You may have just had really bad RNG, but now that I think about it, I probably should prevent that from being able to happen at all. Thanks for the feedback!
Yes, the demo releasing on Tuesday has a "Clear Time" stat shown on the end screen similar to Resident Evil games new and old. Assuming it's not bugged in any way, I think this would be the best metric to use for speedruns (and less work than manually timing!)
One thing you can try is adding this as a non-Steam game to your Steam library, then you should be able to play with any controller that Steam supports.
Very, very strong entry! Really loved the atmosphere - obviously some BioShock vibes but the carnival theme makes it feel like its own thing. The ambient sound design is great, although volume wise seemed a little loud on my end. And just in general, the level of mechanics felt really polished - definitely feel like this could be expanded into a longer game. Nice work!
Really enjoyed this one, I think the atmosphere here is fantastic. Although it's a short experience, there's lots of surprises, like the city streets closing in on you while being chased by lamp creatures! Nicely executed, and great audio and music as well!
One thing that might cause some confusion - the game's .exe and folder are called "Submerged" and there's no in-game title screen - took me a minute to identify that the game is actually called Deep City here on itchio. Anyway, great work!
Really strong entry! Was refreshing to play one that was not based on the underwater theme too! Great work on all fronts, the music and voice acting were top notch. I really liked the video compression look of the Salvation Project broadcasts. Genuinely pretty scary at times too - the short view distance felt authentic to the PS1 era but also lent nicely to the spooks. Nice work!
Haha, well this was really not what I was expecting - I think you did a great job subverting expectations with a game that is way more humorous and weird than it is scary.
The balance and pacing feel a little off - like I was completely overwhelmed with drones after getting onto the platform at sea, and having the game quit after each attempt really discourages repeat plays.
Another suggestion would be to add some more overall lighting to the scene, there's a lot of spots that are just pitch black, which makes things a little disorienting, especially when you're super jumping around.
Beyond that I think it's a fun and unique game, nice work!
Really strong entry! Lots of great details in the environment, I liked all of the wriggly underwater plants. Impressive amount of mechanics for a short game too. Getting caught by 'The Gentleman' for the first time gave me a genuine scare!
Game could maybe use some light narrative elements (give us some Gentleman's lore!) but overall, nice work - I enjoyed it!
Genuinely very creepy atmosphere, the music and lo-fi sound effects are fantastic! I particularly like the sort of whimsically mysterious music that plays while reading the logs.
The pace of the game does feel a little slow to me, and the section after you get "attacked" I found very disorienting and unclear how to progress. Ultimately, I had to give up after swimming around for maybe 15 minutes, which is a shame cause I did want to see the ending! Still I enjoyed the game, nice work!
Very nice, I've been following your progress as a fellow Unreal dev - I appreciate how authentic you were able to get the PS1-look and in general the atmosphere and vibe of this project is very well done! In particular, I love the camera work, and how it shifts from fixed angles to following your character around corners.
Obviously, would have been great to have a little more content - I sort of had a hard time keeping up with the dialog, would have maybe been nice to space it out a bit more. The ending does feel a little abrupt, but totally understandable for a jam game. Overall, great work!
Well, I loved it! I'm amazed at how much content you were able to create for this - like, 3 boss fights is just crazy - and each one is mechanically pretty different. Very impressive! The sound design and music were real nice as well.
A couple small critiques - it feels a little weird that the med kits don't at least heal a full health state, and there were times where I felt the camera was just a bit too far from the player. But beyond that, this is an amazing jam entry, congrats!
Thanks for playing (and breaking) the game! Sorry you had to experience the "early access" version, I've since fixed a lot of the issues you had in your playthrough, including that weird bug at the beginning. But thank you for persevering, I enjoyed the commentary!
There was an issue where the turning speed was tied to the game's frame rate - it should be fixed in the latest version (1.02). Try it and let me know if it still seems off to you.
Thank you so much for the detailed review and the kind words! You might very well have been the first person to play this game outside of my household so it means a lot! I'd definitely love to continue developing this game, hopefully there's some demand for it :) And thanks for the playthrough vid!
