itch.io

It's not even about the money, really it's more about the message this sends to the people who bought the game early. I regret buying the game on itch now, which should not be a desirable outcome for any developer. It's kind of a gross feeling and I'm not super stoked on giving this developer more money.

Hey, I really wanted to play your game but I was really bummed out to find out that the download has been suspended.

Do you have any idea as to why and whether you'll be able to get it back?

If not, that really sucks, but I still hope that this won't discourage you from making more games. I will keep following you and try to play anything new you create and I'm sure many others will, too.

Best of luck to all of your future endeavors. :]

What a beautiful game. I honestly don't have that much to say about it because there's not really anything to criticize.

I know it's based on a book but the way you implemented it into a game is very creative and I love the atmosphere (thanks to the great soundtrack as well.)

Figuring out what to do was engaging and never frustrating and I love how half of the game is basically a tutorial for the last stressful challenge.

In a market saturated with mediocrity this really stands out as a gem. I haven't played any games from you so far but this one really makes me want to check out your other works.

I really liked this game. The art style is amazing and it's very creative in the way it tells its story. So much about the presentation elevated it above the normal indie horror games I've played. I particularly liked the disjointed piano keys that signified each character's "voices". It's the perfect mix of being kind of jovial and silly but also creepy and unsettling.

I felt quite bad for you since Mark only played one ending (and not even ending 1) and then abandoned it without even seeing half of the game. Especially since you clearly intended someone to play all 3 endings. I was quite surprised by how much additional work and content went into the last one and there was clearly a lot of care put into the experience as a whole.

But because I genuinely like it so much and see a lot of potential in your game development I also have some (hopefully) constructive criticisms I've gathered while playing through it.

The first, is the reason I suspect Mark didn't play to see all the endings. I think having the player wait during every single playthrough when they're supposed to play it at least three times can get pretty tedious. Some way to skip these waiting sequences (the one with mom and the one with grandma) after the first playthrough would've greatly increased the experience and would also actually encourage someone to see all the endings.

The second point is going to sound a bit mean but I think it would be a good idea to have someone proofread your text. There were a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes that can make it difficult to read quickly and (in my opinion) just generally weigh down an otherwise great presentation.

Lastly, I've encountered a few bugs as well. There's obviously the softlock Mark found (which probably also contributed to him not finishing the game) but there is also a wall in grandma's room that you can walk through so you fall down the map and have to restart again. While being more minor than the other two, the text sometimes disappearing mid-sentence is another one of those problems that would really make the game feel more polished and improve the player experience if fixed.

But I really don't want these (relatively minor) criticisms to overshadow how much I enjoyed this. Many indie horror games have such problems but I truly believe that this is a lot more special than your average jumpscare fest.

Like I said, I loved the presentation of it and I hope you put all of this creative energy you clearly have into other amazing projects in the future. :)

I really liked this game. I think it had a great atmosphere and its scares were never cheesy (a trap many other horror games fall into sometimes). I especially liked the subtle ways you messed with the phone like the camera or the creepy music/recordings.

Honestly, the main reason I'm writing a comment, though, is that I've watched Mark and some others play this game and it really frustrated me that no one bothered to look for the other endings (Mark kind of did, but he didn't really put much thought behind it).

My guess is that if I found this frustrating then it must've probably been even worse for the developer to see so many people experience only a third of their game.

So I just want to say that I didn't find it confusing. I got Ending 3 first because I looked around everywhere, then I ignored everything and got Ending 1 and for Ending 2 I did a bit of both.

I also noticed that I've played your other game as well and I remember liking it quite a lot, too. You seem to put a lot of work into your games. They're both very different from each other stylistically but still unique, of high quality and full of little details (I assume the graffiti in the building is a nod to the first game?).

I'll definitely be looking forward to what you do next. :]

I really enjoyed this game. It succeeded in what you were going for in that it captured the atmosphere and tension of being a child in the dark and it put a supernatural spin to it.

You were good at slowly building suspense and because it always stayed pretty subtle the game never fell into the trap of becoming too cheesy.

I watched a few playthroughs of the game and I felt kind of bad because one of my favorite moments was missed by a lot of people so I wanted to acknowledge that I really liked the creature in the dark at Night 4.

I also noticed that a lot of people missed the fact that the radio tells you where the creatures are. This could've easily been cheesy as well but because the "poem" and the voice are actually pretty creepy (in my opinion) and it's just such a radical departure from what came before it I think it works. 

While I overall liked this part I think what would maybe help with something like this in the future is to add subtitles to it so the player knows that they're supposed to pay attention to it. This would also help with the issue that it was a bit hard for me to understand at times. I actually still don't know what the last sentence is to be honest. I can understand "One waiting for eternal slumber." but then "(From the) closet (you can tell)"? Well, I obviously figured it out anyway but I'm still  really curious what he actually says.

All in all it's a really good and effective horror game. The perfect amount of subtlety so that it's still unsettling and sticks in your mind but not disappointing. :]

I had a huge smile on my face when I completed this. It's short obviously but the atmosphere truly was great and the lighting was gorgeous.

A lot of horror games that try to stress you just put you in some kind of maze where you're supposed to collect something and avoid a monster. It's rare that you're actually forced to do a specific task under pressure and I enjoyed it a lot. It was very refreshing and I would hope to see more games do something like this.

All in all, good proof of concept. I had a lot of fun so thanks for making it. :]

I really enjoyed this collection! The games are obviously very short but I like that they are very distinct from each other and show your different styles and you are obviously all pretty talented.

