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Eyes Within the Box's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| SOUNDS / MUSIC | #15 | 3.810 | 3.810 |
| ART / VISUALS | #29 | 4.143 | 4.143 |
| CONTROLS | #63 | 3.381 | 3.381 |
| Overall | #94 | 3.214 | 3.214 |
| USE OF THEME | #139 | 2.857 | 2.857 |
| BOSS DESIGN | #193 | 2.571 | 2.571 |
| FUN | #199 | 2.524 | 2.524 |
Ranked from 21 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Game's take on the theme
Exchange Exchange and exchanging plays a mayor role not only in the Lovecraftian story but on the gameplay loop. Position Exchange You would have to exchange the position of your soldiers often, since situations develop in different perimeters each turn of the game. Each member of the squad have different habilities that serve each situation in unique ways. As you enchange soldiers more backstory is reveal to you. Depending on the position of your soldiers events will play out in different ways. Ammo Exchange Lack of ammo and resources will play a mayor role on the combat. You will need to order that your soldiers look for and exchange ammunition for them to maintain combat efficiency. Gameplay Exchange The game exchanges gameplay styles constantly, from a visual novel or text based adventure, to a Camera Mode similar to FNAF to an RPG Persona-Inspired Combat System. Exchange of Codes There are codes given to the player at the beginning of the game. The player have to exchange the codes with the rescue team to check on their identity. You will have to make decisions based on this information. This can lead to one of 4 different endings.
Did your team create the vast majority of art and music during the game jam?
Yes most of the art, music and code was created during the game jam, we only used a couple of old backgrounds and sprites for a couple of cameras, and modified old code for specific things like animation, but almost everything else is new.
Did your game use PlusMusic?
No
Did your game use Playroom?
No
Did your game use generative AI art?
no, all the art is human made.
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Comments
The art is absolutely incredible, great job!!! Congratulations.
Thanks a lot for taking the time to leave a review! Glad you liked the game.
Gorgeous art, engrossing sound effects, and a creepy story. I am not sure if it quite fits the themes of the jam, but it is an impressive work nonetheless.
Tks! Im glad you liked it!
Very unique and has great atmosphere. I enjoyed the dialogues too. It’s nice to see some other strategy game in this jam.
Tks! Glad you liked the dialogues! Loved to work on some strategy for this jam, so I will probably continue on the future.
To be honest it does not really fit the term Boss-Rush as it doesn't feel like rushing through bosses. The theme also does not work because its used in a way that can be compered with almost any game in existence. Your not even exchanging places your just moving them from point A to point B.
The game by itself is a good game, just need work and polish. But I don't think its fits here sorry.
Tks for taking the time to give a review and for your honest feedback. The jam was a great place to get feedback independent of the theme and genre, so I'm glad we participated anyway. We will continue to polish the game afterwards.
Most original game of the jam among the games i played so far. It really has a very good narrative style which pulls you in. The artstyle of the game is fantastic. I especially loved those camera footage images. Gameplay strangely reminded me of the Zero Escape games if you ever heard of them. It is also visual novel game series where your choices effect the outcome. Also story and ambience gave me FEAR vibes
The combat system in the game falls a little flat in my opinion. You don't see how much health the soldiers or the enemy has. You can only do one action. It felt kinda weird, it's not clear what's going on and i think battlescreen could be a bit better.
The way you use the theme (pls don't get mad at me for saying this :))is a little cheap i think but it's still something. Everyone can run out of ideas sometimes, plus it's no big deal.
As for boss design, i haven't been able to finish the game(i'll tell why later) but judging from parts of the game i have played, there's only one boss and what you do in this game is not a boss rush either. This doesn't take away anything from the quality of the game but considering that this jam is about boss rush, i can't give a high score to boss design criteria.
Sound effects and ambience sounds are creepy which fits the tone of the game perfectly. But same sounds loop a lot. Same ambience sounds are playing even in battle screen.
Ok now the tough part. Bugs!. Game crashed frequently on my system i think exclusively on battle screen. I couldn't be able to finish the game because game gets stuck on the same battle. When the monster's turn arrives it keeps playing it's sound and animation and gets stuck there. Dead soldiers appear on battle. Also i don't understand what happened to sniper character. First they said she's sick then she said i'm ok now, later she completely vanished from the game.
Overall it's a very innovative and creative game, a fresh idea which is hard to find. It's a sort of a visual novel but with some good twists. It's still rough in it's current state which i know that it's still in development. With some good touches and more content this could become next indie hit on Steam and i really wish to see that. Congrats to the Curse Box Studios team and wish you good luck on your projects!
PS: I can send you a screenshot of error message i recieved if that would help. It said something like infinite loop on the message. But i'm not sure i got the same error every time. Btw with which engine was this game developed?
Thanks a lot for the in depth review! I know the Zero Escape Games, and of course Fear, both are great series to be compared to. Although I think my inspiration came more on the side of mixing Xcom with Resident Evil on a Lovecraftian way. Please do send me the bug report if you can, we didn't have time to test all possibilities so it was natural for bugs to appear. I'm really glad you found the game original and innovative, and the comparison with visual novels is fitting since I come from making games in that genre. We will continue to improve the game with the feedback from the jam. Once again takes a lot for taking the time to make this review!
Probably the most unique in aesthetics in this Jam.
Loved it.
