Finally got a chance to play this! I had it downloaded but since it was a long and atmospheric type game, I wanted to give it the attention it deserved. I enjoyed my time playing, got past some minor technical issues (way more polished that I expected for a game jam). The music was really chill and relaxing - excelent choice. I don't know why, but the moment with the lonely man and the bread really touched me. It was so simple but carried weight to it. Same as the painting and the sailor that gave me a hug. Lovely stuff. Thank you for giving me such a cool experience!
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Still Waters's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Community's Voice | #23 | 3.842 | 3.842 |
Ranked from 19 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Creative Vision / Rationale / How Did You Incorporate the Theme
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Solve each light tower puzzle to power the next one. (Start with the first—you can’t miss it!)
- Follow the swaying power lines to navigate deeper into the river and find the Heart.
- Meet strange characters and choose how to treat them—with generosity or cruelty.
Collect Scrap and Expedition Logs to upgrade your ship at the Drydock.
Still Waters is a narrative exploration puzzle game where you captain a lone vessel through a river lost to time and memory. Light your path forward using your wits, a series of corrupted light towers, and a quiet sense of resolve.
But it’s not cleverness that reveals the truth of these waters—it’s generosity. Only by giving freely, even when the river gives nothing in return, will you uncover the deeper mysteries hidden in the fog.
At the journey’s end, one final choice waits.
One that will shape your story—and what remains of you—forever.
Music Credit:
Track: “Dark Western”
Composer: Nikolay Statilko
Comments
What a stunningly impressive game! There's so much I want to compliment on - the dialogue system, the water shader, the environmental design, the writing, and the shader that lets you see the boat behind the trees in the foreground. This truly does feel like it has the heart and soul of both Disco Elysium and Dredge. I really liked the intro dialogue, and how you incorporated a tutorial into it. Fantastic work!
I did run into an issue right away though. I couldn't interact with the pause menu for some reason. Clicking on the buttons didn't do anything, though luckily I was able to work around that when trying to resume or quit the game. Small bug compared to everything else that worked well.
Submitted
A Bug's HikeThis is an incredible game! I saw the comments below so I will try to not repeat the same feedback, since most stuff was due to bugs. This was a great narrative game. The writing is really good. I am sure many people don't love reading that much, but it's very well written. I really love the earie vibe and the Dredge inspiration to it. I love the music elements as well, in the last scene I got goosebumps :)
For the gameplay:
-It took me a while to get used to rotating the camera with Q/E. I don't know if it would be better to use the mouse and change the interaction to a button. But it's probably bc I am not used to it.
-I wish the dialogue showed who was speaking ( I got confused sometimes).
-I also ended up in the heart before I explored everything. I realised that when I was reading the book and it said "Empty page you turn the next one" or smt similar heh. And I was sad. I wish I had a map or something similar to guide me. If I knew I was heading toward the heart I would turned back.
-Also, as ppl pointed out, I didn't realise that I could upgrade my boat by returning to the main dock.
-Something that I would like is for the music transitions to improve. At some point, I think it was before arriving to the heart, the screen went black and the music stopped very suddenly, and it took me out of it.
-Ppl already mentioned this but subtitles at the start of the game would be helpful for ppl like me who watch everything with subtitles.
Overall, great work! :)
Submitted
In PassingA incredibly well put together and polished game. It also controls very nicely. I did have some issues figuring out the mechanics and what exactly I was suppose to be doing.
Submitted
To The EndFirst and foremost, really incredible job on the game! In just a month, an absolutely incredible amount was accomplished. The game looks and feels really polished and it really feels like a fully fleshed out game. This may be one of the most well put together games that I have seen entered in this jam. The voice acting and writing overall was really well thought out and executed. The vibes were perfect and felt weird and foreboding, yet strangely comforting. The characters felt alive and vivid. The writing and details were really top notch. Really really fantastic job. I haven't seen many games that achieve THIS level of professionalism. I wanted to include some issues/suggestions as I understand you plan to release this on steam and want to help make sure the final project is as polished as possible! I'll try to steer (no pun intended) clear of what other people have said and try to keep my comments original unless there's something I think really needs to be addressed. I was also streaming this game for a friend and we agreed on the majority of what will be listed here (any disagreements will be specifically addressed.) Quick disclaimer: I didn't notice the instructions and would love for them to be more etched into the game itself (although for the scope of the game jam this is definitely on me). A few of the issues I had were related to the fact I didn't see the instructions so take those suggestions with a grain of salt. I just wanted to include my struggles as somebody who played the game completely blind. I know the voiceover in the beginning talks about goals and purpose but it's quite and information dump in a super short amount of time and with no subtitles, I wasn't able to follow and stopped listening.
-After getting into the game I completely missed the first light tower. I didn't interact with it at all and just continued on with the game. I know the tower wasn't clear due to a bug, and was already addressed in some other comments, but after about an hour of playing, I went back to the start and clicked on the tower. There was a reaction but I didn't know how to continue or what else I was supposed to do and unfortunately gave up before completing the game (even though I interacted with most of, if not, every NPC.)
