[IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON POSTING YOUTUBE VIDEO, PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR IMPORTANT INFO].
Starting with praise - The game looks wonderful! Stylistic choice and this, unique look for the game is a spectacle for a player, especially the one, who is a fan of King and his works, although, it's specifically, the "Overlook Hotel". The game had a prefect sound, easy to handle mechanics, simplicity and the good feels.
But, unfortunately, it's not near to be great. It's hard to critique a work, which has magical looks to it, yet, I was easily disappointed, even with the hardest level settings.
First main issue was the maze. This game reminded me a lot of "Dark Deception". I would not say, this was a copy, but upon the closer look, this did felt like that, minus the intensity. The entire maze was not hard, but just straight confusing and navigation would definitely helped.
The use of theme did not appeal to me at all. I do understand, that "Shining" is the epiphany of horror, yet, just the setting being used is not helpful. There were some, small Easter Eggs, some part to it, true, but, generally, you could have made this game about anything else, make up your own hotel and maze and just give a reference to "Shining", yet the entire game was trying to be the manifestation of the movie and unfortunately, for me it failed at that part.
Overall, as I said, the game looks marvelous - colors, text, textures. The mechanics are simple and playable, but, both the AI/Difficulty for the game and theme might be changed in order for it to be more grounded and relatable. Unless, your intentions were to make just fun maze game with "Shining" theme on top, for no reason. If so, the game is successful.
Good luck with future projects and improvements on the game.
[YOUTUBERS: I did make a gameplay video of this and tried to post on my channel, but after the check, it did show the copyright issue and I was afraid not to get in trouble, so, just keep that in mind, before posting or at least make case if you get copyright striked].
Viewing post in Christmas at the Overlook comments
Thank you Niven for your detailed and much appreciated feedback. First of all thank you for playing the game.
You are absolutely right, I only made the game as an excuse to recreate the exact design of the film maze, throw in a bit of snow and give the player a festive sign off. You are right, for no particular reason other than the idea sprang to mind when participating in a weekend game jam.
But I appreciate you taking the time to leave this feedback. Very cool. Thanks!