Great game!
This review might sound a little rough, but I just want you to know that I genuinely think this is a great game, even with its issues. The art is amazing. It honestly looks like something out of a AAA title, which is crazy considering the short time you had.
The voice acting was also really solid. Iām pretty sure they were text-to-speech voices (they sound a bit robotic or lacking emotion), but they still worked well and didnāt feel out of place. Itās rare to hear decent voice acting in a game jam, so that really stood out. The sound design was also good, and the jumpscare got me!
I honestly think this could have been one of the better games in the jam (at least from what Iāve played) if it werenāt so damm buggy. Iām going to walk through my various attempts to beat the game in case it helps you track some of these down:
Attempt 1: I was exploring and went outside when I guess I wasnāt supposed to. I got stuck outside with a trash bag that appeared out of nowhere.
Attempt 2: Things were going well until I paused the game and got stuck in the pause menu. Thereās currently no way to unpause, so pressing escape or tabbing out basically softlocks the game.
Attempt 3: After cooking the burrito, I walked near the bathroom and my view suddenly snapped back to the kitchen and stayed locked there. This seems to happen consistently when walking near the bathroom after putting the kettle on the stove. It happened in other attempts I omitted as well, itās really easy to accidently cause this to happen.
Attempt 4: The game wouldnāt let me place the cooked burrito or cup on the girlās desk, even though I know thatās where theyāre supposed to go because it worked in a future attempt.
Attempt 5: The diary told me to pick up a plate from the kitchen counter, but the game wouldnāt let me interact with it like it did in previous playthroughs. From here on, I tried only interacting with things listed in the notebook said.
Attempt 6: This one was frustrating, it had me fumming. I was about to take the trash out but walked too close to the bathroom again and got my view locked. Had to restart.
Attempt 7: I almost finished but didnāt realize I needed to run outside after hiding since the notebook kept saying āhide.ā I ended up running into the killer to see what would happen.
Attempt 8: Finally finished the game on this attempt! I escaped the apartment! Quite the journey.
Additional comments:
Objectives can be unclear at times, even with the journal. Better guidance or clearer direction would really help. I often found myself running around unsure of what to do next.
Using certain items (like the cassette/VHS tape) was confusing, I had to trial and error a lot to figure it out.
The killer behavior felt a bit off. They mostly just stand there staring at you. It would be much more intense if they actively chased the player, giving a real reason to hide instead of it feeling like a scripted moment so you could fade to black and teleport the killer to the proper spot so you can go down the hallway.
Again, I didnāt mean to come across too harsh, this game has a ton of potential, and Iād love to see it improved if you continue working on it. I promise my rating was better than this review might suggest.
Great work!