itch.io

I enjoyed this a lot. I got recommended it by someone who hadn't even heard of the jam! I appreciate the execution of the story and the twist at the end (and how it connects to the start). I like the use of the screen space for the puzzles and text, and I felt like the movement sections between the puzzles were interesting and engaging, though not quite as moving emotionally in the moment as I'd've liked (which I find most of the time with these kinds of games). Looking back on it, I'm getting more from it, though. It might just be that I'm a little sleepy right now. I thought about decreasing my rating on "originality" because of how normal I feel the structure of "text story bookends, puzzles with movement section in between" is, but certainly the game would be less original if it were only "text story bookends with puzzles in between". And I did feel there were a lot of aspects that did surprise me, like the text instructing you to get out by any means necessary, and the general premise of being the inverse of one of those mobile game ads where the rods block each other (as in, rather than old rods stopping new rods, new walls destroy old walls). And I should say, I enjoyed the puzzles, too! I never felt like they were unfair, while I still got to stop and think for a bit and reset more as the game went on.