One thing I think you do really well is presentation. All of the games had small little touches that gave them a lot of personality that many other indie developers don't bother with. Things like the menu design (I liked the Rubik's Cube for Psychopath), the manga onomatopoeia in Veinless Property or the "wheels" in Maybe Another Life feel very intentionally designed and are great to interact with. This also shows in your company/group (?) branding by the way. I really like your logo and name.

If you want a short review for each of the games:

Maybe Another Life has the best atmosphere in my opinion. The visuals and the sound design are great and it has some really good ideas that create interesting situations and I was constantly intrigued while playing it. Like I said before, these "wheels" have great animations, good sound design and just feel good to use. The same goes for the gravity shifting or being grabbed by this machine. I felt pretty engrossed throughout. From a purely technical standpoint I think this game seems the most polished out of all three. Also, I have no idea what that thing in the back at the beginning is but I will probably see it in my nightmares from now on, so thanks for that...

Psychopath is the most game-like out of the bunch. I also like a lot of its ideas, like the Rubik's Cube puzzle or the slow progression of opening up more and more of the house. While I had fun figuring things out, unfortunately I think from a technical standpoint this is the least polished game of them all. Actually handling the cube was very tedious and the fact that the flashlight has a slight delay to your head movements really strained my eyes after a couple of minutes. I do really like the different endings, though and it still has a lot of personality, like the others. From the videos I've seen so far, I seem to be one of the few that got to all of the endings which felt pretty gratifying. After I played it, I've read somewhere in the comments that The Stanley Parable is one of your favorite games which made me chuckle a little bit because the way you get to the good ending reminded me a lot of the telephone room there. I'm not sure if that was intentional or not but if it was that's great.

Veinless Property (besides being an awesome title) is the most stylized and while the effect could probably get a little bit grating after a while I think it's short enough to avoid being a problem (for me at least). Like I said the onomatopoeia is a really nice touch and I also like the manga style text bubbles (oh, and it has a great menu design, too). It also had some good subtle spooks in there like when you first look out of the window or the eyes in the TV room. As a Junji Ito inspired game it could've probably been a bit more horrifying in my opinion but that's it. As an anime/manga fan I liked the Perfect Blue reference.

One thing all 3 games suffer from a bit that I haven't mentioned yet is that they're very very short. Obviously you've had time restraints and they work well as little experiments to show off your work but I really hope you take some of these great ideas and manage to flesh them out into a truly amazing experience. I think you are among the most promising indie devs in the scene right now and I look forward to what you will create in the future. I would also enjoy to see a jam like this with other themes maybe?

Oh and just as a little fun fact: not only are you from the same country as me, according to at least one of your Twitter accounts you are also from the same Bundesland so I might not be totally unbiased here. ;)

I was really impressed by this! 

I was constantly on edge and never felt safe or comfortable. The atmosphere (and especially the sound design) was really well done too and  it never felt like random assets being thrown together even though it easily could have. 

I'm definitely looking forward to the third chapter!

I found the secret by the way but I'm either doing something really wrong or it's bugged for me, since I can't get it to appear (I've waited for quite some time as well and tried several different things) and I couldn't find anything about it online.

P.S.: I've seen a video of an older version of Chapter 1 and it's great to see how passionate you seem to be about this project, since you put so much time into refining it. The version I played was clearly a lot more polished and I think that's really impressive as well.

My expectations were honestly not that high for this, given the saturation of horror games on this site but there was clearly so much care and love put into this and it really shows in the end product.

The graphics were very good and made the environment feel like a very real place that is to be taken seriosly. The narrow corridors also made it very claustrophobic and I think I could see some P.T. influences in the game as a whole.

It was also clear that there was a lot of thought put into the sound design and where a particular sound is coming from at any given moment and every scare was pretty well executed.

I really appreciated little details like the date of the text message (it was the first clue to me that something is very wrong) or the fact that you took your time to write an entire news article (yes, I've read it). It's things like that that can really elevate a game and make it unique.

It obviously still needs some kind of conclusion but as of now it's a very well made little horror treat and I'm eagerly awaiting the full version and whatever you will do in the future. I think this could really be something incredible. :)

Just as a last little thing: I would probably remove the last screenshot from the game page. At the moment it shows like THE central scare of the whole game and I think it spoils it a little bit.

Thanks to Markiplier I've come across your games, played all three of them in one evening and have to say say that so far, this one is my favorite (although this comment kind of serves as a review for all of them).

I love this simple but recognizable artstyle of yours. Whether it was out of necessity or on purpose it added a lot to the uniqueness of the little universe you've created.

I also love the repeating symbols and themes throughout your games as it makes them feel connected.

All of them but especially "Bill's Hotel" feel very inspired by "Yume Nikki" and the music definitely added to that. Like the artstyle it was simple and repetitive but really contributed to the surreal and oppresing atmosphere especially in the city/workplace section with all the blaring noise sprinkled throughout.

Like I said, even though the artstyle seems simple you add so much details and eastereggs to explore in the environment that I played most of your games twice just to try and see everything (I even jumped up those stupid arrows just for that sign). That really shows your ability to capture the audience in the atmosphere of your world.

You also have kind of a talent for compelling visuals. From the imposing "Nuclear Corporation" or  the crooked red crosses in the mortuary (?) to the wall of rules and even simple things like the J QRZN logo from "The Confraternity of Toast". There's just a lot of imagery that stuck in my mind from your games.

You could however, work on lowering the frustration factor a bit. There is a lot of walking or awkward jumping involved that I feel like could've really been shortened down to make the experience more enjoyable.

Other than that I really fell in love with your style. Even though there are a lot of things I still don't get and leave me kind of confused, your games just scratch that itch for me that games like "Yume Nikki" or "LSD Dream Emulator" used to fulfill and not a lot of other ones could compete with since.

Please, don't stop making them. I'll be looking forward to everything you make in the future. :)