itch.io

Ah, I just missed the voting window! Dammit!

Still, I can confidently say, I really dislike this kind of navel-gazing, meandering pseudo-philosophy. I mean, I guess it comes with the territory of trying to write semi-seriously about abstract, spectral entities, but still... not my cup of tea.

That said, the prose is very competent. My Russian is only intermediate level, so I can't really judge properly, but from the bits I read, the dialogue sounds very natural and believable. The English translation is obviously scuffed, badly scuffed — typos, mixing up similar sounding words, inconsistent tense — but it manages to get the meaning and atmosphere across well enough.

And the framing device of having the characters be described as if they're being observed from outside their windows is very creepy and effective. I really like that part, though I'm not sure how it ties into the central themes, if at all.

Overall, very solid showing! I may not like it personally, but you're clearly a fine writer!

Well, "you go to someone's house and it turns out everyone is dead and there's a monster in the basement" feels a bit random. It's not exactly the most riveting premise.

Instead (and this is obviously beyond the scope of what would be achievable during this game jam), what if the game was split into two days: one where you actually get to visit Frank and Laura and talk to them while they're alive, and one where you come back to find them dead? I think that would be much more interesting.

Right now, Frank and Laura are some random people we know nothing about; finding their corpses really doesn't shock the player or affect them in any way. Having them be characters which we've previously spoken to would make their deaths much more impactful.

Additionally, it's just more interesting storytelling. You could make Frank and Laura be a bit weird and eccentric themselves, making Mack doubt whether they're really keeping something supernatural in their basement, or if they're just delusional. You could create ambiguity as to whether they were killed by the entity or if they killed themselves (though it's the "anomalous entity" jam, so maybe there'd be no point in including such a red herring).

It would also be nice to have a bit more justification for Mack breaking in. As-is, he just tries the door once, they don't answer, and he immediately decides that his next best course of action is to smash their window with a brick. It's a bit extreme, even for someone so desperate; "he really wants this scoop" cannot be used to justify everything. I feel like it would make more sense if he noticed the carnage inside and entered in order to investigate (I mean, one of the bodies is by the window and should be clearly visible).

Of course, this is just me spit-balling random ideas. You don't need to listen to my advice - I've never made an adventure game. I just feel like the current premise is a bit random and hasty. There really isn't any build-up to the horror, which makes it fall flat in my eyes. No offence.

Anyway, hope that helped! Good luck with all your future work.

Love to see a classic point-and-click adventure game! Not sure if I'm super stoked about the theming, but I like the idea of a homeless protagonist at the end of his wits. Makes him feel more sympathetic and justified in rifling through everyone's stuff.

This game dares to ask the bold question:
"What if Iron Lung was more tedious and followed every single analog horror cliché to the T?"

Really, that says it all. Depending on your inclination, that's either a huge positive or a huge negative. You can probably guess where I stand on the issue, but I'll elaborate anyway.

To me, it will never stop being funny how these ostensibly "professional" agencies constantly pepper their official records with basic grammatical and spelling errors (nothing screams "I work for NASA" quite like prose that could've been penned by a high-schooler).

Or how they will record tapes full of extremely obvious, suspicious alien activity and then do the most unconvincing "everything is fine" act imaginable. Seriously, this has been bothering me for ages, because folks, that's not how secrecy works! Either these tapes are intended for those who are privy to them, in which case there's no point in hiding or downplaying anything, or they're intended to reassure the general public, in which case they would never be published due to the highly sensitive information they contain. Confidential materials cannot be tailor-made for an audience of laypeople; it's an oxymoron. So yeah, SEIA's messages in this game are comically nonsensical.

But of course, nobody gives a hoot. It's "analog horror", so who cares why these tapes are being recorded, or by whom, or for what audience? Just have a spooky thing happen and then the government says that it's nothing to worry about, because that's "analog horror". And of course, the aliens send their messages in binary. If we were playing bingo, someone would have had multiple rows filled by now.

Alright, enough whining. To give credit where it's due, the game feels competently built on a technical level, and does a very good job at emulating the analog horror aesthetic. So yeah, props for the audio-visual presentation, definitely. I still think it stinks for all the aforementioned reasons, but I can't knock the effort.

Really not sure what to make of this one. A bit too minimalistic for me; I didn't really understood what it was even about. And the core concept isn't anything mind-blowing either: just an adventure game with very limited options.

Still, it's competently put together. The visuals and audio cohere nicely.

Driving horror games — always with the rear-view mirror!

Pretty nifty, if very insubstantial. I like the fact that you can go off-road and just drive between the hills until you run out of gas. Not much else to say. I really don't know how you'd expand on this concept without covering ground already treaded by games like Dead End Road or the upcoming BEWARE (well, quote-on-quote "upcoming". Maybe it'll take a decade, but I'm sure it'll come out eventually). 

