I gotta say, any cosmic horror stuff that focused on oceanic settings is like my Favorite Thing, and this game is just absolute catnip for Me Specifically. Absolutely gorgeous art style, loved the different mixes of little styles with each of the minigames. And the chroma effect for everything is the perfect touch, I adore how this game looks, no notes on that. Music is also peak as well, love how it changes over time. The music that triggers towards the end in particular is very haunting, I adore it. There's so many nice little details in this--I love the sway of the boat and that it's not just static, it really makes the whole experience immersive.
I honestly have very few feedback notes to give that aren't just me gushing about this. The most prominent is just the fishing minigame mechanics--fishing minigames are my favorite in any game, and I'm particularly fond of any Stardew-like mechanics. This one is close, but just needs a little dialing in to feel balanced: it's a little too strong on the upward movements, and the downwards motion feels particularly slow, so everything felt a little sluggish. (Props however to the ? fish following your cursor, no matter where you went....that gave me chills, excellent telling story through gameplay.) Beyond that, the only other thing would be it didn't feel super heavy on the decay theme, but honestly the atmosphere and whole polished experience sells cosmic horror so well, I don't really even mind.
Overall, one of my very favorites I've played this jam. This had such cool ideas implemented, and I loved the telling of the story through minigames. And god, I gotta say that final zoom out shot is *peak*, love it, one of my single favorite moments of any of the games I've played this week. All in all, a fantastic entry, very well polished and put together Love to see what you all come up with next!
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Hello! Thank you for your amazing words and for spending so much time in such an elaborate message ❤️
From the gameplay perspective we agree that the fishing minigame could feel better. It was actually one of the first things we implemented and did not receive much love since then, but I think with a couple of adjustments we can make it feel better.
The awesome music was made by one of the team members, and all the music was created with the game narrative and tempo in mind so it could boost the overall experience. Thanks for appreciating it; the music in your game was superb too.
About the decay theme we tried to incoporare it in two areas (SPOILERS AHEAD). The boat which decays deeply as you progress and the whole reality which declines towards the last scene. We understand Cosmic Horror as such an horrendous force that destroys our idea of reality.
Thanks again!