately sour the experience.

Narratively, however, there’s a thread of cohesion. Despite the core mechanic frustrations, the fetch quests feel grounded and appropriate for the setting. With some work on fundamentals, this could become a solid little survival narrative.

🔥 Fun & Engagement
Due to the camera and control issues, I had to force myself to continue playing. That said—I do see how this game could be fun with smoother mechanics. You’ve set up tension, stakes, and a reason to keep going. The bones are there.

🎯 Theme Use
Time as an enemy is reflected through your survival narrative—a literal race against the clock in a hostile environment. Checks the box for me.

🛠 Execution
Execution is rough in its current state:

• Mouse look is sluggish and inconsistent

• Movement and camera mechanics are disorienting

• Dialogue transitions cause temporary lockouts, making it unclear if progression is happening

• Melee animations are rough

That said, you did execute on structure and narrative:

• There’s a clear through-line from A to B to C

• Stakes are established

• The gameplay loop has meaning

💡 Originality
While the survival genre is well-tread, your crash survival premise brought me flashbacks to Hatchet by Gary Paulsen—and that’s a pretty unique lens to view this genre through. I appreciated the narrative angle.

✨ Polish
Still rough around the edges. Issues include:

• Movement and camera (again, top priority)

• Placeholder-like visuals with background artifacts (text visible in the skybox)

• Clunky animations and UI transitions

These are all clean-up tasks that don’t require major systems overhauls—just time and polish.

🛠 Areas for Improvement:

• Camera and Movement: This is your biggest blocker. If it feels fine in testing, compare your setup to what players may be using. If timing is involved in your code, make sure everything is normalized with deltaTime.

• UI/UX Pass: Eliminate jarring transitions, fix the load system, and check for background artifacts (e.g., the text above mountains).

• Combat and Animation: Consider investing time into animation timing and responsiveness, especially for melee actions.

🧠 Final Thoughts
It’s great seeing another submission from you, and even better seeing that you’re improving. While camera and movement still need work, there was noticeable progress from your last title, and that deserves credit. With more attention to core mechanics and polish, your next project could land much stronger. Keep putting in the reps—looking forward to what you bring to the next jam!