Play long-lost PS1 demo
Requiem (1998) – Unearthed from the Archives's itch.io pageRate this long-lost PS1 demo
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Do you allow SCREAM ZONE to promote your game via social media?
Yes
Which engine did you use to create this game?
Unreal Engine 5.4
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Comments
I think theres no denying an absurd amount of effort went into this game, from the visuals, to the menus, the audio and story etc alot of work. It’d be interesting to know how many people worked on this because it feels like a full team which is super impressive. Think this is definitely one of the better games I have played and will absoloutely be a fantastic game down the line. All the systems are bang on especially the saving of notes and audio.
Wanna clarify rn I’m gonna mention stuff basically as a playtester from now on because in regards to one week it is hard to do much better than what you did and you get a top rating from me.
All that being said I’d say the main complaint from me as far as a game for a jam goes, would be it was too ambitious and broad for a week long project. I played the game for 35 mins in total but couldn’t finish it. I had to give up after a while once I got to the section with the key card, I just had absoloutely no idea where it was. It also took till nearly min 25 to get behind that building because I had no clue I could just walk through that crack in the wall.
Alot of it was pretty frustrating which is a shame as the game visually is dope but stuff was just not clear for me through the entire game. Opening up that website in my browser and opening a folder on my PC 3 times I thought was dodgy so I ended up closing them all straight away which as I played realised might have been a mistake so a heads up about doing that would be good.
Almost stopped playing straight away as I had no idea the bin could be moved and the code was on the wall, that took me at least 5 mins of just walking around until by chance I pushed it on accident then was able to fully glitch through another wall to reveal the full code.
Apart from that the guns felt awesome lol, melee is goofy but its oldschool its meant to be clunky. Quite a few glitched and warping textures around the place and the camera freaked out in the sewer but was fine mostly everywhere else. Game feels way over bloated with 1.2GB zipped and nearly 2GB unzipped. Probably some unneccessary UE5 components and oversized and overdetailed materials causing that.
Audio Nit Pick is all the recordings are in HD, felt out of place everytime so I would reccommend slapping a recording effect on all of them, I think the world trigger chats (That got repetitive but nothing criminal) had effects on em which made the recordings feel extra out of place.
Thats as much as I can recall off the top of my head, don’t know how much of the game was left for me to experience that I couldn’t but well done everyone involved. The AI art use is pretty goofy, I know it’s “ethical” but considering how minor it is, just doing something naturally so you can rid yourself of the disclaimer and AI Use tag might be something you could consider down the line as a luxery if you plan on pushing the game to many people once it is properly done.
Wow, it looks like old games! I liked it! Very scary!
I will like to tell James Pierce that I really enjoyed the experience and I found it quite spooky and fascinating. It really felt like playing a Silent Hill / Resident Evil were I was the main character. Maybe the twist was not unexpected but I must say that I am already very impressed of what you achieved in 7 days. Fantastic. I don't understand other comments being negative about the camera switch because this is exactly what I will expect from a Silent Hill like game. I think you nailed it. Bravo! Also I loved to play in parallel on my Desktop, reading the file and analyzing the audio file. I knew about the easter egg in the DOOM soundtrack (666 I think, or was it a pentacle?) but I never witness the frequency pattern myself so it was very interesting.
Thank you so much for this amazing feedback! Hearing that Requiem gave you Silent Hill and Resident Evil vibes—and that you felt like the main character—is incredibly rewarding. Those games were huge inspirations, so it’s wonderful to know that came through!
I'm also really glad to hear you enjoyed the camera switching! I wanted to stay true to that classic horror style, so your support on that front is encouraging. And yes, the parallel experience on the desktop was meant to add a bit of an “ARG” layer, letting players dive into the lore in a unique way. Sounds like it worked perfectly for you!
And you’re absolutely right about the DOOM easter egg with the spectrogram! There’s something so fascinating about hidden visuals in audio, so I wanted to pay tribute to that kind of discovery. Thank you for noticing, and for giving Requiem a chance. 😊
This is absolutely wild in scope, depth, and lore. Unreal programs tend to crash on my PC and I can't run it for too long, so I will hold off on rating, but congratulations on accomplishing so much in a week! Even how you managed to convince so many participants that it is real is a testament to the effort you put in, and I know anything is possible in 7 days. Great work!
