Even if I stop, I keep walking and walk in place. The screen keeps shaking, so you can't jump. And please add graphic settings to the next beta version!
Explore old malls, empty water parks, and existential dread · By
Not sure if it has been reported, but the water in the “beach balls” pools has vampire-like behaviour: it’s not reflected in the mirrors that are at the corners. It looks like you didn’t consider the water when generating the refmaps.
BTW, I managed to move all the balls to the pools: lots of fun!! :-)
@Alvare: I wouldn’t put any concept of “damage” or “health” in the game, because the game is not about a character with “N lives”, but about the experience at liminal spaces. It’s true that it looks unrealistic to fall and not lose health, but if you had to be careful of not losing all the health, the gameplay would be completely different, and it wouldn’t have much to do with liminal spaces.
I like however that the encounter with the mysterious character teleports you to the beginning of that level (as it happens now, in the men showers)
I loved it. I really did and excited to play the full game.
I've been really into the backrooms, particularly Kane Pixel's interpretation of it and The Stanley Parable. This filled that void for me.
I think in terms of what I'd be looking for in the full game, maybe a walk button? Also the tipsy turvy walking motion with the constant walking sound effect threw me off a bit. But other than that everything was amazing. Voice acting, ambient sounds, atmosphere, the music in different areas, visually it was amazing too. I really dug it. I KINDA want a backrooms level, but I understand if that's not the vibe. I'd fully buy a backrooms DLC though.
First off, loved the chapter 1 experience, I didn't explore further because I want to wait until it's done but it was an incredibly unsettling game in the best possible way, the lazy river was my favorite part.
Some initial thoughts: I think the intro area with the car and parking lot could honestly be cut entirely, the quality of assets doesn't feel up to par with the rest of it for example very weird UV and AO bake issues with the generator. I find it breaks immersion especially since it's supposed to be a real life area and not an indoor liminal space like the rest of the game. I bet it could be done as a very brief cutscene that immediately drops you into the pool or something.
The shadow man implementation worked really well in some areas, when you see him in the bottom of the pool for a split second that was really creepy but I think it needs to be stripped back even more in other areas if you are planning to keep this in the game. I think it works best when you see it for a couple frames and are genuinely unsure if you just saw something, most of the times when I saw him for more than a quarter second it immediately diffused the tension like in the mall area near the end of chapter 1. However, the anticipation of seeing something really kept me on edge especially in areas that stretch off into shadow. The shower area I thought was pulled off really well, with the amount of darkness and confusing layout, the "keep moving" on the mirror terrified me and added a ton of tension, especially as I heard noises behind me. The reveal genuinely did freak me out in this area.
I also think the music could be cut in the mall and pool and just have various static ambient noises with your echoing footsteps but that's personal preference.
Excited to see where it goes!
