The 2D and UI looks very clean! It's a cool color palette and the design feels very intentional. There is some neat technical achievements, too, with player/enemy visibility and enemy pathfinding. As far as gameplay, I had a rough time and never beat the first level despite trying ~10 times. Some feedback feels missing, especially the take-down mechanic. Whether I hold the LMB or press it a couple of times, I get the "Restrained" message, but after a moment the first enemy turns around and kills me. I've gotten it to work by mashing LMB over and over, but it didn't feel rewarding, and I didn't want to bother with it on the mobile enemies.
I'm sad I won't see more of the game, because it seems like there are some cool mechanics in here that also remind me of Hitman. I may come back to give it another try, too.
Viewing post in BLACK WATER NIGHT GLASS jam comments
Thanks! I think this criticism is completely fair. I actually had more feedback around the takedown earlier in development, including a progress indicator, and I think I probably stripped that system down a little too far for the final version.
There is a timing element to the takedown, but without that visual feedback I don’t think the game communicates it very well. So instead of feeling like you’re trying to hit a specific timing window, it can definitely come across like you’re just supposed to walk up and mash LMB until something happens.
Looking back at it now, I think that progress feedback was doing more important work than I gave it credit for. That’s something I’d want to restore or redesign in a post-jam version.
Thanks for sticking with it and for the detailed feedback. And I’m glad the HITMAN influence came through. That was definitely part of the space I was aiming for.