I don’t think I have anything particularly new to add, but here goes anyway. The game is fun, but how slowly you walk (especially when enemies are moving) combined with not being able to hold down a direction make the larger mazes a bit tedious to walk through.
The highlight of the game is definitely the journal entries, I ended doing a playthrough where I just didn’t upgrade and circled around the enemies to die on purpose though, since even when playing dumb and not optimizing for first strikes I ended up winning in around ten days every time.
Left me wishing there were more after it was done, and there’s a ton of opportunity for expansion if you choose to keep working on it!
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I loved this, the game loop wasn’t too exciting, but the sheer quality of the writing easily made up for any shortcomings. The story was really well paced, and while I would’ve liked a proper concluding line, I think the point where the notes run out makes for a pretty satisfying conclusion to the arcs set up anyway.
Absolutely fantastic job!
Can’t find for the life of me how to upgrade after each run as none of the buttons seem to work.
you just need more weight. the L in lb looks an awful lot like a 1, making you think you have more weight to use than you do
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Ah that makes sense. Thanks!
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Straight up a 7/10 and a 6/10 if we’re also going for the extra story. Definitely not a waste of time. Really enjoyed playing it with PKMN Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky music on in the background while reading through the story.
The upgrade system is alright and the enemies make it a reason to use as each enemy defeated makes the slime character fatter (great game loop btw).
While it gets tough later on, there is not much to memorize in terms of “mechanics”, though there is a glitch you can use to your advantage: when two enemies are one tile apart and move to a tile which warrants them to both move to the same tile, they will get stuck and cannot attack. This wasn’t a dealbreaker, but I thought it was cool considering it gave me a strategy which i could use to get out of fights.
After besting the game’s challenges, I went back to finish the story…I have not it in part because my upgrades were slightly too high on a second playthrough to die. Even then it becomes a grind to die to low level enemies. I know it’s optional, but it becomes more of a chore to work for the extra journal entries.
Oh, also the sprites are pretty good. Thought that was nice. Also the general gameplay wasn’t really grindy until I was trying to die to all of the enemies. Everything before that was great.
So to clarify, I enjoyed my first playthrough a lot, but the second playthrough had me rethinking parts of the game I did enjoy a lot. For example it would have been more convenient if when you beat the game that you could read the rest of the entries, or have an alternative method of unlocking them, post-game or not.
P.S this was the only jam game I’ve properly beat, so it’s the only one I felt like giving a shortish review of. Keep up the good work thujuht!
Honestly, not much more to be said that isn’t said already. Gameplay is simple but enjoyable and the loop is satisfying. The strength is in the writing which - after the verbose opening - becomes an interesting journey for the genderless(?) protag. My record ended up being 9 days as I quickly figured out how to make use of the AI. Could have been 8 if I made it the end a little faster!
Two questions, how do I get trigger the NG+, and how many Journel entries are there?
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Ok, I know I didn’t introduce myself in these specific forums yet, but both of my questions were serious, at least.
…to better clarify, how do I start a second playthrough after reaching the bottom of the dungeon and getting the Artefact?
First Round Scores
Jux Score
| Category | Total |
|---|---|
| Game Runs: | 50.0 |
| Use of Theme: | 50.0 |
| Art: | 8.2 |
| Writing: | 7.9 |
| Music & Sound: | 6.5 |
| Mechanics: | 6.9 |
| Game Concept | 7.2 |
| Use of Fetish | 7.1 |
| Judge Preference: | 6.6 |
| Wild Cards Attempted: | 3.0 |
| Admin Wild Card: | 2.0 |
| Patreon Wild Card: | 3.5 |
| Community Wild Card: | 1.0 |
| Total: | 159.9 |
Alex Score
| Category | Total |
|---|---|
| Game Runs: | 50.0 |
| Use of Theme: | 50.0 |
| Art: | 7.0 |
| Writing: | 7.0 |
| Music & Sound: | 3.0 |
| Mechanics: | 5.0 |
| Game Concept | 7.0 |
| Use of Fetish | 8.0 |
| Judge Preference: | 7.0 |
| Wild Cards Attempted: | 2.0 |
| Admin Wild Card: | 0.0 |
| Patreon Wild Card: | 3.0 |
| Community Wild Card: | 5.0 |
| Total: | 154.0 |
Roops Score
| Category | Total |
|---|---|
| Game Runs: | 50.0 |
| Use of Theme: | 50.0 |
| Art: | 7.5 |
| Writing: | 8.0 |
| Music & Sound: | 5.0 |
| Mechanics: | 5.0 |
| Game Concept | 7.0 |
| Use of Fetish | 7.0 |
| Judge Preference: | 0.0 |
| Wild Cards Attempted: | 3.0 |
| Admin Wild Card: | 2.0 |
| Patreon Wild Card: | 2.0 |
| Community Wild Card: | 1.0 |
| Total: | 147.5 |