OMG my heart skipped a beat when I saw this on my feed. I thought maybe the sequel dropped. But definitely gonna check the new update out! I still think back to this game from time to time, one of my favorites on the entire site and I'm dying to see your potential in the metroidvania space continue to flourish!!
Very solid start! It has got a fun vibe, bright and energetic. Strong Metroid nostalgia. It is quite visually striking.
Some stuff I felt while playing that could be improved: - THE MAP: please make it so you can pan, zoom, etc. As is, there is no way to look around outside of the surrounding rooms, its stuck in a medium-zoom field and you can't see anything outside of it - Level design: I would make sure to design it a bit more interconnected. Any long passages without a shortcut you can unlock are pain points in the genre. For example, the path to the toaster spin attack is essentially one-way down and one-way back up. Would be nice to use the attack to instantly open up a quick way back up. - Room Design: I would say to make sure every room is unique and purposeful. Many here are, but I remember a couple rooms that were literally just a floor and ceiling. No secrets, items, platforming challenges, etc. - Collectibles/Secrets: I didn't feel rewarded for bumping up against walls, attacking walls, exploring nooks and crannies... I don't recall a single optional upgrade or item (though maybe I just ended up taking the critical path and running into the ending before seeing any). So just populate the entire map with these things that make curiosity rewarding
- Crouch: The game just feels like it needs a crouch... everytime the little bug enemies showed up, I would instinctively try to crouch down to line up the shot. I realize you don't have to, but it would just feel more dynamic. I also realize the toaster upgrade uses crouch, but just like in Metroid it could be triggered by a quick double crouch.
With these things addressed, I think you would have a really incredible project! Of course, like 30x the size of the current map would be amazing too haha... But I know that's maybe too ambitious. A really tight and rewarding ~3 hour metroidvania would be great too. Also curious to see what other abilities you're planning outside of the toaster morph/attack
I enjoyed it, feels and looks good. DESPERATELY needs a map, I kinda bailed after getting to biome 2.. was just too confusing and it's missing the satisfying feeling of slowly navigating and unlocking a map. I just feel lost. But if it had a map? I would be having a blast
Well there's the mini map in the corner, and then I pressed some button to see another one. But I mean small as in the fact that it is too zoomed out, so everything in it is really small and hard to make out. That why zoom and panning options would be great
Love when a dev of one of my favorite niche gaming genres switches over to ANOTHER of my favorite niche gaming genres. Only things that is missing now is a fixed cam survival horror and a detective computer sim game!!
But yea, I enjoyed it though I got stuck after getting the gun... The overall game design reminds me of Janosik with the one huge map. The in-game map... kinda sucks. So small... would be nice to zoom in and pan. It gets a bit disorienting. But otherwise I enjoyed it
HI! I was wondering - is this episode more of a visual novel or a puzzle game? Will there be some challenge to it? Or is it alot more narrative focused?
well to be clear, I shared around seek and destroy, made posts about it, I really enjoyed it. I was trying to give you attention. In this case, I am not going around publicly shaming you or drawing attention, I was just giving MY opinion. And it is one I feel extremely passionate about for very concrete moral reasons. I was just telling you that I cannot support any dev that uses it, period. It is immoral to me.
You're putting an emotional spin on it, when did I say "you are condemned"? I just said I cannot follow you. Same way I will not listen to musicians, watch movies, etc that use ai. There's plenty that don't and I want to support human artistic output. simple as that. And especially if you can't even fathom why I would feel that way, then we just don't see eye to eye so why would I continue to look out for more ai-infused games?
I've seen a number of devs use ai, got lots of backlash, understood the argument and why people are upset, and then retracted the assets. That's totally cool ,we all make mistakes. But thats not your reaction, you stand on it, so you do you. I just am not interested.
Didn't get too far, seems a bit more like a proof of concept or tech demo. But I enjoyed the overall look, the sounds, it has potential.
Notes would be - switch A and X buttons on controller, improve the inventory, a map, give some actual lighting and shade, tighten up the level design ( a ton of empty space, sparse, rooms with no purpose/items/set pieces).
I bailed before I even solved a puzzle because I got lost and didn't feel like wading through so much repetitive empty space. So I can't really give feedback on either combat or puzzles.
I understand that it was only the music and that it is a free game. But philosophically, I will never want to spend time consuming anything that nobody thought worth spending time to make. I don't agree it needs to find a place in game development. You can use AI tools sure, such as using ai to check for bugs. But generative AI? No. It will always and forever have zero place in any artistic realm, it is built on stolen labor and I will avoid it at all costs.
If you're making the argument that "if you can't beat them, join them". The way you beat them is by being vocally opposed to it. And from what I can see, that has become the majority opinion.
The game would just not run for me. Stuck for a full minute on black screen before menu comes up, another ten seconds before I can press start
walked up the street until the balloons, then my entire pc crashed
I have Windows 10, AMD RX 6700 XT, i7-4790k, 32gb ram… idk
edit; I noticed in task manager it completely overloads my CPU to 100%, no clue why. I just played RE9 fine, only other game I’ve had my cpu bottleneck is Crisol Theater of Idols. Is the an Unreal Engine game? My cpu seems to really struggle with those
followed cuz search and destroy was sweet. unfollowing cuz ai usage. Make a crappy song yourself or ask someone else or license a real human to do it, Most ppl do not want to consume pure ai gen content whatsoever. the song sounds bad too so its pointless
VERY CREATIVE PUZZLE METROIDVANIA. IF YOU LIKE GAMES LIKE ANIMAL WELL, THIS IS UP YOUR ALLEY (IM NOT REALLY THE TARGET BUT I STILL ENJOYED IT). WOULD LOVE TO SEE YOUR TAKE ON A MORE TRADITIONAL STYLE MV
What a fantastic game! Great little ~2 hour classic survival horror, loved the level design and creepy cult in the back country vibe.
Would have been nice to have a map, maybe a few puzzles instead of just inventory interactions. Combat felt pretty difficult to aim, but I know that jankiness is somewhat a tradition... but otherwise, loved everything about it.
yes same when launching direct from file explorer. yes same computer as DC. But I did recently change my GPU from amd RX 580 to AMD RX 6700 XT, I am not sure if that was before or after. Ok I just launched DC and yea it does the same thing.
idk about the integrated chip, like i believe it exists but there is no reason my computer would be using it. I am plugged directly into my GPU via displayport? no idea
