itch.io

Story game of proportions (thought to be) impossible at a game jam.

There is a LOT to like about this game. The visuals are striking (they are godly) and the music works very well. The ingredients are creatively used but aren't jumping out (they don't feel forced). But then there is the story. A LOT of it.

I think that is what it will come down to. I personally LOVED it. The characters felt real and unique with their own (often bombastic) personalities. It all made sense and created a world that felt believable and creating relationships with NPC's, that ultimately help you, felt rewarding.

On the other hand if you are not a "reader", you might struggle with this one. There is A LOT of dialogue. I played it with a friend and we spent close to 2 hours in the game (we read - and voiceacted - everything). That is a commitment. The writing, although on a super high level, can drag and repeat itself a bit at times. Also after spending this amount of time in a game the music does start to feel a bit repetitive (but that's nitpicking now).

Overall a very impressive game where the biggest strengths might be its biggest weaknesses. And it just comes down to if you are willing to give it the time it deserves.

Very well done to the entire team!

A vast game by a single developer.

This game has a LOT of mechanics. From the core one (collecting humans) to stealing totems, to upgrading, to kicking the other player :D All these mechanics come into play, but I do feel they feel a bit "glued together". Perhaps it is the map size (which in my opinion is way too big) that it feels like you can do everything but need to do nothing. I did play it with the AI, so a lot of the criticism is aimed at the AI (I believe that splitscreen mode is much better).

I did miss some silly music to give my ears a break from the pretty annoying step sound. Other than that it felt empty from time to time (probably still map size). The gameplay loop though is fun and with minor tweaks this can be a very good game with friends.

Good job!

Visually impressive game especially for a 3D game (in 48 hours!). Also the UI is gorgeous.

Overall the game still feels a bit overscoped. There is a lot it is trying to do, that it ends up not doing much well. To me the level design felt confusing, the controls (especially the body switching) felt clunky so much so, that it felt like doing random things rather than actually solving a puzzle.

On the other hand, the atmosphere feels pretty good. Sounds and music work well with the environment which adds to the immersion. While there is a story, it feels vague and is basically a wall of text at the start and at the end. Then there are endings based on your decisions about the guards, which I didn't really understand.

To summarize, I really like the concept, it is interesting and quite unique. It was very ambitious and you got very close to actualizing it well, if you had like a day more. And while the final prouduct isn't as polished as it deserves, it doesn't take away much from the achivement you have all accomplished. Great job!

Super simple, but polished, highly satisfying chill game.

The interactions feel tactile, the SFX feel juicy, the music is a nice background so you can just get lost for a couple of minutes trying to devour the world.

My only criticism is the bottom table, where the upgrades didn't really correspond with my real upgrades, so that felt VERY confusing at first. 

Overall though, this game showcases the importance of polish and overall cohesion over complexity.

Good job to the team!

I want to preface this by saying that this is a type of game right down my alley.

I really admire all the risks taken in creating this game. It is a standout in many aspects for sure. From the concept, to the ingredient usage to the gameplay. Everything about this game is different.

What it comes down to for me is the execution. I feel like this game is basically all about atmosphere and in the end it missed the mark a bit for me. I would have loved to see more intense music and SFX and MUCH more visual post-processing to sell the whole "dream-like" environment.

As a relatively inexperienced solo game developer though, I think you should be very proud of what you've accomplished and I believe that with practice you can make very interesting and experimental games!

Good job!

As I have no friends, I will be judging by my playtesting before the end xdd

I feel like this game is super polished and is actually very fun to play with friends. It is lighthearted but also can get very chaotic very fast :D

The main mechanic is good and the environment enables it to shine through. I also appreciate the music and cozy artstyle.

My main criticism will probably be the use of ingredients as it is a bit "basic". They are all there but I don't necessarily see a super creative usage of them. 

Overall, very strong entry! Good job to the team!

I really appreciate the uniqueness of this entry.

It does a lot differently (as mentioned in the presentation :D). The visuals are satisfying. Also points for actually playing and recording the music.

As a game though, I feel that it lacks something to keep me playing outside of visual curiosity. There is very little gameplay and so it really fells like an interactive video in the end.

In any case, it is definitely a very cool entry and I look forward to seeing next games from you!

Great technical achievement and a really funny and cool story of making it.

The game itself though, leaves a lot to be desired. I know I couldn't come up with a visual novel story with only 5 variables, but even so, it is evident in the game that the technology isn't really suitable for an "actual" game. 

