wow, this was absolutely amazing, one of the most polished games i've played in the jam so far! the game does so much to sell the world that you're playing in through its various mechanics. the phone especially is such an engaging mechanic to play around with, due to its many purposes in game. you use it to engage with fun dialogue with the person that's helping you out (who also give various hints throughout the game), to check the status of the VAC, to look at the remaining objectives to do in the level, to scan where the ghost is, and finally to capture the picture of the ghost. the phone is so useful that its hard not to put it down, but the downsides are that it slows down the player's movement speed and 3 out of the 4 screens obscures most of the player's vision, so theres this really fun balancing act of how you use the phone, which is very nice! also love how the mechanics get further expanded into the game, with each new addition creating its own new challenge to go through! the transit scanning was especially a nice touch, so stress inducing to interface with when a ghost is chasing you down! really appreciate that the game doesn't remove all your progress after dying once as well, very nice stuff!
the presentation is also just as amazing! i love how the phone looks as it pops in and out of the screen! the sprite is also very cute and plays into the tone of the game really well! the contrast between the cute graphics and anxiety inducing haunted train station setting makes the atmosphere that much more tense, especially when it turns from 0 to 100 with the visual effects going crazy! the audio really elevates this to another level, the sound design is so good!!! every audio decision feels intentional and well crafted! i was scared shitless when i heard the ghost proximity beeping sound for the first time, i had no idea what was happening and it was gradually getting more intense the closer it got! the chase sequence stuff also had nice audio stuff in play with the crazy ambient noises, really added to the desperate retreat back to the VAC!
incredible work, gotta be up there for one of my favorite submissions so far, well done!