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I didn't think much of the gameplay in the beginning, but the cat-and-mouse-like concept of staying ahead of the killer to finish a very mundane task became intense as the game progressed. This game takes its inspiration from Welcome to the Game and Scrutinized. If you've seen or played those games, you're already familiar with Cheating Death, except this is much less complex. I applaud the developers for taking that concept from those games and making it simple and still entertaining.

 
For those who are unfamiliar, you have to fill out paperwork at your desk late at night while a murderer is constantly stalking you outside your bedroom. He checks up on you from time to time by peering through your window. To prevent him from coming in and killing you, you need to keep the window closed and hide under your desk before he peers through. The sounds of his footsteps on the grass outside is the only indication he's coming. The murderer is prone to stalking you more when he hears sound and sees light from your room, both of which happen to be elements you need to help you finish your paperwork. The twist at the end makes way for two endings: a good and a bad.

 
I can't recommend this game enough. I've been inspired to buy Scrutinized on Steam because of this game, it's that much fun. I can't think of anything to really critique the game, except maybe the addition of a handgun for the protagonist considering he's a detective. Maybe allow him a bullet or two which, when used against the antagonist, only buys him one or two chances of not being killed. Also, a laptop to do the paperwork online through the police department's database in addition to actual paperwork would add variety to the gameplay. The cases he has to fill out manually on paper could be because these cases haven't been uploaded to the PD database and, therefore, can only be finished manually.

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Remarkable gameplay and commentary. I had a great time watching your video and seeing how you were able to quickly come up with the correct strategies for how to beat the game as smoothly as possible. So smooth in fact, that you actually didn't even know that there was a bad ending to it. You were already ready to cheat death and knowing that the desk is the only way to survive, you were prepared. The player's boss telling you your work was done and that you may go to sleep was a cue for you to look left and press on the bed next to you, ultimately leading to a quite obvious, yet gullible death on behalf of the player. 

I appreciate you for the amazing feedback. I also noticed that you were able to understand the key mechanics of the game, despite you not being the designer. You realized the importance of the lamp and how it drives the killer away, saving you a lot of accumulated seconds from hiding under the desk (the game does have a time limit). 

The small additions to the game you mentioned are things we definitely have and will continue to consider. For this game however, we decided to keep it nice and simple, easy, and straight to the point.

Kyle -> Kyl was not a typo. We wanted the player to not only be aware of external sources (that being the top of the paper), but also how Kyl T. Knight is quite literally implying (if you say it fast enough) that you will be Killed T'Night (Sounds similar I guess.. Kind of?) 

Nonetheless, thanks so much for playing our game. We hope to create more content and see you again!  

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I think the fact that I caught on to the strategies fairly quickly was serendipitous. I was pressing the Ctrl key several times to look away from the paperwork in the beginning. When I initially pressed Ctrl, it didn't do anything because the game froze for a moment. So when I pressed it a couple more times, the game "caught up" which then exited the paperwork screen and made the character hide. I was about to leave from underneath but it turned out I just hid in time because the killer showed up shortly. That's when I pretty much figured out what was happening. The instructions were also clear enough (at least for me) to clue me in to use the light sparingly. What I didn't know (and something I mentioned in the video) was the necessity of turning off the light before hiding. I wanted to try leaving the light on after hiding. I was assuming the killer wouldn't have entered despite seeing the light on since I was hiding anyway. But then I thought that maybe he'd come in anyway because he'd know someone was in there since the light was on. 

The last case was pretty obvious to me that the protagonist was the target. I hid immediately after sending the paperwork because it's what I had been doing to evade the killer, so I figured that was what you were supposed to do. I heard the boss about going to sleep, but I had no idea falling asleep was an actual ability in the game. Despite catching on that I was the last target, I didn't even realize the irony of the name. What's funny is that when I was typing out my review, I kept thinking about the name because I had a feeling it wasn't a misspelling. Then it dawned on me the sound of the name when spoken - Kyl T'Knight = kill tonight - as you mentioned. I've no idea why I didn't catch on to that during the game. I remember saying it over and over in my head during that part of the gameplay to see if it would sound like a clue, but ultimately assuming that 'Kyle' was just misspelled. 

I'm really looking forward to more games! I HIGHLY enjoyed Cheating Death!

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Hey TheCardsharp, it's been a while! Just wanted to let you know that we've very recently released the sequel to this game! We would love for you to try when you get the chance. The link is here: Cheating Fate

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Hey! Yeah, I received notification from Itch.io a couple days ago about the release. I’ve downloaded it and will play it soon. Thank you for the heads up!