Still, good effort!

Wow, seeing an on-rails shooter entry was a pleasant surprise! This type of game really doesn't get enough love, so this is a very welcome change of pace.

That said, while the visuals and music are cool, and do a good job of creating an earie atmosphere, the game feels really unfinished. You don't have health, ammo, there's only one type of enemy that doesn't even attack you... I understand that it's a demo, but those are pretty basic features which even a demo should have.

Also, I have no idea how the game relates to the theme of the jam. What "anomalous entity" are we encountering? The glowing, red cube from the intro?

Still, it's competently put together and has an intriguing premise, while representing an under-appreciated genre of games. That has to count for something.

Pretty neat concept, not sure about the execution. The ending feels super cheesy, like a horror-themed punchline. I mean, it literally is a type of joke - a pun. I don't know, maybe I just don't vibe with this one.

Very cool aesthetic, interesting worldbuilding and gameplay concept, but blimey, the performance is awful! And, of course, there are no settings of any sort to ameliorate the issue. No graphics options, no mouse sensitivity, no windowed mode, nothing! Plus, for a game that seemingly has a central progression system (with different levels and money and upgrades and everything), there is no way to save or load your progress.

Sorry, but this one is almost unplayable for me. Maybe that's an issue on my end, but I'm not willing to replay the intro every single time I try to fix it somehow.

Hoo boy, I sure love starting a horror game and immediately being hit with a cheap jumpscare! Like, not even 10 seconds in!

Yeah, no thanks. Show some restraint.

Great job! This one feels very... feature complete (I don't know if that's the right word). It has a clear beginning, middle and end, a progression through multiple areas, dialogue that is well written and actually witty/funny, all topped off with a heart-warming ending. The weird, distorted character designs are both ugly and charming, and despite it being mostly humorous, a few moments are genuinely a bit unnerving. Great sound design, too! And I loved the visual jokes, like the camera ominously zooming in on the VHS tape whenever you interact with it.

I don't know; despite the default RPGmaker tiles, it really feels like a full package, if that makes sense. Very solid showing!

Cool concept (always like to see games repping ordinary service workers). I love how the glitchy effect allows you to see the entity through walls, it's very unnerving.

But by God, is the game buggy. The player character has an uncontrollable urge to scale any object that is below their knee level, at which point they start sliding around as if the floor was ice. Which is especially annoying, given there are some bumps and ridges on your cleaning cart which trigger this. Also, for me, this game runs at around 20fps, despite having the visual fidelity of something you'd see on Roblox.

Regarding the gameplay itself, the only minor complaint I have is that replacing the linen on a bed doesn't give any immediate visual feedback. I stood around, trying to replace the linen 6 or 7 times because the bed still looked messy; I thought the feature was broken. When I finally went back to the cart and put away the dirty linen, only then the bed suddenly became clean. Really confusing.

Regardless, a fine game!

Sorry, but this is a real eye-sore and ear-sore. I appreciate the amount of effort it took to make all the illustrations and music by yourself, but... sometimes it's the simple, little things that can go a long way. For example, using a normal, legible font instead of this thin, scribbly one. Or finding a softer, less ear-piercing sound effect for when you hover over menu options.

Also, there's no shame in finding some free stock music to use in a project like this. I understand the desire to have everything in your game be made by you, from scratch, but having the entire beginning section of this visual novel be complete silence is very awkward, and makes the moments when music kicks in unnecessarily jarring.

The story is generic and predictable, though that can't really be helped in a game jam like this; people have to keep it simple because of the time limit. That said, there is one, specific detail that kinda irks me, and points to a lack of research:

"Ghouls" are not ghosts. Yes, they are sometimes described as "demons", but look up any description of them, and you'll find that they're overwhelmingly depicted as having a physical form. They don't possess things or exert a magic influence on their environment; when they lure people, they have to physically do it with their appearance and voice.

Maybe this is just a translation error of some sort, but part of me feels like you called the entity a "ghoul" just because it sounds more specific and unique than "ghost". But no, it is a ghost (or demon or whatever). Just call it a ghost.

Really like how this one looks! The low-fi dithering effect is cool, and a short render distance always keeps me on edge. The idea of having to repair a car is also neat, and a car-themed monster feels fitting.

That said, the monster itself fails to be intimidating. Its height makes it easy to spot from a distance, and then all you have to do is run diagonally in wide arcs around it, and you're golden. The interiors of the different houses are way too small for you to feel trapped inside them, so there really isn't any fear of being cornered. It's honestly a waste; the design of the monster is neat, but you can barely see it. The startling engine noise it makes only activates at a very close distance, so a player is very unlikely to hear it.

Still, it's a decent, perfectly serviceable (hah, pardon the pun) game. Good job!