I do admire that, even within these super strict constraints, you were able to implement all ingredients pretty well, draw all of the art and create a "working" game and maximize the potential of the technology.

Good job!

Very cool concept for a mechanic. Also great use of the ingredients.

The final version is actually pretty well balanced and the environment supports it (cobwebs). AI is also well balanced so the difficulty is managable (although it is hard). The artsytle works well with everything so no copmlaints there.

What I was missing was some music to further sell me on the environment. I liked the story, but there could have been more. There is no benefit to actually fighting the enemies, so just dodging them feels optimal (which might not be the best game design). Also the game felt a bit short but that is understandable for a game jam game.

Good job!

I like the cozyness of this game.

The artstyle sells it well and after adjusting my eardrums, I even started to really like the music.

Where I feel this game falls short a bit is the execution of its core concept. I understand what this game was going for, but the choices didn't feel difficult or impactful to me and so I am a bit confused with the overall tone of the game. I don't know if it was supposed to be a lighthearted silly game or a deep (moral-dilemma-solving) game.

Anyway, you can be proud of what you created and I hope to see you next year!

Nice puzzle entry.

I really liked the overall polish. The movement is really good and satisfying. Some of the puzzle solutions are clever (even though at least one is impossible to not solve).

Some weaknesses I see are:
The artstyle/level design (while functional, it is very minimalistic - maybe to the detriment of the game)

The story (maybe I am dumb, but it felt way too vague to make any meaningful point about anything)

Overall very strong entry! Good job to the team.

Sweet little game!

The biggest strengths I see here are:
Creative mechanic (actually ended up being pretty well balanced and thought out),

Pixel art (kudos for creating all of your assets by yourself)

Overall cohesion (for what it is, it actually feels like a unit of a game - with problems, but it works well)

The biggest weaknesses I found were:

Missing music (It would add so much atmosphere)

Huge hitboxes (It was a bit frustrating to get hit by enemies who were visually a distance from me)

Good job anyways and hope to see more games from you!

Nice little game. I can tell there is a lot of meaning for you in it. Keep up the good work!

A very simple but original tower defense game.

What I liked the most was the music. I appreciate it that much more when you were the one making it. The synchronization of the towers to the beat was a cherry on top. The graphics are cohesive. They are simple but have character and work really well with the overall experience. The mechanic is interesting and the implementation of it is flawless.

To some negatives. I wish there was an actual ending. I had placed towers everywhere I could and then waited and thought I would get it but I didn't, so I just had to exit the game. That felt pretty underwhelming. Also maybe the ability to upgrade towers would be nice and would open space to some more levels (or waves). Obviously more tower diversity would be nice, but I understand that is just a matter of time (that we didn't have xD).

One of the biggest problems I have with this game is its use of the ingredients. I definitely see "my home, my castle", the "reincarnation" is a bit convoluted but it is there. But, as much as I found your use of "sacrifice" to sacrifice "devil's advocate" funny, I need to take into consideration that you just didn't use it.

Overall pretty simple game (and therefore quite polished). The music makes the experience for me and the gameplay supports it. It is smooth, the visuals look good and there is nothing wrong with it. It does lack some more variety and doesn't use the ingredients that much on the other hand.

Good job and for a one-man-team this is an impressive feat!

A very simple but original tower defense game.

What I liked the most was the music. I appreciate it that much more when you were the one making it. The synchronization of the towers to the beat was a cherry on top. The graphics are cohesive. They are simple but have character and work really well with the overall experience. The mechanic is interesting and the implementation of it is flawless.

To some negatives. I wish there was an actual ending. I had placed towers everywhere I could and then waited and thought I would get it but I didn't, so I just had to exit the game. That felt pretty underwhelming. Also maybe the ability to upgrade towers would be nice and would open space to some more levels (or waves). Obviously more tower diversity would be nice, but I understand that is just a matter of time (that we didn't have xD).

One of the biggest problems I have with this game is its use of the ingredients. I definitely see "my home, my castle", the "reincarnation" is a bit convoluted but it is there. But, as much as I found your use of "sacrifice" to sacrifice "devil's advocate" funny, I need to take into consideration that you just didn't use it.

Overall pretty simple game (and therefore quite polished). The music makes the experience for me and the gameplay supports it. It is smooth, the visuals look good and there is nothing wrong with it. It does lack some more variety and doesn't use the ingredients that much on the other hand.

Good job and for a one-man-team this is an impressive feat!

A pretty pixel art dungeon crawler.

