What did this game do well?
I really liked the story component to the game. It’s always interesting to see what’s in store for the player when exploring the world. THIS REVIEW IS FOR ‘TIME REWIND’ (not in one of the choices) This game was very unique in its concept. When I eventually understood how to use the shadow to my advantage, it made the puzzle solving even more fun to do. This one mechanic made for some interesting gameplay when the switch and door were introduced. The tutorial was a great gateway in how to solve the later problem. I liked the horror theme and the game music fit the theme very well. The tutorial was simple, short and easy to follow. The next level was better, in terms of complexity and that the level was not too easy. The art style of the game is wonderful! The atmosphere is rendered well. Cute graphics and dialogues. The game art and attention to details like the dialog box are good. The general game feel is great, like the art and the idea. The dialogue are well embeded into the game. This is for Time Rewind. The form has Cures and Cures twice. This game is very well rounded. It looks good, it feels pretty good, and the level design is solid.
What could this game have done better?
The game could be improved in terms of the mechanics. It did feel slightly limiting in terms of what you could do. THIS REVIEW IS FOR ‘TIME REWIND’ (not in one of the choices) It did take me a while to understand how to use the rewind to solve the problems. There could maybe be more feedback into what is happening in terms of the switch and button as well because when I did an interaction I was a bit confused as to what it was actually doing. The narrative was a bit fast, so unless it is voiced out, I would prefer to go through the narrative one by one by the press of a button. Also when I go to the item(stick or the metal), it tells me how to use it and gives the narrative for that part. But if I don’t take the stick or come back to take something else, it repeats the narrative again. I may need the instructions on how to collect the items again, but I felt the narrative also repeating there may not be necessary. Also, once I finish the tutorial if I want to play the game again I don’t want to start from the tutorial again. So if this is taking a story mode direction: Then a save point to return to the last position I played would be nice. Or if its taking the direction of levels: Then an option to choose which level I want to play. A couple bugs would be, I couldn’t finish the cure in the second level although I had the necessary materials for it. There were a few more bugs when I did weird things, but I think thats normal for a prototype. The FTUE wasn’t done very well, and it was very confusing at the beginning of the game with no guidance on what was being done. More goal and interactive content. After game over, it would be better if you are spawned in the previous level when I died, not from the beginning The instructions seem to be a bit lengthy and there can probably be more game mechanisms to add depth/challenge to the game. The level is not clear enough for the player, if we have more straight forward level design, the game is better. There’s a few bugs to iron out here and there. I think that the difficulty curve can be a bit better, because there’s a difficulty spike near the end. I think it can also expand on the time idea a bit more, but all of these criticisms are nitpicks. I want to see where this goes if it gets expanded.