Semi-on-the-fly remarks:
- The game page says E is useful, but not mentioned in the controls page.
- The sanity concept is really reminiscent of Amnesia!
- Ambience sounds are super oppressive and frightening!
- Controls are QWERTY-only instead of layout-independent (I have an AZERTY keyboard), BUT arrow keys are enabled.
- Nice scenery (skybox, probably?) outside of the window! :) The city night ambience is great.
- Showing the current objective helps, good idea.
- Television static sound?
- Nice outlining of the doors for interaction, very clear.
- That first ‘ghost’ was almost a jumpscare.
- The pills context is more Big-Pharma-friendly than finding light, but this is a detail. XD
- Clockwork sounds… You really went into a lot of audio details, this is great.
- Wow, ghosts can reappear where you already went!
- Game over. X) Ah, I like how the text comes successively after pressing Enter, but at first, I was wondering if I should press or not, as I was not sure this was standard dialogue. Maybe write at the bottom which key to press?
- Rather many possible interactions. :) Makes finding what to do harder, which is a good thing.
- Is crouching really useful at all?
- A way to avoid the ghosts would be interesting as a mechanic; it looks like not looking at them works, but I am not sure.
- You can see the television turn itself on alone (hence the static sound); is there any use turning it off? For example, less ghosts? And I did not find the clock, but can you?
- After some attempts: finally found those damn pills!! Is there only one place or several of them?
Spoiler: if someone finds them early, then the game is too short for them… I think designing the house in such a way that you are forced to explore would be a good idea. I went through more stuff and interactions during my second-to-last attempt losing as opposed to the last winning one. X)
Takeaway: this game takes the cake for ambience, both in sound and visually (many details bathed in a gloomy darkness). I also enjoyed the narration, with dramatisation through dialogue (or rather, monologue!). I just wish there were a bit more to do, even though exploring was already interesting in itself and the interactions made it feel like the environment was responsive. As an ironical comparison to the very first game I tested, Not Alone, yours offers a way more horrific/frightening experience, while the other offers more game content (‘puzzles’). As to the connection with the theme, it is a classic interpretation, but fair.
This feels like the beginning of a modern-era Amnesia, nice experience and nice base for more! :)