The atmosphere of this game is eerily creepy — which is great, because it perfectly fits the Halloween vibe and the “uninvited guest” theme! I really appreciate attention to detail in games, and this one got me right from the start. You could’ve just had the player begin standing up and exploring the area, but starting off lying down and having to get up makes you feel subtly more vulnerable. It’s also a great and natural way to teach the player how to enter and exit hiding spots.
The deliberately slow movement works well to create tension, but in this final version it ends up making the game quite hard — especially since, as you mentioned, some hiding spots aren’t working. Of course, I understand that time is short and those kinds of issues can happen in a jam. It would be nice if there were some way for the player to move a little faster, even if only for a few seconds. I don’t think you’d even need an extra running animation — just slightly increasing the movement and sprite speed would probably be enough.
It’s really interesting to see the natural sense of progression, since we have to explore certain areas before unlocking others. But in exploration games where there’s always an enemy lurking around, it can be helpful to give the player a bit more guidance on where to go next if they take too long to find their objective — just to avoid frustration or feeling stuck.
I’d say this game has a lot of potential — it’s clear that you put a lot of care into it, especially in such a short time. The backstory also seems really intriguing, even if we don’t get too many details along the way.
At first, the controls felt a bit strange to me, but over time I got used to them, so I wouldn’t call that a negative. It was really fun exploring the rooms, and I’d love to know what happens at the end! If you could give me a hint about the second and last digit, I’d be happy to give it another try.
Congratulations on the game, and best of luck in the jam!