Don't know how I forgot to rate this as this is one of the first games I've played. It was quite a fun experience, although I got lost quite a lot. Loved the theme and the humor, the whole concept of returning carts and being stuck in an eldritch mall, the variety of enemies is quite nice and musing as well. It was a bit too slow and grindy for my taste but it was overall very enjoyable.
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Malled To Death's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall fun and playability | #55 | 3.095 | 3.095 |
Ranked from 21 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Theme incorporation
It's a dungeon crawler RPG set in an infinite mall!
Comments
I didn't make it far sadly. The combat was a bit slow and there is a lot of waiting to get through it. A bit to many menu option selections for my taste. There was no option to skip the battle or run away. Graphics looked great and the mall was easy enough to navigate. The interactions for the dialogs was a bit hard to navigate. Trying to press passed some dialogs accidently selected a dialog answer over and over. Music and sound effects were nice.
Submitted
Dungeon of DreamsNice little game! You can watch my play through here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2116031581?t=00h13m25s
Submitted
Cosmic Encounter"THANK YOU FOR SHOPPING AT RECURSION PLAZA !"
I had a lot of fun playing this.
The game looks good, I really like the pixel characters and enemies (for some reason I think pixel Trim looks a bit worse than everything else in the game), I like the portraits and the their alternative expression in dialogs and the environments, typically shops, are distinguishable and detailed enough. I like that when you integrated stock assets generally used in top down games into the environment then they fit well, I'm mentioning that because that's a problem some first person RPG makers have, with these weird big chests and so on (I know you've got one big chest or something resembling a chest but first nevermind and secondly I thought it was alright here and not exactly the same for some reason). The distinct artstyles mesh alright together. The sound feedbacks during fights are satisfying.
The story and dialogs are cool. I specially enjoyed the cliché yet unexpected conclusion of the boss' monologue after you defeat it, it could directly come from one of the Discworld books involving cosmic horror, except to be precise it's inverted (this ones are always about consumerism and people fashioning about this one last thing before the main characters discover the responsible was some horror from another world, here it's a bit of the opposite as you eventually discover there's nothing like that) or from an episode of South Park. Everything about Larry was cool, Larry's cool.
The game controls pretty well. Movement feels good and I actually like that the enemies walk in turn-based mode, I like that the game is always turn-based as a result, that would not change much but it's more cool, also they must walk very organically because I did not even notice they walked in turn-based mode at first, which is even better.
The combat system works pretty well, I like that fights are very short and lethal, and during early parts the game is not exactly easy (it's not hard either, let's not get ahead of ourselves) which is great. The shopping cart attack in the beginning of a fight is great. I like that you won't find a resting fountain in every corner (unless you're abusing the generation tool) and then get to use your consumables, there was some good resource management here, including different ways to spend your money. I liked the various "utility" pieces of equipment (double money, double XP) that you may notice or not notice in shops. The rise in power is satisfying, I was certainly overprepared for the ending part.
The dungeon parts are nothing to talk about but I really like randomly stumbling upon a specific shop and I enjoy the structure where you deal with the ending part when you think you're ready, especially with manual saving so you don't have to spend extra time preparing just to be sure you won't have to restart from the beginning, which can be a problem with such a structure when the game does not feature manual saving.
At some point I wish I could collect carts which all make an attack at the beginning of a fight then be really sad when I would sell them all at once because I needed some cash.
This is a super cool entry, thanks for sharing.
Submitted
To death and beyondNice dungeon crawler/JRPG game. I like the interesting premise and conversation with the characters in the party. Handdrawn enemies and NPCs look good. Dungeon looks more like a palace than a mall. Camera jitters a little when you move. Music is nice too. This game kinda gave me Shin Megani Tensei/Persona 1 vibes.
Overall pretty complete game with an interesting setting. Nice job.
Submitted
Goblin HunterInteresting entry. I liked exploring the mall although I have to agree it doesn't look much like a mall to me. It was interesting for sure. The main "accept" sound effect really grated on me, it was hard to continue playing with that sound constantly playing. The banter between the characters was fun.
Submitted
Library of Endless SoulsReally fun game, loved the banter between the characters. Doesn't look anything like a mall though...
Submitted
Uliel's QuestWhat an interesting setting. Kinda feels like Earthbound in a way (modern mall like setting, weird enemies, interesting/silly dialogue). When I got to the first shopkeeper I was impressed with how many items it had, so it feels like there's alot of potential for advancing characters.
The movement was good but turning felt a bit strange, like the camera was swinging on a center point around the grid, minor complaint. Also some of the rooms/hallways seemed big for big's sake and could have been cut down a bit, especially if there's no purpose served to their size. Maybe I missed them, but would have liked to have seen maybe some traps or treasure chests to reward exploring.
Solid entry, I'd like to see more of it!
Submitted
Escaping the Cosmic AbyssThank you!
The camera is indeed pulled back a bit from the actual center of the square. This mimics some other dungeon crawlers I like (Legend of Grimrock, Vaporum) and means you get to see more of the floor of the square you're on as well as the adjacent floor squares.
It didn't turn out to matter much in this prototype, but once there's pits or hazards it might...?
Agree the rooms are on the spacious side. Thanks again for playing!
I love the idea, I love the setting, I love the characters. Amazing job!
Submitted
Minds, Twistednice idea - a bit more atmos would be good. I liked the character designs - very cool
Submitted
BleakHarbornice idea - a bit more atmos would be good. I liked the character designs - very cool
Submitted
BleakHarborNice job! great presentation and atmosphere! nice and original concept!
Submitted
Endless DawnInteresting setting, music, nice graphics. Plays well (maybe the movement could feel a bit better) and has plenty of dialog. You can be proud!
Submitted
The Nexus Grave
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