This is a highlight of the jam and most certainly one of the most polished and fully-fledged games. It's a surprise that you were able to do so much in the scope of a single jam! This is a great accomplishment and looking at your prior games it's clear you've progressed as a developer significantly.
As others have noted, this is a pitch-perfect interpretation of the Silent Hill games, with more of a surrealistic, Cthulhu sort of approach. The transitions are here, the fog is foggy, and the mechanics and fixed camera angles play perfectly. This is a great addition to the Haunted PS1 jam.
Narratively, the game is played fairly straight. There are few cues or items of contextual lore to find and most of the game is atmospheric and left to the player to explore. This isn't a bad approach - dispensing with the dialogue that most games rely on to set the mood means more focus on play.
The gameplay is pretty solid! The weapon mechanics - it's fantastic there are quite a few - all handle really well. The game has normal enemies and also a series of bosses that operate in a sort of Dark Souls approach as damage sponges that the player needs enough ammo - or the right weapon - to kill.
There are some minor puzzle elements, with keys and the damned switch/gate puzzle that took me ages to figure out how to do! I think one rule of switch puzzles is to make sure the player has a reasonably proximate feedback to what changes they make to the world around them.
I did a playthrough video below:
I cannot stress enough: this is a great addition to the jam, one of the most fully-fledged games from it, and was an absolute pleasure to play. Look forward to seeing what you do in future projects.
Oh, and I also found the hidden room! I love easter eggs.
- FSV