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Whistling at Night's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Category: Cinematography | #17 | 4.500 | 4.500 |
| Category: Voice Acting | #28 | 4.100 | 4.100 |
| Overall | #55 | 4.300 | 4.300 |
| Story | #55 | 4.300 | 4.300 |
| Category: Music | #75 | 3.900 | 3.900 |
| Visuals | #84 | 4.200 | 4.200 |
Ranked from 11 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Content Warnings
Implied character death, one already dead animal
Log Line
Some things should never be done. Once you call her, you can't take it back.
Team Credits & Cast
Auntie(little girl) and Gramma - Ursula Black, Young Stokes -Sid Murdoch, Stokes - Rowan Thorn, Cinematography - Ursula Black, Opening/Menu Theme - Ursula Black
Was your submission created with Visual Novel Machinery?
No
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Comments
Absolutely stellar, well-crafted, and hypnotic! This is such a tidy, well-plotted package: short but impactful, pared-down artwork that still packs a punch, sound design that eschews music to favor atmosphere and narrative points, limited voice acting that underlines and emphasizes the nature of oral folktales: everything fits very neatly together to create an impressive and cohesive story. The way folklore adapts, adopts, and embellishes upon the (at times very disparate!) belief systems of regional cultures is a subject I find endlessly, endlessly interesting, and this is the rare example that both cites the original sources and acknowledges how much has been co-opted and borrowed over the years--while also suggesting a reckoning for those who are dismissive of the founding belief systems their urban legends and fairytales are constructed upon. Brilliant work, and all the more so with such a small team! Definitely will be following for more creations in the future! ✨
Thank you. Your comment really makes me feel seen.
It’s amazing how tense you feel walking through the forest. The story is deep, the art is gorgeous. This game is incredible—I actually felt scared playing it. 10/10!
Your game is so atmospheric :OOO Brilliant voice acting and sound design, I also really enjoyed how the torch implemented too, added a great layer of visual depth 🔦🌟
Whoa! I didn't expect the scariness to start before the title screen. I really enjoy the dark and scary atmosphere presented in this game. The storytelling is great too! This reminds me of the night walk that we used to do during the school camp. In a dark forest, with a flashlight... ahh and guess what? They told us not to whistle at night. Haha. Great game!
This visual novel deserves much, much more reviews. If you're reading this and are hesitant about playing it, GIVE A TRY for this visual novel. It has many super interesting mechanics, and the story is a work of art. Perfect!
It makes every sentence count, it's INSANE!
If you ever write a visual novel, call me, my friend. It would be a pleasure to work together!
Holy frick, this is maybe the best one I've played ever, WHAT THE FRICK?
This is literally a 5/5 in every way.
The story is told MASTERFULLY, the tone is set before you even start playing. This game saves automatically? You can't save yourself? WHY YOU GOTTA DO ME LIKE THAT?!?
And the way it's telling the before and after between the professor and him walking home, is its just fricking, its so enticing! Genuinely the most fluid story-telling I've ever seen in one of these, it's just, it's, ITS GREAT!
The visuals too, they're just, they're perfect! The TREES HAVE EYES, and nobody fricking asks questions? WHAT? And the silhouettes within the cabin talking, the pov makes it look like you're stalking them, its just, again, MASTERFUL! And the flashlight mechanics? Hello? Shining some things brighter than others depending on how far away they are? Holy polish? What? How even? What?
The music sets such a great tone, with the chilling ambience, the perfect transition to
THE VOICE ACTING! HOLY FRICK!
This is literally the only submission I've played where the voice-acting is a necessary, and GREAT thing, it didn't feel like I was listening to some guy/girl recording something, I was listening to a grandmother telling a story, its just so immersive, they gave their ALL! GAVE THAT GRANNY A GRAMMY!
And cinematography, like the visuals, is its just masterful! Walking forward, steadily creeping, KNOWING there's something waiting, just not knowing WHAT or WHEN, is its, SO FRICKING GREAT! Finding a pile of skulls is also amazing, its, everything about this is good! The ONLY thing I would change, is the opening cutscene I believe shows one of the monsters, but it would be SO MUCH BETTER to have it entirely up to interpretaion/imagination, completely cementing the psycological horror, no jumpscares, just pure imagined fear.
Anyways though, this is literally the only submission I've given a 5/5 for EVERY category, and holy frick it deserves it. I'm definately reccomending this to other people, and am pretty sure you're going to win one of the prizes, probably voice-acting frankly.
If you don't mind, do you think you could play mine, please? I'm trying to get feedback on it and to get it from you would be such an honor!
Anyways though, yeah this is just, AMAZING, everyone involved gave their A-Game, and HOLY FRICK WHY IS THERE ONLY 2 RATINGS WHY HAS NOBODY ELSE SEEN THIS WHAAAAAAAA
I ended up removing the first teaser image in the splash. I wasn’t sure about it to begin with and your feedback gave me the extra boost to make the choice. I worked so hard on that monster’s skin texture and what not. But less is really more in this case. Thank you!
Oh that's cool! :0
I'm so sorry, having to scrap something you've worked so fricking hard on sucks, but I genuinely think it really helps strengthen your story, 'cuz unimagineable horrors are always scarier than imaginable horrors, at least in my opinion. ^^
Again, one of my favorite submissions, voice acting easily my favorite, have a good 'un!
OH WOW I did not expect to feel so scared before the game even officially starts lol Great opening to it it really set the tone for the rest of the experience! LOVED the flashlight mouse, really made the whole thing very immersive and upped the creepiness a LOT! GREAT job!! :)
Thank you, we're really happy to hear that!
Well done creating such an atmospheric experience! A lot of mechanics like shining your flashlight at things are really unique congrats on implementing them using just ren'py. Just with that this game a bit longer.
Keep up the good work!