Love it and feels pretty damn close to being complete! You've got a really good eye for pacing and exploration, even without a map everything felt incredibly concise and understandable, even the Halloween level. A lot of these kinds of games with limited camera angles tend to do a really bad job, sometimes jumping angles too heavily or not giving the right information on screen leading to foreground/background mismatches. Well happy to say this isn't that kind of game at all, not a single angle or camera switch felt confusing, it was an utterly painless experience to navigate the environment. Same could be said for the cutscenes, no idea what film experience you got on record but it was very professional. Speaking of the cutscenes, it might be better to let the player advance the text themselves? The intro in particular had some big words + long sentences that I couldn't complete. The character portraits are a really lovely touch, although I'd be nice to see some changes in expression or even some blinks + mouth movements. Gonna jump topics here to talk about the combat which I thought was fantastic. Dodging and auto lock-on are game changers that make this game stand out compared to contemporaries. The enemies had really neat designs and interesting attacks that caused me to purposefully lose some encounters just to experience them again. The type of enemy that closes in and does damage around itself felt a little unfair, maybe making that a quarter circle hitbox instead could work? Also, on account of the combat, the auto aim sometimes didn't work properly. Maybe it was shooting off angle or something, idk. The dodging would also use some work, either by making the step distance longer or giving invincibility frames. This became an issue during the attic boss leading to close calls and some unfair gameovers. The abilities also need player model animations otherwise there's a disconnect between player and action, very obvious whenever doing the fireball ability.
You got something truly amazing cooking here that would no doubt see a strong audience when it's done. Well done!
It's great, awesome even, with small caveats but it doesn't matter all that much. The aesthethic plays the biggest role, it feels like a distant cousin of games like Koudelka, Parasite Eve and Resident Evil, looks like a PSX game too. The tutorial is harder than Case 9, I think, but it's not a big deal. I enjoyed the combat, both pretty straightforward and rewarding. Some attacks are hard to avoid though and I think that sidestepping while weapon is drawn would work better - sometimes I was preparing to dodge just to have my character turn and jump at the wrong angle. Also Sylvia looks like a dude - both portrait and model looks like a man.
Navigation, puzzles and progression through the level are pretty good, but I feel that using inventory items automatically takes away from the experience. I also thought that the book shoulnd't be hidden, and yet it was a red herring so that's good. Too bad that plenty of cabinets weren't having anything and I found it kinda silly to have all of them be sealed shut. Even the cupboard in the kitchen?
That's all nitpicking though, the pacing is good, enemies are fun to fight, so much that I'd even add one or two confrontations more to the level, the story can get us in all different places and the exploration and surroundings are superb. Mirrors? Working mirrors? That one room with only reflections visible? Masterpiece.
Also I think the time counter was measuring time wrong? I'm pretty sure I played that case longer than 12 minutes...
the battle didn't feel as hard as the tutorial one, but i guess the fact that i already played it multiple times helps
the crow (bats?) attack used by the final boss felt kind of unfair, i mean it gives no iframes, so if it hits you and you are not at full health you risk dying in one hit before having the chance to dodge away
i got the ladder stepladder reference, but...
>we need something to reach the attic >go to the garage to grab the ladder
Comments
Love it and feels pretty damn close to being complete! You've got a really good eye for pacing and exploration, even without a map everything felt incredibly concise and understandable, even the Halloween level. A lot of these kinds of games with limited camera angles tend to do a really bad job, sometimes jumping angles too heavily or not giving the right information on screen leading to foreground/background mismatches. Well happy to say this isn't that kind of game at all, not a single angle or camera switch felt confusing, it was an utterly painless experience to navigate the environment. Same could be said for the cutscenes, no idea what film experience you got on record but it was very professional. Speaking of the cutscenes, it might be better to let the player advance the text themselves? The intro in particular had some big words + long sentences that I couldn't complete. The character portraits are a really lovely touch, although I'd be nice to see some changes in expression or even some blinks + mouth movements. Gonna jump topics here to talk about the combat which I thought was fantastic. Dodging and auto lock-on are game changers that make this game stand out compared to contemporaries. The enemies had really neat designs and interesting attacks that caused me to purposefully lose some encounters just to experience them again. The type of enemy that closes in and does damage around itself felt a little unfair, maybe making that a quarter circle hitbox instead could work? Also, on account of the combat, the auto aim sometimes didn't work properly. Maybe it was shooting off angle or something, idk. The dodging would also use some work, either by making the step distance longer or giving invincibility frames. This became an issue during the attic boss leading to close calls and some unfair gameovers. The abilities also need player model animations otherwise there's a disconnect between player and action, very obvious whenever doing the fireball ability.
You got something truly amazing cooking here that would no doubt see a strong audience when it's done. Well done!
It's great, awesome even, with small caveats but it doesn't matter all that much. The aesthethic plays the biggest role, it feels like a distant cousin of games like Koudelka, Parasite Eve and Resident Evil, looks like a PSX game too. The tutorial is harder than Case 9, I think, but it's not a big deal. I enjoyed the combat, both pretty straightforward and rewarding. Some attacks are hard to avoid though and I think that sidestepping while weapon is drawn would work better - sometimes I was preparing to dodge just to have my character turn and jump at the wrong angle. Also Sylvia looks like a dude - both portrait and model looks like a man.
Navigation, puzzles and progression through the level are pretty good, but I feel that using inventory items automatically takes away from the experience. I also thought that the book shoulnd't be hidden, and yet it was a red herring so that's good. Too bad that plenty of cabinets weren't having anything and I found it kinda silly to have all of them be sealed shut. Even the cupboard in the kitchen?
That's all nitpicking though, the pacing is good, enemies are fun to fight, so much that I'd even add one or two confrontations more to the level, the story can get us in all different places and the exploration and surroundings are superb. Mirrors? Working mirrors? That one room with only reflections visible? Masterpiece.
Also I think the time counter was measuring time wrong? I'm pretty sure I played that case longer than 12 minutes...
played the halloween level.
the battle didn't feel as hard as the tutorial one, but i guess the fact that i already played it multiple times helps
the crow (bats?) attack used by the final boss felt kind of unfair, i mean it gives no iframes, so if it hits you and you are not at full health you risk dying in one hit before having the chance to dodge away
i got the ladder stepladder reference, but...
>we need something to reach the attic
>go to the garage to grab the ladder
>i can't
>mfw