I like the art style and the visuals overall. The kiting mechanic is well implemented and is at the right amount of difficulty for me. There is some enemy variety and the mandatory leveling up system we know from rogue-like games.

It just lacks a sense of direction. I kept on killing enemies, collecting the gold and levelling up. I didn't feel any deeper progression. Also, the lack of any sound is painstakingly obvious and takes away a lot from the overall experience. And lastly the weapon hotbar breaks the visual quite a lot. I feel like this is a decent start though. With some time and work I can see this being pretty good.

When it comes to the ingredients, i didn't have a problem with their use. I see "sacrifice" and "my home, my castle" clearly. Then "reincarnation" is somewhat of a stretch but I can see it.

In summary, I like the visual and the core mechanic, I would just like some sound a bit of a story and a visual rework of the hotbar but I understand this is just a matter of time. Good job though and I hope to see this built-upon some time!

A fun game that doesn't take itself too seriously and embraces its imperfections.

I really liked the whole idea. The dialogue and story is surprisingly well written. I enjoyed the very much "on the nose" parts and the overall vibe of it. The music fits well enough even though it is just one loop (at least its pretty long). The art style is cool but feels AI generated (sorry if it wasn't). The mechanic was more fun than I thought and the drinks were reasonably difficult.

Some negatives would be the visuals of the recipe book. The final screen is visually ... ehm ... interesting - maybe artistic intention? The coasters felt useless - just a collectible - maybe a missed opportunity for something more.

Perhaps the biggest problem I have is the use of ingredients. I saw "victim" and even "sacrifice" and maybe "devil's advocate". The rest feels like a bit of a stretch. 

Overall I actually enjoyed my playthrough. The story worked well, I laughed and appreciated all the references. Making the drinks felt satisfying and wasn't unnecessarily difficult. Some parts of the game felt unfinished and the use of the ingredients isn't very clear. Good job!

This game is difficult (if not impossible).

When it comes to the visual, I actually like the art style. The initial dialogue is well written and very funny. The music works well. The sound effects feel a bit weird, but nothing too bad.

Now the first wave is fine (after you figure out how things work). But after that it feels as if it didn't really matter what upgrades you choose because the second wave is just way too difficult for me. Believe me I tried. This made the game pretty annoying to play. I see the vision but the final execution just missed the mark for me.

The ingredients are used pretty well. I see "sacrifice" and "my home, my castle" and "devil's advocate" to an extent, so good job on that front!

In summary, the overall visual and audio is ok and the dialogue is a highlight for me. But the gameplay wasn't really fun for me as it was too difficult and seemed pointless to try. But good job, this is a good foundation that with some time can be very good!

A nice civilization-inspired game.

To start this, I should say that I don't really play/like games like these so I will try my best to give some constructive criticism but take this with a grain of salt.

I actually liked the visual of this. I appreciate you made the models yourselves and it looks great! Also I want to highlight the music. It is very well made and matches the visuals perfectly - great job to the composer! The mechanic is pretty interesting - trying to balance god's and devil's wants. The UI, even though it is very simple and could use some visual stylizing, is very functional and super intuitive and clear. Every piece of information I need I can find easily. The random events are cool and they make everything more interesting.

Now to some negatives. To me (very much possibly skill issue) it felt very difficult. I felt like the sacrifices and church building gave very little in comparison to how much I had to sacrifice. As I said the UI could use some work on the visual front (I understand time constraints and this looks fine). Maybe some more sound effects would be nice as well.

Good job on the ingredients! I clearly see "sacrifice", "my home, my castle" and "devil's advocate".

All in all a very good game. It is pretty impressive to have achieved this in under 48 hours. My highlights are the visuals and the music - all of which were made by you! Some downsides are the UI cohesion with the overal aesthetic and maybe too high of a difficulty (to my liking). Very well done!

A tower defense game with an interesting twist.

I liked the variety of towers and a decent amount of levels. The story makes sense (even if it was a bit rushed). The art style is cohesive and actually pretty nice. The music and sound effects work well with the visuals and feel like they belong.

Now to some negatives. I think it was a shame to get two new turrets only in the last level. It would also be nice to know what a tower does before placing it.

When it came to the ingredients I clearly saw "my home, my castle" and "devil's advocate". The "reincarnation" felt a bit like an afterthought. I'm not sure about "sacrifice" - I get that you lose your job but you are happy about it, because you wanted to help the coup. But in general I see them.

Overall a good, cohesive game. Everything worked and the overall polish was actually pretty good. The story felt a bit rushed and so did the turret progression (I understand this is because of time). Good job!

