Hey man, there's a problem with the Mac build of the game. When you open the Mac build, a dialogue will pop up and say the app is "damaged' and asks you to move it to trash https://prnt.sc/stjy4m. You don't do that and the fix is pretty simple. All you gotta do is put the game in Applications folder, then open terminal and type this command:
xattr -cr /Applications/aMAZEin.app
Some bugs(I think) that I've noticed. https://prnt.sc/stgwbg, the "morality bar"(that's what the game hints it to be called) disappeared after some deaths. The game was working perfectly before. Now, the morality bar disappeared(but the white outline plays after I make a choice when I read the scattered messages) and I no longer get hurt by the Lurkers https://prnt.sc/sthgm7(they're pretty chill dudes if you get to know them :p). Addition to this, at times, I was able to run infinitely without getting tired, but that seemed to fix itself when I triggered another event(but I still can't see the morality bar in the office maze). I'm not sure if this is an automatic difficulty setting. Also, I think some tiles are missing or just not added in yet https://prnt.sc/sthe8r. You can pass through the synaptic electric gates you approach it from the top side and just ram into it a couple of times. Then it glitches you into other side of the gate.
Review starts from here(That means spoilers, I highly recommend you to play this before reading):
I'm gonna be honest. Role Playing is my favourite game genre, but the thing I hate about RPG's the most is mazes, cause I think it's pretty lazy game design and frustrating so... yeah... already not looking good for you. But the story really intrigued me and a gameplay around the maze fits the thematically to a whole new level(mainly concepts of anxiety which Forever AFK mentions).
So starting off, you find your self in the MC's room and when you interact with the items, you get a pretty good idea about the MC's mindset. He comes off as a pretty nihilistic character with memories that he wishes to let go of. The interaction with the mirror sets this in place when he says, "Hello me, do you like what you see", followed by a grim pixel art portrait of the MC. The level design of the first maze, in my opinion, is ingenious.
The eerie music, the suffocating color scheme, the "bad feelings" coming to haunt you to make your consciousness and judgment dip to black(the first time they attacked me, I figuratively pissed my pants), getting chastised for taking the wrong path, all of this creates an amazing picture of anxiety, low self-esteem, negativity. And holy fuck, this is Jesus vs Satan Basketball ball match level holiness, I am so impressed.
This is peak story writing being expressed through games as a medium of artistic expression. As I mentioned in the beginning, mazes suck ass. They're lazy, useless, frustrating, they make you feel lost.... hey... Hey... HEY!!! Wait a minute... 'make you feel lost' HOLY SHIT, THAT'S GENIUS. The lack of sense of direction from navigating through mazes is brilliantly used to express the themes of this game in this game. Though I would say this is a double-edged sword because you don't want to push the player to think he can't solve it. That's a big no-no, and I would suggest the addition of a navigating system that points you to the direction of the messages. There must be a balance.
When you pick up the messages, or tidbits of memories, then you're given two options. Now, I don't want to call them the right or wrong options, that's kind of stupid and in my opinion, they're in the grey area. But one option lets you deal with the memory with gratitude, and the other with complete rejection. I chose the nicer messages to see where it goes, and after I chose all the top options in the questionnaire, you return back to the MC's room, and you can notice a change. He appears to be more optimistic and tries to see things around him in a good light evidenced by his interactions with the computer where he wants to message his friends, with the books where he shows eagerness to learn. He appears to show acceptance but not quite. There is still some doubt lingering in him evidenced by the dialogues.
This is a very good character development expressed through games as a narrative medium.
I'm genuinely fascinated, and I get the same satisfaction as when I saw the 7 page Muda Muda(w_illness has JoJo fan art on his Insta, that's alpha male behavior).
I haven't completed the office maze so I don't have many opinions on it, but just from the timer I'm given, it's going to be a pretty long maze. And the frog gave me marionette vibes from fnaf(lo and behold the jumpscare).
I don't like this entry as a submission for the game jam, because in relating to the theme of the jam, there's honestly nothing except a timer, but god damn, I love this entry.
Edit: Just realised how big this is, quite a pain in the ass to read. I really wasn't paying any attention to the word count lol.