itch.io

I find it interesting that I never got to use the axe. It's really cool that the NPCs were reacting to it, but I find it interesting that its impact on gameplay are entirely based on the impression that other people get, rather than its use as a physical object.

The sequence of backgrounds that slowly reveal more and more of the surroundings is really clever, as it (along with the audio) helped immerse me in the player's perspective. I may be imagining this, but does the text appear more slowly as the player gets colder? If so, that's impressive coding, and it's like my thoughts are slowing down to hypothermia.

The audio adds so much here, especially the shift as I tried to escape. The concept reminds me quite viscerally of Ex Machina, particularly with the twist when escaping is exactly what they want from you.

I'm so excited that you're going to have a music update! I, along with most of your comments, absolutely love your narrator. It's like you're speaking straight through them, and that helps communicate a comedic, playful tone.

I left the game running while I read through comments and got jumpscared by a whole bunch of babies screaming in terrifying unison. Hopefully that's the same bug they're all talking about? Anyway, the bug does work with the concept, it just sounds like the baby wants to murder me.

I love these little cats, I'd love to see a sequel or some sort of backstory for them. The art, audio, and dialogue all have so much character!

This is a great mystery-solving interactive story, although I managed to stumble into the good ending on the first play through and then got thoroughly distracted pulling random stuff out of the portal in the second. Is there any significance to the blue color that’s used throughout?

I saw your post on Bluesky from when you were making the background, and I’m so sad that the tree shadow didn’t stay! The random musings about how to talk to people are super relatable, although I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t watch enough of One Piece to get the reference. The time aspect is also interesting, although I was writing this comment both times it came around and missed it.

The advanced coding here actually made it harder for me to figure out how to play, but that’s more because I got used to the input.getkeydown and took a minute to realize that you have actual buttons. The atmosphere was nice and spooky, and I got a dungeons and dragons vibe from the characters.

I didn’t actually realize that any option could kill you until I saw GrumpyMoss’s comment, but I love how this game emphasizes the importance of self-care underneath a crushing workload. It is a bit disheartening to see that all of my hard work choosing healthy options (ugh, lol) resulted in exactly the same end screen, but it sounds like that’s a bug and not an intended feature.

The critique of Sir Gawain’s character flaws came out of nowhere and made me laugh. I’d love to see some more visuals (images, drawings, etc) to help set the scene, but the writing itself has quite a bit of character!

Do you have lore or context for this game anywhere? I’m a little confused still, but I finally reached an ending without getting timed out! It’s a fun mental puzzle for sure, although the police keep jumpscaring me while I’m trying to read.

This is gorgeous! The monochromatic purple and texture  reminds me of seacabel’s “mmm” poem generator’s backgrounds. In both games, this places focus on the emotions that those colors signify.

While the mechanics are consistent with most of the other narrative games I’ve played, the framing of the text within the hands and the explicit acknowledgement that narration is flawed is very unique.

This is a cross between a horror game (jumpscares, loud noises, etc) and an irreverent comedy. The crayon drawings just add to the genre combination; all of the colors are red, black, white, and blue, yet the drawings themselves are (mostly) non-threatening.

This is super simple yet effective. The aesthetic has a really calming effect, and I love that you can tell that some things are drawn by hand. I’ll admit, I’ve been looking for a deeper meaning (that’s what the prompt for this round of comments was), but sometimes there just doesn’t need to be one. 

The thought that apocalypses begin not with a bang, but with a hundred subtle signs, is really interesting. The lack of images and information works well in that context, but it would also be interesting to try and embed little signs and hints within audio and images.

I like how you use mouse clicks as well as the keyboard to advance the plot—it almost echoes the (spoiler!) gunfire in the bad ending. Also, is there a code hidden in the suspect’s uppercase dialogue? I ran out of time before I could figure it out.

The pixelart paired with location-specific audio gives this game a really fun aesthetic, especially because each location has a different dominant color. The use of a black border around all of your text was really smart. That way, it’s all easily legible regardless of the background.

The second read-through made me laugh quite a bit; I love the wordplay that hints towards the twist. Coding-wise, I like how the diverging branches of the story get funneled back into the same ending.

I love the art style, and that it’s consistent through each location; its bright storybook look is really incongruous with some of the endings, which makes the surprise better. The constant double-checking of player’s choices is really good at instilling paranoia despite the cheerful aesthetic.

this is really eerie, with the music and the aggressive dialogue, but I can tell that there’s a coherent story here. I love that it’s 3D, and that you included a ton of different fonts. The moment I realized that I could move around, turned, and saw the mirror in a spotlight was great.

 This is a great, simple game for helping generate and organize ideas. I can easily see the random character map option as a great set of writing prompts. The writing aesthetic theme can make the words a little hard to read, but I love all the crinkled paper and quills.

The premise of this is hilarious, and I've gotten some of the same stories--although none so far have involved dragons, unfortunately. The perspective shift induced by the changing pitch of the ground is really interesting, as it was a fun challenge at first and then got more and more disorienting as it grew steeper. I couldn't actually reach the school doors (I think that the player character is too big, or the school too small, or perhaps there's a barrier in the way), but the climb itself was very fun.

I definitely got backrooms vibes here, especially with the uniformity and offensive blandness of the two accessible rooms. The storytelling, particularly in the first room, is particularly interesting; you were able to communicate events and mysteries through relatively simple props (the desk chairs' placement, the dangling telephone, etc.) which brought the space an intriguing sense of interrupted life. The audio attached to various objects added to that effect--I found myself hunting down all of the different sources, just to see whether they would have any clues as to what happened in the office.

I'm extremely impressed by the scale of everything in relation to the player--it's dead on, which is really hard and painstaking to do. I also genuinely thought I was losing my mind for a second when things started moving and the phone started chiming, only to revert back to its original state and become an endless loop of insanity. That, of course, fits the theme; even the sudden moves to a different scene and subsequent teleportation effect adds to the feeling of unreality despite the hyper-realistic setting. Great job!

The use of light within this space is incredibly compelling, as it highlights the exact path you want the player to follow. There's just enough light to create interesting landscapes, but not enough to distract from the core story you're telling. I love the echoing text effect (and I'll absolutely try to copy it when I get the chance, lol). There's something simple yet beautiful in the frozen, color-coded remnants of Echo and Narcissus' conversation.