This game is incredible. From the stunning visuals to the funny sound effects, this game will keep you wanting more.

The mechanic is very well thought out. Each animal has a unique ability that compliments others and facilitates strategy in order to complete the game. It is just difficult enough for me, where you can't complete it randomly but there isn't "one correct strategy".

The art style is breathtaking. Animals are stylized and have character. Backgrounds pour the atmosphere all over you. The UI is intuitive and simple.

If I were to nit-pick, there were some minor problems I had. First of all, sometimes my drag and drop was bugged and I had to look for the pixel where I could actually grab the animal (particularly the snake) and it got pretty frustrating. I felt the music wasn't the strongest (it was fine) in contrast with the sound effects which were great. I do however appreciate that it was made by you, so good job. Also, upgrading an animal for the third time requires 9 parts but there are only 6 slots - maybe a visual that you can't upgrade anymore would be more intuitive. The game is balanced ALMOST perfectly with the exception of the snake. I felt like it was way too strong and the only counterplay to it is another snake but other than that excellent job on the balancing.

Maybe the biggest problem I have with this game is the use of the ingredients (or the lack thereof). I clearly see "sacrifice". I can understand "My home, my castle" even though the game doesn't really explain you are actually protecting the graveyard rather than just going to fight (as is visually represented by the road and the sign battle). The "reincarnation" element I just don't see that much. I understand you mix and match different animal parts but this to me isn't really reincarnation.

In summary a really impressive game. Great atmosphere, great replayability, great balancing and design. Very polished, EXTREMELY fun (even though I'm not really a fan of auto-battlers). The biggest problem in my eyes is the use of the ingredients and maybe some minor visual details. Great job to everyone who worked on this!

A very fun, short and dark game. I loved the juxtapositions between the depressed dark castle setting and the colorful fun bright reincarnated settings. The changes of art style work so well and create a very nice "vibe-shift".

The story is pretty straight-foward. It could benefit from a bit of a backstory but everything is clear so the player can put any monstrosity they think would be needed to want to end their life.

The music underscores the whole visual well and works in tandem with the visuals to deliver the aforementioned "vibe-shifts".

If I had to pinpoint some things I didn't like. The ending screen would be nice to go to the main menu again and not just be "Thank you for playing" - but that's a detail. Maybe with the minigames, I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to do something to trigger the "coming back" or whether it was time based. Especially with the first one after a while I thought I was missing something because it took a decently long time.

The ingredients use was excellent. I clearly saw all four ingredients, so well done on that!

So, a great, visually beautiful, concise game, that had a lot of diversity and didn't feel stale. A bit of a vague story with maybe a bit of unclear goals with the minigames. Good job!

Fun little 2D game with an interesting mechanic. I quite enjoyed my playthrough.

The idea of reincarnating and leaving your body behind to be used to solve a puzzle is very original and interesting. The visuals are AMAZING. I love everything about it, especially the devil (more so the checkpoints). The music accompanies them beautifully to create a nice atmosphere. I liked the dialogue and the hints to the story (even though it isn't anything too deep) as it doesn't feel like a "get from A to B" type of a game.

Now to the negatives. The movement (and especially the jumps) feel "slidy" to me. It took me so long to actually jump like I wanted that I ended up finishing the game using the stone to move most of the time. Next up, the bodies were sliding and gliding on the surfaces and sometimes I got soft-locked between them. When solving the puzzles, the bodies didn't press the pressure plate most of the time, so I had to go back and "glitch" my way to register and open the doors. Also I got stuck with my head a couple of times (see screenshot).

The story foreshadowed a "meeting with the devil" that I was looking forward to and was a bit disappointed it wasn't in there (I understand you didn't have time).

Also the levels felt a bit hollow and empty as the puzzles usually were the same just placed differently.

About the ingredients. I clearly see three - "sacrifice", "devil's advocate" and "reincarnation". I would say these are used pretty creatively, so good job on that.

To summarize, very cool mechanic and a funny and silly story. Some technical issues and maybe some level design shortcomings. All of this would be solved with a bit more time, so for 48 hours this is a fine job! Well done.

(!!! VAGUE STORY SPOILERS, PLAY THE GAME FIRST !!!)

(FOR DEVS: After writing the whole review, I noticed it came across much more negative than what I wanted and  experienced . The overall experience was excellent for me - one of my favorites - maybe because it was so good I needed to tell you what I didn't like. So take this as: "Everything I didn't like and something I liked" because there is so much more to like than I wrote here. <3)

This game is very strong. The atmosphere is very well put together. The visuals look stunning and the music (albeit a bit repetitive after a while) works well with them. I very much appreciate that it was made by you as well. Extra impressive that all was made within the 48 hours.

