strangely unsettling for what it is. love that dithering is making a comeback as a stylistic choice.
digital_sigil
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A member registered Jan 03, 2024
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I played the demo on steam about 10 minutes ago, and want to give my review. The visuals in this are nothing short of stunning. It nails the aesthetic its going for so beautifully and I love it.
Unfortunately I have a lot of issues with the actual game design.
ZENOMATRIX is listed as a horror-puzzle game. I feel like this is not a horror game, and barely counts as a puzzle game. The horror in ZENOMATRIX comes from the weeping-angel style enemies. While not outwardly scary visually, the trope is always a little terrifying. The distorted, speech-like noises they make are unsettling. The game is designed around the idea of the enemies moving when you don’t look at that, and usually I would commend it for that. Unfortunately, I don’t think the game does it well. I will admit, I didn’t play every level, but I saw a constant; every puzzle was based solely around using your enemy-stopping resources and leading enemies around so you can do what you need to without dying. This can get very repetitive, and personally I don’t think it counts as a puzzle. It can also be very reliant on coordination and reaction time.
What this ends up with is a game with beautiful visuals and mediocre gameplay that (in my opinion) is completely mislabeling itself. The element of horror almost exclusively comes from the weeping-angel mechanic and wears off very quickly. The puzzles are very similar to one-another, are very simple, and rely on reaction time or large amounts of enemies for difficulty.
Also, the steam page says “the first ever game to seamlessly combine puzzle-solving and horror,” to which I would like to say that I cannot consider the challenges in this game puzzles, and horror games with puzzle elements handle puzzle-solving better than this.
If others find this game fun, good for them. I do think that for what the demo is and what the full game appears to be, $5 USD is a good price. Unfortunately for me, I am a horror fan with the soul of a critic or connoisseur of some kind.
I would like to state again that the visuals of ZENOMATRIX are gorgeous. You’ve nailed the aesthetic you were going for so incredibly well and I love it.
I wish you all the best in your future endeavors, please take none of this personally, I just need to say what I think lest I explode.
i think the library puzzle is broken somehow? i’ve been struggling with it for more than 30 minutes. can’t figure out what determines the number per book (i know its probably order on shelf, but that’s been failing me), and i’m honestly not sure which color is supposed to be which (there are three blues and i can’t figure out which one is supposed to be grey!)
its a game! it works! for the most part! it is technically a finished project!
that’s something to be proud of; a finished, mostly functional end result. programming is hard, and it might get you down, but remember to draw your attention to the little victories you have, take breaks, and keep at it.
random tip: try getting a toy, desktop pet, or friend to talk at when you can’t figure out why something isn’t working. sometimes explaining it makes it click in your mind!
very basic, repetitive gameplay, but who cares? this game put a smile on my face! the physics are… they’re something! they sure do physic! the artstyle is charming, and the way the menus are worded and designed has a very “shoved together and thrown at you” feel that i also find very charming, and fitting for a jam with a three-hour time limit. even though you exceeded the time limit, you have an honorable mention in my heart. even though i have never heard of this gamejam before.
five stars out of five. keep at it! :)