-The trees also constantly got in the way which contributed to me not noticing the first tower.
-The camera can be zoomed in so close to the water that the powerlines are not visible, which is how I played all of the game, never even noticing them.
-At Dockton, I didn't realize that the boat could be upgraded because it wasn't made clear what giving resources would do. I spent most of the game wishing the boat could move faster before realizing it can, it was just never made super clear.
-at Dockton, it seemed different NPC sprites would be shown at the wrong times for the wrong characters.
-After leaving Dockton, there was an NPC that asked for the expedition logs, and can only be interacted with once. Unfortunately, they were the first NPC I talked to and therefore, didn't have any. I thought I could return with the logs but was unable to and felt punished simply for the direction I chose to go in the beginning.
-On the river, I randomly encountered a bug that made my ship go under the water and barely be able to move. It wasn't game breaking and I eventually struggled free, it was just a little strange.
-The ship is able to slide up some of the rocks which again doesn't really have any game breaking effects but just something I wanted to mention.
-The dialogue, while extremely detailed and vivid, was just too much. If someone is looking for a solely narrative experience then this would be perfect. But if not, there's a lot to read but not a lot of game to be played comparatively, although I think the interactive text options definitely help combat this.
-I understand this may have been an intentional design choice, but I would love to see more detailed NPC sprites. The shadowy figures with glowing eyes is cool, but the silhouettes aren't clear enough to make out the specifics of a character and can make things look a little muddy causing the character less imposing as a result. It also was hard to distinguish between areas and I think all of the NPCs being silhouettes contributed to that. At the very least, some NPCS make more sense to be clear and fully in color such as the scribe of the burning ship
-The backgrounds, specifically the grass could be improved upon. The grass specifically looks a little too rectangular.
-The lost and found NPC has a dialogue option to refuse to interact. In this case, refusing to interact makes the most sense in my opinion, but the following dialogue made it seem as if that wasn't the best choice. From all the other interactions, it seems one constant value is sharing memories and facing them head on even when they hurt (specifically thinking about the willow, the artist, and the quiltmaker.) But this NPC's purpose is to give us the option to rid ourselves of a bad memory which seems to be the opposite of our purpose on the river. If you are determined to keep this in, I think making the consequences of choices clearer would be a big help. Maybe some kind of deal where you can rid of yourself of a bad memory but must also sacrifice a good one.
-The river was really difficult to keep track of. I found myself constantly getting lost and returning to NPCs I had already interacted with. I understand that could be intentional but I think having certain sections that are themed differently, getting rid of the icon to interact with the npc, or even maybe playing around with different colors of water will make sections feel more distinct and improve player experience overall. I also think making the game more visually interesting instead of having everything be black and blue would make the game feel more engaging and help the players want to interact with the characters even more!
-I'm also unsure if this was actually a problem or if I just had more resources than i realized, but I keep choosing to give resources to upgrade my ship but I never got a message saying that I didn't have the necessary resources. It just constantly said my ship was being upgraded but I'm not sure it actually was.
-I think that based on time/resources the music was expertly chosen. It did match the theme and vibe really well. Despite this, without knowing anything specific about the music, I noticed (as somebody who studies music) that it felt a little too much like a western and fed into a lot of those wild western music conventions. The person I was streaming for (somebody who does not study music) said they think it fits for both and that it gave a swampy vibe.
Really really fantastic job with this game. Overall, most of the issues I mentioned did not horribly impact the game. Even though I couldn't quite figure it out, I can very clearly see the incredible potential of this project and think it's already in a quite polished state. The scope of this project was truly insane and it's amazing to see what you were able to accomplish for this jam. I would love to purchase the final game on steam! definitely keep us updated! Amazing work!
Woah, this game feels so professional, I really dig it! Aside from the visuals which are 10/10 in my book, really captures the dark and eerie atmosphere, the gameplay is also very unique from other games I’ve played (I can see from other comments there were certain games you took inspo from but I’ve never played ‘em so I can’t speak on that). Being able to drive the boat around and explore the world was definitely the highlight for me. Admittedly I did end up skimming the dialogue as I went on, there was just too much of it for my liking. Aside from that, this is a very solid game! Kudos to your team!
Submitted
Nyota & the Moon PalaceVery very well done! I agree with most of the other reviews.
The intro dialogue is super nice and the controls talk - right down my alley. However it went on a little bit too long eventually making me stop and listen while I was already at Dockton - that could be handled a bit better especially using the intro river to maybe show some thing the guy on the radio is telling me (lights going off one-by-one for example). Also the message that you can rotate the camera comes very late which makes the first scrap collecting a bit awkward since you are completely blocked by trees there ^^
The dialogue is well written and fits the game.
Really like the 3D presentation of the world - sad that it does not run in web, did you try to make a webversion? It also seems like the game has an unlimited framerate and my GPU is going crazy haha would be very nice to have a limit or vsync option :)
Overall very solid dredge-like :P The presentation and narrative are superb, the level design is calm and easy to follow, cover art and screenshots create appeal and make you want to play - you know what you are doing (but the webbuiiild) and this has potential :) keep it up and thank you!