Basic, but decent. With limited time and such a simple premise, it's hard to think of anything more that could have been done. Still, given it's a solo project, I'm glad you kept the scope realistic.

This is just The Backrooms but with very, very bad writing. I empathise if English is not your first language, but hey, nobody was forcing you to make a game where the story is delivered almost exclusively through lengthy notes. If you don't know the difference between "shuddering" and "shuttering", then I'm sorry, but maybe you're just not ready to write for an anglophone audience yet. Give it a few more years.

And before someone accuses me of nit-picking minor typos and grammatical errors: no, the writing is bad in general. The theme of urban decay is extremely ham-fisted and unsubtle. If you need a character in your story to look directly at the audience and say lines like "looks like a flashback to the 'Golden Age of America', crazy how we thought these ugly sprawling walls were innovative and great" or "when the fads fade and the construction dries up — these places start to fall", I'm sorry, but you are a bad writer. Find other ways to communicate your ideas besides literally telling us!

Gameplay is just typical Backrooms stuff. Walk around a big, empty maze and find notes. At the end, there's a chase sequence with a monster that is slightly faster than you, so you essentially have to perfectly navigate the featureless environment. Run into even single dead end, and it's over; there's no chance to outrun or juke it in any way. So, of course, to ensure maximum frustration, there is no checkpoint before the chase, and you have to restart the game from the very beginning every time you fail.

I guess the one nice thing I can say is that the game runs well, though that's hardly a compliment when all it has to render is a bunch of empty hallways. And the demonic voice reading the final note managed to really startle me. That's it. Everything else is an uninspired, generic mess.

(Bonus: If you fall into any of the pits, you don't die. You're just stuck at the bottom, so you have to manually restart the game yourself.)

Simple, but effective. I mean, maybe a bit too simple. Maze + weeping angels(-esque monsters: I know they work slightly differently) isn't exactly going to win any awards for innovation, and my enjoyment was dampened slightly by the player model glitching out and sending the lantern to the ceiling. Also, no graphics settings is a bit of a bummer, as my PC isn't the best. And I always hope to find a mouse sensitivity slider in any first-person game, so that's a bit of a letdown, too.

Finally, and this is a bit nit-picky: I fail to see how this fits into the theme of the jam. Sure, there are some spooky monsters, but there's barely any focus on them. There doesn't seem to be a story, and besides the extremely forced, anachronistic VHS filter, nothing here implies that a paranormal occurrence is being documented. The game is very gamey, with a clear objective, levels, and a floating level number plastered on the wall. To say it's about "anomalous entities" would be like saying that Pac-Man is about anomalous entities, because you're being chased by ghosts. You get what I mean?

Still, overall, cool game!

Cool idea, though maybe a hint system of some sort would be nice for the less observant among us. I got stuck and basically photographed the final anomaly by accident (it was the portrait that flips itself). When an object is only a few pixels wide, a change like that is very subtle and easy to miss. Also, the camera sometimes gets stuck with the [?] on it, preventing you from taking photos when you normally should.

Very cool in terms of visuals, story and gameplay! It's just a shame that:
A) The targeting of limbs is very frustrating, as you basically have to scroll though a list until you land on the one you want. It wouldn't be so bad if the limbs were ordered in a radial pattern, with left moving your aim clockwise and right moving it anti-clockwise (with maybe a separate button for targeting the torso in the center), but no, your aim seems to skip between limbs randomly.
B) The textboxes cannot be skipped or sped up, so if you die, you have to slowly watch all of them again.

Otherwise, the game is great!

If you're gonna make a first-person game, at least include mouse sensitivity settings. It's the bare minimum.

Nifty little game, but I wish there was a way to speed up the dialogue, since it's the same every time.

Eyo, thanks for linking to a presskit! That's handy. I mean, not for me, but I'm sure it's handy for someone else! And you know, you gotta appreciate these little things which people do to make life a bit easier, right? Thanks for that!

Oh, and the game is very good too, of course! Goes without saying.

Looks fantastic!

Cool little game! I'm a huge fan of short, surreal experiences where you wonder around vast landscapes, and this managed to scratch that itch for me. There were a few things that didn't really sit well with me, however.

Making a direct comparison to NaissanceE may be a bit reductive, but this feels like the desert section from that game if it was much larger and there was a dust-storm constantly obscuring your vision and killing you. There is very little indication of which areas are safe; sometimes buildings protect you, sometimes they don't. I tried following a trail of rocks, that kept me safe, until it didn't. I'm not inherently against the idea of there being a storm, but if it's difficult to make out where you're supposed to go next, being punished with death for exploring randomly or trying to get a better vantage point feels doubly frustrating.

Also, I didn't know the game could be saved manually from the pause menu, so I got sent back to the very beginning a few times. I know that is mostly my own fault, but autosaves whenever you activate a new record player could be nice.