The writing on this is excellent. The story is cohesive, all suspects are unique and pretty in-depth. They all have different personalities and motivations - that's cool!

The murder board mechanic is executed fairly well (some visual weirdness sometimes). And the merging of clues feels rewarding (although sometimes I felt like some just should give me something and didn't).

Now to the parts I didn't like very much.

First of all the dialogue system needs some improvements. When you talk to someone you cannot hear that conversation again, you just have to remember it, and when you accidentally skip one you lose it (you get some parts to your murder board). Also when you select someone you HAVE TO talk to them now, there is no "go back" button. When you have no option, the last conversation plays, which is annoying as you have to skip through (sometimes very long) dialogue.

The murder board is way too small (or there is way too many clues). Once I was done talking to all of them I had to start putting some on top of each other and even then I didn't have enough space to meaningfully assign clues to people and make connections.

Next, I don't know if it was my computer, but my game bugged !! 4 TIMES !! I was going through my clues, clicked on one (clue, not even suspect) and I had "GAME OVER - NOT THE KILLER" and I had to start again. This was very annoying, as this would happen even later so I had to skip all dialogue to get to the same place.

And lastly, maybe I missed something, but the reasoning behind choosing my suspect was based on method of elimination and in the final screen, I got a backstory that I didn't see hinted at anywhere. I don't know if this was intentional to "not be obvious" but it felt very unfulfilling. From the start you have an obvious suspect no. 1 (I immediately thought: "This is way too obvious, no way it's him") and then you have some clashing of motivations, but I chose the correct one only because I felt like this would "be a plot-twist", not because there were any huge indications one way or another. So if there is a way to get a lot more dialogues from merging clues I didn't find it and would say it is probably too hard to find (I spent about an hour on this game - 4 resets). At least for me it was. I got to the point that I just said "I really don't know what else, let's just choose a killer based on what I know".

When it comes to the ingredients, I see them clearly: "victim", "devil's advocate" and "reincarnation". So no problem there.

In the end, I really enjoyed the vibe of this. The writing was enticing - I REALLY wanted to get to the bottom of the murder (I suffered through 4 restarts). The graphics and music were great - and self-made(!!!!). The story board mechanic was fun, cool and functional. The end was pretty underwhelming or too hard to get to the stage where it would make sense (or I'm just bad - totally possible). I did encounter a nasty game-breaking bug, so that did take something away as well. But very good job to everyone! I loved it.

This game seems very fun. Unfortunately due to the technical state of it, it is unplayable after the first level (at least for me). I tried limiting my FPS (AMD GPU user and wasn't successful) I even tried the fixed version from google drive, but my browser won't let me download it (thinks it is a virus - maybe E.V.A ? xD).

From what I have played, the graphics look good. The music gets a bit repetitive but matches the whole aesthetic. It feels pretty easy though, the enemies are pretty dumb and give pretty little damage. The movement feels "slidy" - but I can see that as me inhabiting a flying robot.

Sometimes I don't know what's happening visually (e.g. weird black spheres and red lines - apparently bullet holes and a sniper).

When it comes to the ingredients, I see "my home, my castle", "reincarnation" and "sacrifice". The use is pretty creative, so well done there.

To summarize, I see the vision and it definitely has the potential to be good. It just needs more time to get working decently. It was daring to try to make this in 48 hours and I think the creators can be proud of what they achieved - even though it is not really playable just yet. (again at least for me)

A fun game with a surprising amount of levels. Each one is pretty unique and introduces something new and is well designed.

The sound effects are nice, the music is a bit disjointed (very different vibes) but fine. The graphics look pretty good (felt very retro to me - which I like).

It took me a while to figure out that you can drag anywhere on the screen and not just from your planet, which, to me, feels a bit unintuitive, but once you figure it out, it works well.

I liked the hints of a story and the funny labels for some planets - cool detail.

When it comes to the ingredients, I only see "sacrifice" and maybe "my home, my castle" but every other ingredient needs some level of mental gymnastics to see in my opinion.

I finished all levels with 3 stars but only managed to keep total chaos to 60 (I firmly believe that 0 is impossible), which is a shame because I would really like to finish it perfectly.

All in all a fun game with an interesting mechanic. Pretty impressive for a one-man-team in 48 hours. Some shortcomings are unintuitiveness and not-so-clear use of the ingredients.