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(+1)

I have to say the game was a mixed experience for me. There will be a few mild spoilers, so don't read further if you haven't played it yet.


The good: nice looking visuals, good humour in the dialogues, fun puzzles. I am normally not fond of code puzzles, but there were enough hints here to solve it without reading anyone's mind. The F key showing hotspots was a lifesaver, and made the larger areas playable.


The bad: open world. I see what you want to do, but I prefer this freedom to move around in other genres, and not where I need to find certain hotspots or items at one certain location on the map. All the rest of the map is empty and unnecessary, and running back and forth is not fun. It also makes the premise of the puzzles sillier - if there are all those cars and houses, why can't the battery puzzle be solved in different ways? 


Problems more specific to me: I found a bug once, when I fell through the ground and could see the houses/graphics from underneath. I couldn't reproduce it, and I saved frequently just in case.

The game is too dark (act 1) to be played in daylight. I needed a dark room for this. 

I was stuck for a while looking for a way into the barn. Turned out the same dialogue option got a different answer and a key when I had got hold of an item. (Suggestion: give a new dialogue option.)


Now, there is much to appreciate here, but for me, the 3d/open world looked good, but didn't improve the game. I prefer to get the story, the jokes and the puzzles without too much searching. But don't misinterpret me, even though I make some critique, I am very impressed by your efforts. It's a good first game. I want your next one to be even better. ;-)

Thank you so much for the detailed feedback! It's incredibly helpful to hear both the pros and cons from someone who took the time to play through my game.

I completely agree with your observations on the open-world aspect. The aim of the first-person perspective and free exploration was to create a more immersive experience, but it was also one of the biggest design challenges in this experimental project. I grappled with whether to block access to certain areas or allow free exploration. Your feedback has made it clear that restricting the player to essential areas may be a better approach to avoid unnecessary frustration. The hotspot highlighting was also partially aimed at mitigating this issue.

As for the bugs and darkness, those are great points and something I'll look into for future updates or projects. Your suggestion about the barn dialogue is also appreciated; I'll think about how to make it clearer in the future.

Once again, thank you for your thorough review. Constructive feedback like yours is invaluable for me as a developer and it's exactly what I need to improve.
Barnim@JAGS

(+1)

Thank you for not taking it the wrong way. :-) 

This open world would be nice if I were playing a FPS, looking over my shoulder for enemy soldiers, or something like that. Given as you aimed to implement VR, I understand the temptation to make the game environment explorable. As it is, there are multiple ways of limiting the play area without letting go of immersion. The sea and the cliffs make effective borders, but enemy soldiers on patrol or watch dogs...a mine field, perhaps, would all make it perfectly logical for the player not to venture further in any given direction. (But one shouldn't really expect all that from a jam game made in just a few days.) Keep up the good work.