Thank you so much! I’m thrilled to hear the scope and lore left an impression—I really poured everything I had into this project to make it feel immersive and convincing, so your words mean a lot!
It’s unfortunate to hear about the Unreal crashes on your PC, though; I know how frustrating that can be. I’m hoping to improve performance and stability in future updates to make it more accessible across different setups, so fingers crossed it’ll run smoother for you then!
Thank you again for your kind words and for recognizing the effort that went into it. I really appreciate it! 😊
A game with great potential but not polished. Models, animations, sound are very cool. The story is interesting, the atmosphere is scary. But the scariest thing in the game is that it creates a folder on the desktop...
And now about things that, in my opinion, are not polished:
1) The camera lives its own life, it's cool that there are two modes, like in old games of the PS1 era and like in modern ones. But it constantly switches to the old view. And I don't understand whether this is a bug or whether it is intended. If there is a trigger for switching the camera in a certain place, then I think it should be made so that it works once if the player runs with the right button pressed. I understand that this mode is for combat, but it seems to me that most players have played this game in this mode. Moreover, the camera can switch to the old style right during the fight;
2) It is not obvious where to go after receiving the gun;
3) For some reason, the animation of pressing something turns on if the action button is pressed. I don't think you need to turn on animation if there are no interactive objects nearby;
4) Cultists look like people, but they don't die from a headshot;
5) I think the character shouldn't climb the building at this point (attached a screenshot);
Despite all the shortcomings, the game looks very cool. To manage to do so much in a week, good job!
Thank you so much for playing and for your feedback!
I’m thrilled you enjoyed the overall experience and took the time to share such detailed feedback. It really helps me fine-tune everything! Thanks again, and stay tuned for the patch!
This takes me back! Very polished! Good job!
Thank you! I’m glad it was nostalgic for you! :)
Amazing game! The only thing that disappointed me was the camera switching, which ended up messing up the gameplay. Other than that, I loved the game!
Thank you so much for the feedback! Just so I know what to adjust, can you share which aspects of the cameras were problematic? I’ll be fixing all this kind of stuff as soon as the jam is over!
I preferred the third person camera and many times the game would switch and block me from returning to third person.
That’s fair - the third person view was actually intended to be used as a limited resource (10 second time limit, linked to the eyeball icon in the bottom corner of the screen). I didn’t have enough time to properly tutorialize it though so I can understand it being frustrating!
Wow, you really got the retro playstation look just right! This game is really impressive, especially for a game jam.
P.s. I think there's a bug with the pipe, whenever I got hit by the ennemies it would stop using it and I would have to unequip-re-equip.
Thank you! We have it everything we had so I’m glad it’s convincing!
You’re absolutely right about the pipe too - for some reason the kicking system and melee weapon system I built don’t always play friendly, and it’s at the top of my list of post-jam bug fixes!
I love the silent hill style camera, its very cool. Well done
Thank you so much!!!
The settings menu, PS1-style graphics, and immersive audio were impressive, and I loved the hidden areas and audio tapes for storytelling. The added mechanics like health-based animation changes and a fourth-wall-breaking message were clever. However, the camera was hard to control and sometimes caused disorientation, and some items had inconsistent interaction triggers. I also had issues with overlapping sounds, resource balancing, and an abrupt monster encounter near the end. The webcam reveal at the end was genuinely shocking and inventive. Overall, it was a unique, if quirky, experience—thanks for the game!
Thank you so much for the kind words and detailed feedback—I really appreciate you taking the time to play through Requiem!
I’m thrilled to hear that the settings menu, PS1-style graphics, and audio left a positive impression! Creating those hidden areas and audio tapes for storytelling was a big focus for me, so it’s great to know they resonated with you. And I’m glad the health-based animation changes and the fourth-wall break landed well! Those were definitely meant to heighten the immersion and throw in a few surprises.
