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A jam submission

And the Cycle RepeatsView game page

Enter the abyss where the new cycle begins.
Submitted by Geeni, Darksamrai — 2 hours, 37 minutes before the deadline
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And the Cycle Repeats's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Overall fun and playability#573.0593.059

Ranked from 17 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Theme incorporation
Game is located in ancient ruins, as old as time. World has infinite cycles where every hundred of years new soul borns until these souls can finish the current cycle and start a new one. And i guess someone could describe the world as cosmic horror.

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Comments

Submitted

The game feels just right, with all the essential elements to enjoy it implemented. It doesn't feel like any important feature is missing or has been rushed.

Strong theme implementation (Infinity/The Endless).

Some causes of death are pathetic in a fun way ("you stare at the bonfire for a century, good luck next time !")

The idea of the three fingers "Hand of God" that look like a chicken feet pleases me a lot, for some reason. Thanks you for this.

I didn't find a way to use the ring that make you blind. I supposed it could be useful to protect against the eyeballs, but it didn't seem to work, so I walked backwards to avoid their gaze.

Bug: After dying to the gaze of eyeball enemy, you still take damage at respawn with each rotate (Q/E) until you move (W/A/S/D). I assume the line of sight check is only done after a move.

Developer

Thank you!!

Submitted (2 edits)

"And then the cycle repeated. Like it has always done. And always will."

I really enjoyed that. The game looks and sounds good and consistent. The game makes very good use of the horror+endless(+solitude) themes as it's slightly more than just narrative. The checkpoints, including getting your items back, were welcomed addition. 

Finally the game is very fun to play as the puzzles are varied and very organically integrated into the game. The narrative, which is atmospheric and nice, and puzzles really mesh very well with each other. The game is not hard but there were definitely some moments of what's happening?/what did I do wrong?/what should I do next? so the game was quite interesting to play.

Overall the game feels at least a little bit unique.

This is a very cool entry, thanks for sharing.

Developer

Thank you!!

Submitted

Nice little game! I like it!

Nice premise with repeated centuries gone for each attempt. The tasks was a bit hard to understand sometimes, but there were not many options so it went well. 

I had an issue where I got the first key and died and I lost the ring and could not open the door.

Also nice touches with some added humor.

With added rituals it's always a win!

Great!

Developer

Thank you!! If you talk to the hat guy at the beginning you get your stuff back!

Submitted

This was awesome!

I loved the the lateral approached to the puzzles; great expression of the themes through mechanics.  Got some genuine head-scratchers, some good scares, and the general eeriness of the unknown.

And the way the nature of what's happening unfolds with each cycle, as you guide the player with succinct phrases and unaffected NPC characters, which also contribute to the tone.

Really no notes.  Great entry!
Playthrough: And the Cycle Repeats Pt1 by Geeni & Darksamrai

Developer

Thank you!!

Submitted

It’s a really interesting game, I really liked it. Loved the idea of progressing through the dungeon and changing it with every life, and also all those clues and small nice mechanics, like not looking back, or not looking at eyes.

Music/ambience was probably a bit too quiet, I didn’t hear much audio, except my actions/thingie attacking from behind.

Developer

Thank you!!

Submitted

Hey,

I like the style and theme, it felt well rounded. The movement was also very smooth. And the sound pretty nice. But I did not really had much fun playing. I thought about why, and I think, it is mostly because I had the feeling there is no real or maybe well present goal. I did not had the feeling of “Ah ok I need to do this to gain / accomplish that”. I stumbled more through the game than really knowing what I was doing. I hope you get what I mean. There was this initial moment where I thought “Oh cool I am to seek rings” but after that mothing really presented itself to me. I get the mysterious wipe, but it was to mysterious for me. :D Nevertheless well crafted little game. :)

Developer

Thanks for the feedback! This was our first dungeon crawler so we really appreciate any criticism on how to improve! 

Submitted(+2)

Below are my live thoughts as I played your entry:

Oooh! Neat, I’m a hand with 2 fingers and a thumb. Wow… this ambient sound track is creepy.

Hmm… what are these weird pictures on the wall… looks a bit like a map?

Whelp… I just fell in a hole and died… I think. Interesting! A floating map? Hmmm?

Ack! Some floating eyes are attacking me. How do I fight back? Doesn’t seem to be an attack button and I can’t click on anything here. But, I can move faster than this shadow guy! Let’s get out of here.

The torch light is really cool! I know it is just a pixel art wall torch but it still has light. Neat!

I found a ring!

Okay… back at the beginning again? hmm… A floating hat! Let’s talk with it. A creepy blue ring… I wonder what it does when I wear it. Probably something good. Who knows. It’s pretty and it is mine! MY PRECIOUS!

This dungeon feels different… I should really be paying more attention. I’m not sure if it is different or I have a bad memory.

More eyes… Ah, this time I think I figured out how to fight the “Hollow”. Mmm… Satisfying crunchy punches! Yes! DIE!

Ooooh! I found a key. Another enemy! Oh what is happening to my hand! Yikes! I think I might be about to dy… aaand I’m dead. Respawn. Nice. Talk to hat… get ring… Oooh! I still have the key. Nice! Found a door. Opened door. E-Z P-Z.

What’s this… a ring of blindness… Hmmm… makes me blind. That makes sense. I wonder if it does anything else… Something ate me while I was blind! Okay, back at the beginning again. Feels like I’ve been playing this game for centuries! Or maybe that is just how long the souls have been here ;)

Oh wow! Apparently I can interact with these “maps”. I see they are signs that have some cryptic clues. Very nice!

“Beyond this wall lies the heart of eternity”

Okay… I think that is my goal. But how do I get beyond this wall?

Something keeps killing me in this hallway… Maybe something about the ring of blindness? Let’s try again… Nope. Still dead.

Okay, this time I managed to strafe past whatever was killing me. Let’s keep going!

Oooo! A bonfire! Shiny! A little century long break and I’m back at the beginning. And… now there is a hat in front of the dead fire. Is this past me? Maybe? Also, a terrible fire keeper.

Oh! Hang on, was I able to turn around and go this way the WHOLE time?

“Cast not your gaze upon the eyes that bind” – Okay. Definitely going to need the blindness ring now. Yep! A big eye at the end of this hallway… Also, another at the end of this hallway.

Oooh! Another ring! A fire ring! Maybe I can re-ignite that fire. Traded for a key! Perfect!

A hole… and my hand is now gone… But I have a dagger! “A dagger. You know what to do with it.” – Oh my… Death… 1 century passes and… We’re back! Thanks for hanging onto these rings guy.

The wall is gone! Can I find the heart of eternity now?

And so the cycle continues… and always will…

Thanks for the game! I had a great time!

Submitted(+2)

If you couldn’t tell. I LOVED this entry. I want more games like it. Great job!

Developer

Thank you so much!!!

Submitted

Movement felt great, but the overall game was a little confusing.

Developer

Thanks for the feedback!

Submitted

The atmosphere and the movement/turning was great, the combat was very basic. Some of the stuff in the game itself  was a little confusing about what was happening exactly. Like getting restarted for picking up the first ring, but not the later ones, or maybe I missed something.

Developer(+1)

Thank you!! The beginning has a trap to introduce the mechanic of restarting. Also we ran out of time to polish the combat system, our original plan was for the rings to do some cool stuff in battle

Submitted

Good job! loved the atmosphere and the gfx were great

Developer(+1)

Thank you for playing!!!

Submitted

Very creepy atmosphere and themeing. Movement felt good, while combat is bit basic and VERY deadly. I loved the ambient sound in the background.

Developer

Thank you!! And yeah, we didn't have enough time to polish the combat system.