itch.io

Hi! Thanks for sharing the game link! Here’s my feedback:

Positives:

1. I immediately noticed the beautifully illustrated book. The artists clearly put a lot of love into the design. The monster illustrations and page layouts are very satisfying to look at.
2. I enjoyed the visual style of the graveyard. It’s more cartoonish than realistic, which is a great choice—it creates a fun contrast between the cute/cartoonish style and the creepy graveyard setting.
3. When the “running man” caught me for the first time, breathing nervously right by my ear, I honestly almost jumped out of my skin. I never got used to it and constantly flinched when he caught me.
4. Thank you so much for including save points. I truly appreciate developers who respect players’ time. It was a huge relief to restart from a save, especially since the game is quite challenging.
5. The scream of the girl character is genuinely terrifying. I felt real tension when I saw her.

Negatives:

1. As others mentioned in the comments, there’s a lot of text. I agree—it might be better to spread the notes around the graveyard or to create a narrative system where, after each death, a new gravedigger arrives and adds entries about the monsters that killed the last one. It’s tricky with saves, but it could work. After the “running man” killed me, I wanted to reread the book, but I didn’t have it because I’d loaded a save. I guess I needed to press “J”? But I’d forgotten in the moment due to the amount of information I had to remember.
2. Bugs: I kept a log of my thoughts while playing, and occasionally switched windows to make notes. When I returned, the mouse would stop working in-game, forcing me to restart.
3. It’s disappointing not knowing how much stamina the character has left for running. It would help if the character became breathless toward the end of a sprint, signaling that they won’t be able to run anymore. Also, the character seemed to run very slowly, though that might just be my perception.
4. I forgot about pressing “J,” so I couldn’t figure out how to deal with the “running man.” I think I’m not supposed to look at him? But sometimes he’d start running at me before I could even see him, which was confusing. Maybe I wasn’t doing it right, but he seemed broken and unfair.
5. When the “screaming girl” caught me, I restarted at the save near the flower water. But the scream didn’t stop, so I thought she was about to attack me, but she wasn’t anywhere. I realized the sound had just bugged and stayed with me for the rest of the game.
6. I agree with those who found the book font hard to read. It would be easier if it were simpler, especially since there’s so much of it.
7. When I read the book, it said to place boards, cover them with soil, water them, and something else? Did I get that right? When I reached the grave, the order seemed off. First, we bring a lantern, then the boards, then the water. The grave model looked incomplete, making me think there was more to do. When the text told me to go to the main gates, I assumed I’d find a shovel or something. I was surprised when I realized the game just ended. I get that my expectations aren’t your responsibility and that you probably couldn’t implement everything you wanted in the jam timeframe, but the ending could have been more elegant. I wanted to know more about the girl’s backstory, for instance.

Conclusion: It’s a cool game, though it has some flaws likely due to ambitious ideas that were hard to fully realize within the limited time. I totally understand—I struggle with that too. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to create compact, small-scale gems like some developers do. But over time, this gets easier with experience. The book contained detailed monster descriptions, but I don’t think I encountered all of them. I never came across shadows or bloodsuckers. I also didn’t fully understand the danger from mimics or crows since I got rid of them quickly. As I mentioned earlier, I think players could get more out of the game by discovering enemy traits on their own. It would make things more interesting but also more challenging. I think adding more graves with fewer enemies would allow players to study them gradually. In any case, thanks for the game—this was a great experience!