As for the negatives, I completely understand your frustrations with the camera—it’s something I’m planning to rework and polish after the jam, as it’s a known issue on some setups. The item interaction triggers are also a priority for me to refine, and I’ll be looking into balancing the sound design to avoid those overlapping moments that break immersion.
I also appreciate the feedback on resource balancing and enemy encounters. These are areas where I plan to do a lot of tuning in future versions to make the gameplay smoother and more intuitive. And I’m really glad the webcam reveal had the intended effect! I wanted to end the game with something memorable, so it’s great to hear it left an impact.
Thanks again for playing and for the thoughtful feedback! It means a lot!
Nice replica of PS1 era style! Played as much as I can, game is cool. At one moment my character disappeared after interacting with the keypad.
Thank you so much! That’s a persistent bug with the inventory system specifically - I expect to have it resolved as soon as the jam is over!
Well done! The PS1 rendering is well done, even if I sometimes had display problems in certain places, like inside the bus. The narration is very good too, I really liked it! One point that frustrated me a lot, however, was that every time an enemy spots me, my camera switches back to fixed view and takes me out of my TPS view, which is very confusing for aiming. Frankly, bravo for this game, it’s very complete for such a short time.
Thank you so much for all of the positive feedback! The TPS mode is actually meant to be a limited resource based on the eye icon - 10 seconds maximum, I need to make it more clear
Damn! I hadn’t understood :(
Not your fault! I didn't have enough time to really tutorialize everything and that's on me!
Wow, the presentation is great. Feels remarkably nostalgic lol.
That’s amazing to hear! We did everything we could to recapture our childhoods so I’m glad it did the same for you! I tried being very careful to make it convincing as an unfiction/ARG for the sake of immersion haha :)
I like all the little Inscryption-esque ways you blend game with reality. Like how (spoilers) the pause menu shows my name lol, or how a browser opened when the game started.
I'm really glad you liked those touches! If you happen to unlock any developer notes or audio files while playing, they can give more lore as well as other information when used with that browser window ;)
I’m immediately very impressed with this game’s presentation! It really does a fantastic job capturing that classic ps1 style.
I haven’t played much yet, though I’m looking forward to checking it out some more, I’ll update my feedback once I’ve gotten further. I admit I got a little stumped on what to do after finding the first audio log in the house.
Also not sure if this is a bug or specifically my controller, but I couldn’t seem to turn left. The turning animation would play but the character wouldn’t actually turn. Thankfully turning to the right worked correctly.
Thank you so much! I did everything I could to really capture the 90’s aesthetic so that’s amazing to hear :)
And sounds great! The key to advancing past the house interior is actually kicking the boxes blocking the front door.
I appreciate the heads up on the turning sensitivity as well - tank controls were surprisingly annoying to get working in Unreal, and they can indeed be a little finicky on some controllers (still a work in progress there). You may have better luck if you try to push the joystick more precisely to the side - I had to define a dead zone to get it working and the full version will have a slider for that. Otherwise, it does play very well on the keyboard and mouse so I’d recommend that if the issue persists!
Okay finished the game. 10/10 would recommend :)
First of all, thank you for helping me get out of the house! I didn't expect I could smash giant crates with the kick haha I was trying to kick out the boarded up windows and everything else apparently.
I played on keyboard this time so I could avoid any issues. For the controller, I'm not sure it was user error (not holding the stick directly left) or a sensitivity issue. It's possible, but the reason I think it was maybe a bug is because the character was entering the turning animation which meant the game was registering the turn, but the character wasn't turning. Anyways, happy to say that besides the one controller issue I had, I don't think I encountered another technical issue.
I don't want to spoil too much about the story for others who might read this, but I found the meta game elements really cool and I love how you can read the notes outside of the game to dive deeper into the story. I haven't analyzed the audio yet (though I plan to when I get time) so I'm sure I'm missing out on some cool revelations or spooky stuff, but I'm glad that the story is pretty understandable even with just the notes.
The sound design is also quite good and the voice acting isn't bad. I especially liked hearing the whispering every now and then. Made me question a few times if a cultist was just around the corner.
