Play game
Alchemist's Bargain's itch.io pageResults
Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
How well does the game stick to the chosen theme and medieval horror setting? | #1 | 4.400 | 4.400 |
Is the narrative compelling and creative? | #1 | 3.600 | 3.600 |
How polished and functional is the game? | #3 | 2.800 | 2.800 |
How enjoyable is the game to play? | #3 | 2.600 | 2.600 |
Does the game encourage players to return for more? | #4 | 2.200 | 2.200 |
How well does the game convey horror through sound, visuals, and tension? | #4 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
Is the user interface intuitive and visually appealing? | #5 | 2.200 | 2.200 |
Are there any unique mechanics or twists that make the game stand out? | #6 | 1.800 | 1.800 |
Ranked from 5 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Game Info
https://solibran.itch.io/alchemists-bargain
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Comments
Appreciated the voice-acting and creating a narrative-driven experience. I only have two gripes - the in-world subtitles detracted from the play experience and when I hit escape to pause it closed the game.
Overall really good! The only problem is I felt like the gameplay didnt feel very interesting or engaging. The most fun I had was having a guy yell at me for not paying attention to him when I walked off lol. I think maybe a different style of gameplay would be more fitting for this narrative driven game then just walking around pressing interact on things. Some puzzles or tasks the player could do to progress would go a long way on keeping players engaged. I did have an issue at first figuring out what I was supposed to do while in the cart because of this. a few minutes of clicking around randomly and eventually I figured out to press a button on the note and I was fine from there. But a prompt to tell the player an item is interactable would be a big help. This wasnt an issue later in the game where some items like the phial of concentrate or the skulls which were well lit up and stood out. However the night village level was a bit too dark. It was almost impossible to see, I think some more ambient moonlight would help. Only bug I noticed was a weird line that appeared on one side of the screen when transitioning levels but it disappeared within seconds so wasnt any big deal. And the subtitles were a bit janky and didnt really help much. They always were clipping into objects too much to read half of it anyway.
I commend the narrative driven project even if I felt the gameplay was a bit boring (I felt like my character did when reading the tome lol) And I commend the voice actors too for their hard work.