Thanks a lot! We worked really hard on that aspect, so I'm glad you liked it!
Played your game.
I liked the graphics and the flow of the game.
I would like to request you to play my game and rate it.
https://itch.io/jam/boss-rush-jam-2024/rate/2513945
Thanks for the review, and sure, I will.
This is excellent work - sound, art, dialogue, all of it. Very atmospheric - I did play with the lights off!
A true horror enjoyer XD Thanks a lot for the review!
Hey! Are you planning to continue working on this game after the jam? Because it's great! The art style is one of my favorites in this jam. The cinematic intention is very well executed, and the music is kind of simple and relies almost exclusively in field recordings and sound design, but is super effective and adds a lot to the atmosphere.
It's a nice touch to add the soundtrack as a downloadable in the jam submission; I will do the same with my music in future jams. You guys are on my favorite list! I've added your game to my collection in case you update it.
Wishing you success in the game jam!
We are very glad you liked the game. And yes, we plan to keep updating it until it's a full commercial release on itch and steam. The jam gave us a lot of feedback that will be useful to improve it. Thx a lot for taking the time to play and give a review and for your kind words!
Very good and fun game. Very good cinematic too. Good job!
The cinematics were hard to do, but we are very glad it turns out cool and that you liked them! Thanks a lot for taking the time to play and review!
Awesome! Loved it - the vibes and concept were great. Great job!
Tks! Glad you liked it!
The cinematic story line of this game is fantastic(no spoilers). I use to play games like this some time ago an it hit the nostalgia nerve so thank you for that. There is a ton of work pumped into this game the Dialog, Art, Music and I can only imagine the storyboard for this game. It all came together to give a wonderfully creepy feel. I am definitely going to play this one a few more times. Thank you for the enjoyable game. Good Luck
Thanks a lot for the wonderful words, It gives us a lot of impulse to continue. I'm glad it worked out for you! We will keep updating it and eventually making it a commercial product. Thanks for taking the time to give us an opportunity and a review.
The art looks really cool, I really like the design of the monsters. The music and sound are cool too, the sound effects is really fitting. Also, the gameplay are fine, the exchange position to navigate through the building is interesting.
Tho there are some visual bugs such as when you enter a battle, if you click the screen the window inside the game will get smaller and smaller.
But still, nice game!
Hi! Tks a lot for the review and your kind words! I will check out the bug you are mentioning.
I'm in love with those SCP-esque arts of the group and monsters, great UI and everything related to visuals are perfect! But gameplay is really hard to engage to... So many options and so many things you have to consider, really busy and not very exciting to learn sadly(
But it's a strong project and i'll be looking forward to see it grow!
Thanks a lot for taking the time to review the game and for your words of encouragement! Which menu would you say was the worst for you? Or the one that needs to be re-made the most?
I think the reposition menu was the most confusing . A need to reset to main command menu every time you need to change your team members in the rooms was annoying the most(
You actually don't need to reset the commands to change the positions, it has been just like a shortcut in case you want to delete all commands. But I get how that is confusing. I totally agree that the reposition screen is one of the things that need more work. Once again thx for all your feedback!
i was hooked by the art style and the atmosphere of this game,its a really interesting story and gameplay although it didnt really tell much about how actions will affect stuff or what is really going on around this place due to lack of visual clue i think its an ok foundation that have quite a good potential to become an amazing tactical horror later
On next updates we will add more visual stuff and re-work the menus so you can tell what's going on all the time. The best thing about the jam was getting to know what worked and what needs to be improved. Thanks a lot for your feedback and kind words!
Hey there, hope you're doing well!
The atmosphere is almost perfect, you clearly did a great job! I struggle a bit more with the actual game. It doesn't seem much diversified. I think it would be more engaging if you always had a visual element on the screen displaying what is happening. When you go back to the text screen it's like everything else doesn't matter anymore and you easily get lost. Still a great experience, you did an amazing job!
I agree whit what you are saying. In the next updates we will replace some of the text menus for more visual stuff, like indicators of where each character is and if they are moving or in a defensive position. Overall, the objective is making it more streamline and visual. Thanks a lot for the review!
This game is extremely polished and you can see a whole lot of care went into it. From the very beginning, the menu feels like an actual game, then you start and the atmosphere kicks in. The air of mystery, the subtle background music, and the professional feel of your team feels just right, it's a great atmosphere. Also, props for the great dialogs, it felt pretty engaging. Overall, a really cool experience, though you need a lot of time to experience it, great job!
Thanks a lot for the review and for taking the time to try the game. I took some time to read military material to use proper terminology so I'm glad it came out engaging.
The game is incredibly atmospheric. I love the design of these monsters. About the gameplay: It was an unusual but rich experience.
Thanks a lot for the review! Glad you liked the game. We were going for the atmosphere above all so glad that came out right for you.
This was pretty fun, didn't have a lot of time, so I will get back to it later but what I played so far was entertaining
Thanks a lot for taking the time to play and review! And glad you liked it! It's a demanding game, I will try to simplify some elements for future updates, so it can streamline the experience.
The game has many functions, it is easy to disorient the player, if it has fewer features with more engaging mechanics it will be better, you have to be very engage to enjoy the game.
Thanks a lot for the feed. I agree . For a future update I want to simplify some functions like the change of perimeters to free more mental space for the player. Witch feature was your favourite/less hated and wich one was the worst? the one you would cut right now