The gameplay is also pretty fun. I'm impressed with the menus and inventory system. I like that you let the player freely look around, that's something I always wish I could do in games with static cameras, just to explore the environment more.
I would've liked the gameplay to be more scary, but I think this game touches on other facets of horror that help make up for that. The only part of the game that I felt wasn't as fun is the maze.
All in all, great job on this game! Really enjoyed the experience. Rated and I hope you'd be willing to check out our game too :)
Thank you so much for the feedback!!!
Happy to help too - it wasn’t obvious that the crates could be destroyed and I really should’ve tutorialized it better. I actually pushed a bug fix this morning that included a subtitle message when in that area so that feedback directly helped!
I’m really glad it worked well on the keyboard! As far as the controller goes, would you be willing to share which model you’re using so I can use that info to debug?
It’s good to hear that the meta elements outside the game are fun too - I wanted to make the gameplay fun and engaging without too much forced exposition, and the idea of having the game forcibly put files on the desktop seemed like a spooky way to make the deeper lore optional :)
As far as the sound design and music goes, that was mainly my brother! He really put a lot of effort into the music so your feedback is going to make his day haha
And agreed! I didn’t really have enough time to properly balance the difficulty so resource scarcity isn’t quite what it could be. I also didn’t have enough time for my planned third enemy type so that also affects the scariness factor. I’ll be adding more creepy stuff in after the jam is over though so it should improve quite a bit in the coming months!
I did play yours too but haven’t gotten the chance to post a comment yet! I’ll give some detailed feedback ASAP!
of course, happy to provide feedback :)
Okay I tested one last time and was able to turn left and right. So it’s a sensitivity issue after all. If it’s not perfectly left or right it won’t turn. You may have already fixed this, but just letting you know. If you still think it would be helpful I’m using a wired Xbox one controller. I think what lead me to think it wasn’t was mainly that I would trigger the turn animation but not actually turn. Maybe the animation and turning require different values to trigger? With the animation being slightly more lenient?
Haha yeah it was a little spooky to have the game drop files, open browser pages, and even mimic computer error pop ups. Loved that! Reminded me a bit of how Eternal Darkness would mess with the player by turning down the tv volume or making it look like the game deleted your save files.
Very cool! Glad to hear you’ll keep working on it, I’ll be sure to keep an eye on it. I think it’s got great potential!
We updated our build a bit ago to fix some bugs so I hope you were able to play the newest version! Hope you enjoyed it :) looking forward to hearing what you thought of it
Thank you for confirming that it’s a sensitivity issue! I need to rework the threshold for the dead zone and also make some adjustments to the character’s animation blueprint - I expect that to be one of the first quality of life improvements after the jam!
And nice! That’s exactly the vibe I was going for :)
Thanks for the heads up on the bug fix too - I’ll play the updated version tonight!
Really good game and interesting graphics! By the way, I got scared when Academo automatically opened in my browser haha!
I’m really glad you liked it! I tried coming up with some out-of-the-box ideas for jump scares and building tension, and that was one of them :)
Let me know what you think if you try the unlocked audio files on the Academo site!
Breaking the rules of the jam. While I like your game, I can't condone the behavior of copy-pasta-ing a game that has been a long term project into jams where it doesn't fit the rules. Its bad business practice and is disappointing to see.
Was certainly confused by the notes which made the game sound like it was a multi-year project. :') Definitely is a really good game and I apologize for the hostility. I guess the ARG type thing you are going for really worked! Great game gonna change my rating!The developer notes are fictional and written from the perspective of the in-game antagonist (Nate Grayson). The actual developer (me, James Pierce) made this game in a week during the jam period. So no, I didn’t break any rules I promise!
I do understand the confusion - this game is made to be a piece of “unfiction” - a piece of media that pretends to be a real part of history when it’s not. I tried blurring the line between the game and reality as much as possible, so I’ll take your response as proof that it worked :)
I’d really appreciate it if you could revise or delete your comment here - I did do this jam in one week and I don’t want to be penalized when I did nothing wrong. I hope you understand where I’m coming from.