Submitted
Animal Timehaha thanks so much! I definitely agree that the opening dialogue vo goes on a bit too long. I didn't time it when I was recording it and it's biting me in the ass now LOL. It was a day-of addition!
I didn't try to make a web GL version just because there's a lot of volumetric lighting going on and I can almost guarantee it would have tanked the frame rates to being almost unplayable. It would have been really cool though, maybe my next jam game will be more web optimized!
As it stands, I definitely didn't put any kind of cap on the frame rate or do any optimization whatsoever haha. I tried to do a bit on the day it was due, but it just destroyed my build. Thankfully I was using GitHub to back everything up, but I think I'm just too inexperienced when it comes to optimization and things like vsync. Definitely something to work on before I launch the full version of this game on Steam!
Thanks for playing and for the great feedback!
Sure - still very impressive!
I think the GPU situation is not that the game doesnt run well but that my GPU wants to render ALL OF IT so fast :D
And yeah web builds are always tricky with fancy graphics stuff - if you really want to get some decent itch numbers to see if the game has potential web is getting a lot more views and plays than download - I have been really into Chris Zukowski's blog on howtomarketagame.com and he did some really insightful itch articles lately - might be interesting to you too!
Anyways keep it up and good luck mate
Intro was really well done, love the opening dialog and how the concept of the mission is introduced. Especially when chatting about the controls haha. "Your ships got one of those eyes in the sky...very fancy..."
Dialog was also written well, found myself eager to run into strangers on the river. The mood is so unique.
The environment is so well decorated and immersive. Really impressive given the time constraints we had to put everything together. Even the water itself, and the particles behind the boat. It's so cohesive!
Overall it was a joy to play through, you did an awesome job with this.
Submitted
First MovesAt first reminded me of Dredge. Gameplay and voice acting are very good. Idk if you wanted to make a full game, but this one has too much text. At least i think so. If you've played dredge you could take some notes how to make reading more interesting. Good luck
Submitted
Karma GamingThe game is so beautiful and artistic! Amazing story, characters, and overall game design and style! It’s very professional-looking. I really love Disco Elysium, so that inspiration speaks straight to my heart! It also reminds me of Sunless Sea in a few ways, and the title is great too!
Really loved the smooth boat controls!
Submitted
MammonaThe game is very impressive for a game made in 22 days. All the voice acting was great, and overall the audio quality was up there.
The game did lack a proper introduction to the puzzles unfortunately, so I just ended up roaming around for the rest of the game.
The writing was pretty good and it makes me believe the game could have just been the player going from event to event picking different routes along the way.
Overall a fun experience !
Submitted
A Gear Of GoldThank you so much! I initially designed the game to be just that - the player moving from POI to POI and experiencing the story. But when I sent it out for a game Jam that ended in the middle of this one, a bunch of the feedback was that it felt like it was missing playable mechanics. Hence the puzzles!
And yeah, there is supposed to be a UI pop up that appears when you get close to the first puzzle that tells you how to solve it and what the controls are. Unfortunately I forgot to Anchor the dang thing and now it pops up somewhere off screen in the current build. I think I'll probably cut down on that initial Vo and make it less long, then add a little bit of extra Vo once players reach the first light puzzle that verbally explains all of that.
Appreciate the feedback!
This game feels so complete, I would have never guessed it was a game jam submission. The voice acting in the beginning, the stories, the smooth movement, all the amazing sound design, it all feels so polished.
If I had any tips, it would be to make sure the player solves the first light puzzle at the beginning because I turned it on and that was all I needed to do. I then found all the other memories on the river and was confused as to how to light anything or how to finish the game. Then I went back and realized I never finished interacting with the first light and had to go back through and light everything. But other than that, this game is fantastic, truly incredible, amazing job!!
Submitted
The Generous MuskoomThank you so much! I really did manage to include a lot, but that was mostly thanks to the long game Jam time. I'm so used to game jams only being 4-7 days that this one felt like forever. And yet I still managed to ship a game full of bugs and with less features then I planned. Oh well!
And yeah, there is supposed to be a UI pop up that appears when you get close to the first puzzle that tells you how to solve it and what the controls are. Unfortunately I forgot to Anchor the dang thing and now it pops up somewhere off screen in the current build. I think I'll probably cut down on that initial Vo and make it less long, then add a little bit of extra Vo once players reach the first light puzzle that verbally explains all of that.
You really did a great job on the whole environment settings and I like the feeling of sailing on the river! You also have enough content to support the narrative. One suggesiont would be having a minimap or other navigation support, because I found myself constantly lost. Overall great work!
PS - I would love to have you reviewing my game, thanks!
Submitted
Verdant RelayThank you so much! Yes, navigation assistance is definitely on the road map. Waypoints are another important thing I want to add, especially in regards to showing players where to go to complete the next light puzzle. Sadly I just ran out of time. Game jams are tough! Thanks for taking the time to play! I'll give you your game a spin when I get off work tonight!
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