What can one say except WOW. This is an unsettlingly unique horror experience, which is both humorous and unnerving at the same time.
I usually don't write my thoughts in bullet points, since that's not a way to write a proper review, but I just LOVE so many little aspects of this game that it's unavoidable;
- From the intro, we see that it starts with Noelle having just left a 14-hour shift. Relatable, everything that happens in the game is exactly how it feels to go through a 14-hour shift at work :)
- Love the fact that this is the most toxic and unlikeable friend group ever. Just a pit of snakes. Every backstory snippet is just them going "the only thing I hate more than myself is everyone in my friend group". Reminds me of that Sartre story about people having to live together in H*ll.
- The graphic design is GORGEOUS. The little rotating "floor plans" of the stages, the monster design, character design that is evocative despite its simplicity, it's just eye candy through and through.
- Really loved the helpful NPCs! The dancers were wonderful and humorous, really liked the Moon goddess and the Two-Headed Horse, which, for some reason kept giving good hints and tricks as it fought me. Also, that flying cartilage that can ally with you if you hit it hard enough is very nice and helpful!
- All NPCs and encounters have these fantastic evocative names and appearances!
- The "rare events" are SO devious! Half of them were funny, half of them were startling, and I'm ashamed to admit I got caught off-guard by two of them. My favourite was when the "dancers" allowed you to choose a ... different set of boons from what they usually give you.
- The randomness of the encounters in every room is a bit of a double-edged sword. At first, it forced me as a player into stressful situations, where one has to consider how badly they want that medikit, or would they risk getting into the fight with a nun to meet the Dancers. After a long time of replaying the game to get all remembrances, however, the lack of player control over which rooms to visit was more frustrating than exciting. I'm not a game designer, so I don't know how to fix it, or if it should be fixed at all. Perhaps introducing mechanics or items that allow you to raise the chance of certain encounters could work.
- The main gameplay loop is so well-crafted and is balanced, but still with potential to "break" the balance. Which works so well in a game that requires you to break its boundaries to learn its secrets!
- That remembrance with the green-haired girl going "hey, I'm going to go meet you, the player :)" was so well-done, heart missed a bit there for sure!
- Comparing horror media with hidden layers and a metanarrative to House of Leaves is a hack thing to do. Keeping this in mind, the process of constantly going through this house, (especially that "room from your dreams") captured that spirit of nightmarish exploration of the Navidson Records.
- This might be controversial, and I'm sure you're intending to explain the main plot, but I feel like this sense of a fever dream (from many clues, it does seem to be a dream), this sense of never having any explanation for what is happening is so exciting. Like living through a nightmare..
I just have spent the last 6 hours playing 100% your demo and the very thought of a demo having so many layers and so many secrets in it is jaw-dropping. Thank you so much for making this game and good luck on pushing this already monumental gaming experience to its conclusion!