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The Witch House of Raven Lake's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Judge's Score | #1 | n/a | n/a |
| Soundtrack/Sound Design | #3 | 3.900 | 3.900 |
| Story and Writing | #3 | 4.400 | 4.400 |
| Overall | #3 | 4.040 | 4.040 |
| Gameplay | #3 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Overall Horror | #4 | 3.700 | 3.700 |
| Creativity | #5 | 4.200 | 4.200 |
Ranked from 10 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Which Challenge(s) did you add to your game? If none, simple enter NA
Creature feature, Body Horror, B-Movie, Supernatural, Hawk Cameo
Are there any sensitive topics/trigger warnings that players should be aware of?
paranormal content, death, blood, mentions of violence, mentions of animal death (none die during the events of the game, but is mentioned as having happened in the past in one scene), and body horror
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Comments
This is hands down my favorite entry. I remember looking at your progress in Hawk's discord and thinking that the images you shared looked incredible and the final result would be amazing, and now I can confirm it.
The visuals are perfect, I can do nothing but praise them. Your art keeps getting better and better, and both the maps and the character sprites look fantastic. You totally nail the aesthetics from the golden era of Rpg Maker horror. Also, the CGs look incredible, specially **trying to avoid spoilers** a certain CG concerning a certain metamorphosis
Music, ambience and sounds: excellent. I was genuinely disturbed at some areas, thinking something would caught me off guard.
Puzzles: while I was a bit lost at times, I think they were good. Puzzles are one of the hardest parts of a game (specially Rpg Maker horror where puzzles tend to be more important), but in the end, I think you did a good job.
The story was big strong point for me: I really like how you handle events, scenes and transitions. You definitely know how to capture that 80s horror film vibe (my favorites). Yeah, the premise is quite simple, but the way the story was told made it stand out for me. For example, going back to the car to show the other characters was a really good choice, as it also provided more lore to the player.
The fact that you always take the time to make a manual for your games talks leagues about your dedication as a dev and how much you love your craft.
Also, I really appreciate the fact that there's a really quick ending (where you just leave); that's always fun and players appreciate it (I've done it myself in some of my games).
My main complaint would be that I felt the text speed was quite slow, I'm not sure why. Like, even if I pressed Z, sometimes the text was still low. Also, being able to skip the intro would have been a nice addition. But other than that, I don't really have anything else to complain about. Overall this, was a really solid entry, my absolute favorite one from the jam.
I hope you keep making more amazing games, and you definitely deserve way more recognition as a dev.
Amazing job!
I've been over the moon with this review, and I'm so happy that it gets such high praise from you.
As for the text, I did include message options so that players could choose a faster speed if they'd like, though if that wasn't working I'll have to take a look at it to see what I can do for it. The skip intro is a good idea, and wouldn't be that hard to implement since it'd just be a choice and setting the player in the yard. :D
This was amazing dude. You're games are way too freaking good. Everything from the horror vibe, the atmosphere, the experience. Fear, unsettled, worried. The gameplay experience felt nice. Good use of sounds, effects. I hate puzzles but I'm not marking anything off for that--that's a me problem and I know it xD
Thank you thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. :D And hopefully the puzzles weren't too bad. I know one of them I already had to tweak for the PJ build to make it a little better and more in line with how people would interact with it. xD
Quiz, I tried really hard to save this one for last but my curiosity got the better of me. This was really, really good. I honestly felt spooked the entire time I played it, even knowing there likely wasn't any actual danger as I bumbled through the game. The ambient noises were perfect. The only problem I had were with some of the puzzle clues; I wanted to try the game without the manual but ended up needing it for one very specific item I couldn't figure out how to use. Ended up that one item isn't able to be picked up until I actually read the associated clue, which was what threw me off. But other than that, I had a smooth time. Very well done! I'd be surprised if this wasn't a top contender.
I'm glad you enjoyed the game for the most part. The compliments mean a lot, and we'll see! I still need to play a lot of the other games, yours included!
Sounds like I need to make some of my hints better. I'm glad the manual was able to help point you on the right path. I think I know which specific item you're talking about, or at least two of them that might be it. I'll have to make a note to fix that once the jam is over.
Unique atmosphere.