Um… wow…
That was AMAZING.
Going to try and write this as un-spoilery as I can. But for anyone seeing this wanting to go in blind, yeah, maybe stop reading now :D
Time loop stuff can be so tricky to get right, but oh man, this was borderline perfect. Keeping things simple initially and having lots of little variations to try out and build up the complexity gradually. Having the ‘correct’ path laid out for you so you have a sense of what to do but then that ending really only being the beginning. Having it so one discovery means you can do something else right from the start and change everything. And then working it all into an easy to understand ‘completion list’ so the player has a sense of what to work towards, AND doubling that ‘list’ into a story element… Sublime.
As the player I felt a lot of care was taken to guide me naturally through the experience, yet at the same time allow as much freedom as I wanted to explore. That is a super delicate and amazing balance to be able to achieve. Hats off to you for being able to do so.
This was all just so well conceived, crafted and executed. And considering it was all put together under jam conditions… I’m just in awe. So well done.
And that’s not even to mention how top notch the art, sound and writing all was. Just all so, so good!
Oh and the voice acting. Especially the delivery of the line “I show you truly. Look” ESPECIALLY the ‘Look’. So evocative! That really struck a chord with me.
I feel like I have to come up with at least SOME criticism to balance out all this gushing a bit. The only thing that really comes to mind is that the sprites were not *quite* up to the standard of the CGs. But that is basically nitpicking, and barely a criticism anyway considering what they are being compared to.
I got the ‘B’ ending. But am definitely going to dive back in and dig it all up. Such compelling stuff.
Huge congrats to the whole team on the amazing accomplishment here. Well freakin’ done!