thank you so much for the kind words!! really wanted to focus on uniqueness (as in, stuff that i haven't really seen before in other games) and horror for this game, so i'm glad you thought it was creative and scary haha. seems i struck gold with the rtp opening, i'll keep in mind that people like some good ol' shock factor :>
i'll admit "cult trying to resurrect a demon" isn't the most creative plot ever lmao, but i thought having playing games be a key part of the ritual was a fun way to tie together the jam's theme and the meta "playing games within games" concept. i also 100% wanted to make the player feel uneasy, like the game could corrupt or something could come out and jumpscare them at any point, so it's great to hear it worked haha >:D
i totally get what you mean, i tried to make that sequence give you as much time as possible but yeah even in the testing phase i thought it'd be a bit hard to read (some people did fail it in their first try). i thought it'd be kind of cheap to make that part skippable too so if you fail, it just restarts pretty quickly haha. and i had a lot of fun working on the aesthetic and gameplay! really wanted to capture the "old 80s atari game" vibe and making gameplay mechanics simple enough for you to believe they could be from old ass games.
you're very right in not calling this a completely happy ending XD but hey, i don't like writing completely happy endings anyway haha. it's funny cuz earlier in my story-making journey, i was all for sad endings and everybody dying lol, but now i find those endings to be kinda... unsatisfying? like what was even the point then (obviously there's stories where it fits well, but i often see it used as a cheap way of making the player/spectator sad). so i prefer making stories with conclusions that feel more bittersweet, with stuff still in the air but some amountl of closure. anyway sorry for going on a tangent, this game isn't even that focused on the story- XD i'm really glad you liked this game! i had a ton of fun making it and i hope to keep making more :D
thank you for playing!! <3