I really enjoyed the use of color in the artwork to reflect the emotions of the writing-- the cool-toned, darker colors for the shadows/ creeping sadness scenes, juxtaposed with the energetic, colorful/warm scenes for when you were trying to focus on the positive. Or like when the baker got angry at me (the scene went from golden tones to red). Kept me immersed. The ever-lurking dark emotions shadow you have to try to overcome was a nice representation of mental health struggles. I got the Phoenix ending! :D
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Ashes Shadow's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall | #9 | 3.789 | 3.789 |
| Theme interpretation | #9 | 3.842 | 3.842 |
| Storytelling | #15 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Gameplay | #16 | 3.526 | 3.526 |
Ranked from 19 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Comments
The mental struggles against the shadow and the glowing bandana that glows brighter the more you remember its owner are portrayed very well. The surreal nature of seeing what happened to the outside of the town is a powerful moment. Great entry!
🐦🔥👤⚱️🩸
Very cool! 😊
I liked how the progression was paced with pretty much every day activities and happenings. It really felt like I was living this character – brewing some potions and helping the neighbour. I did get a bit confused about Ember. As was commented before, many things seemed more like metaphors, and perhaps Ember was one of them. 🤔
Regardless, good game, and I also like the art as well. The shadow was graphically so dynamic, and the colors were all so pretty on the visuals. Every picture really conveyed the mood and emotion it was meant to illustrate. Nice job! 🙌
Btw, I think there could also be a fifth ending. Maybe you had it planned, but perhaps ran out of time. It is:
But, yep, nice work!
Beautiful artstyle and music combined! The jam theme is implemented into this story beautifully, and I'm really looking forward to see it expanded! I want to learn more about Ash, Ember, the Shadow, and all the other options that are currently unavailable. Great work!
nice art and an interesting world, i played this several times to get all 4 endings! i liked that you had choices even if the story was rather linear, and i'm unsure how the choices were balanced. some were really simple (do the bad thing or the good thing) but i don't know what eg. the medicine delivery method did, since choosing either one didn't seem to change the outcome. slower pacing would have helped to flesh out everything and bring a layer of subtlety, but i understand that the time to make this was super limited :') in any case, the themes you discussed were great and emphasizing friendship and connection was sweet. good work!
I really liked the writing, and the themes in general. According to my interpretation, it is an intimate and metaphorical journey through various layers of depression and guilt, in an abstract but pleasant way. I would like to see how this project expands over time, as suggested in the choices to think about something more. Perhaps exploring different endings in a way that makes the player/reader feel they have a bit more influence on the story could be a plus in future versions.
I really like this one. The story is compleling and the writing is excellent. The art is also beautiful. Great job!


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