Play Body horror experience
Unholy Souls's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Horror | #3 | 4.167 | 4.167 |
| Gameplay | #5 | 3.833 | 3.833 |
| Presentation | #6 | 4.167 | 4.167 |
| Overall | #7 | 3.667 | 3.667 |
| Creativity | #9 | 3.833 | 3.833 |
| Theme | #11 | 2.833 | 2.833 |
| Story | #11 | 3.167 | 3.167 |
Ranked from 6 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How did you choose to implement the Theme: Theatre of the Grotesque?
The theme is visually represented as the game's main explorative area and the game's peril comes in the horrid form of the grotesque mannequins, dolls and various other creatures given eldritch life by the work of a mysterious curse.
Did you implement any of the optional Bonus Challenges, and if so, which ones?
Body horror - Extremely prevalent throughout the game. The main battle mechanic revolves around the Maim command, which is used to target enemy body parts in order to dismember them and cripple the enemy in some way.
Animal masks - The NPCs each wear an animal mask. They are owl, wolf, fox and snake.
Did you create your game in RPG Maker?
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Comments
Haven't been able to finish yet as it's unexpectedly punishing, so my comment should be taken accordingly:
Gameplay: I love a good complex mechanic system, so I love what you have going on here. Really, the only issues I'd raise are:
1. The game isn't super upfront about its mechanics (knowing that it's based on F&H doesn't help if I haven't played that, and while there is a very well-written tutorial in your items, the game does not tell you that you have that item so you might easily not notice- I died twice before I realized I had started with a key item from the get go and that it contained a tutorial; I wouldn't want a forced tutorial but a clearer indication that you have the book and/or some early NPC/item inspection hints warning you that soul and curse matter as much as flesh would help
2. The balance on how fast you lose soul vs the actual availability of soul restoration items might need some tweaking, it feels a little too easy to run out of soul too soon right now, which wouldn't be as big a deal if not for:
3. Lack of save availability. I assume it exists later in the game based on the "continue" option, but unless I missed something right now it's quite possible to die and lose a decent amount of progress without ever getting to save.
Don't mistake the length of that critique for thinking I felt negatively about gameplay overall, I like what you're doing here overall!
Story: Can't say as much here since I didn't meet many NPCs or other story sources thus far. Your lore seems quite interesting, but it might help to have just a little more context (even if it's just on how much context the protagonist doesn't have, if that makes sense- what does she understand of the situation, is more what i mean) in the intro scene. On a related note, being able to skip the intro would be nice in case of death before saving- was that possible? I didn't notice if so.
Presentation: the uncanniness of the 3D-ish models moving in such a rigid 2D way calls to mind stop motion, and I think it just adds to the unsettling atmosphere. Great example of turning limitations into features, I'd say. Love it.
Enjoyed it enough that I'll be back and possibly revise my comments once I get further!
Thanks for the feedback. Here is some advice if you do pick it up again:
You can save anytime for free at the fireplace in an early unlocked room. There is an audio cue that the room is safe but it seems people are missing it.
Game difficulty is based largely on RNG with loot. Once the player knows they can loot from barrels/crates I find the restorative loot to be on the generous side. Of course you can get bad luck, but that's just what that is; bad luck. You can trade with the merchant to get what you want and sell the crap you have an excess of.
You can farm materials from the animated chairs to improve your weapons/armour with the silent craftsman on the second floor. This is a far more effective way of getting ahead of the game's difficulty curve than just blindly grinding off every enemy (will generally make the game harder).
Thanks for playing.
Thanks for the tips!
First of all, take everything I say with a grain of salt cause I don't usually play games with this type of mechanics, so I am definitely not your target audience. I managed to open the gate with the 3 sigils and the gate with the clock and stopped once I got lost in the mirror maze.
Storywise, I think you had something very interesting going on and would have loved to know more, most of the time I felt a bit too much in the dark and wanting to have more information as I progressed or explored the building. It caught my attention from the start and so far the 4 characters I found were very intriguing and would have loved to know a bit more as I progressed.
Mechanic wise it took me until the mirror to realize I had in my inventory two books that explained the stats and that actually fighting everything was bad, so I probably made the game harder to myself without even intending too lol. On the other hand I found really interesting the mechanic of some enemies only reacting when you ran past them, and being able to walk around unnoticed, it pushed me to not sprint constantly and try maneuver around the enemies if I didn't felt like fighting.
I liked the loot system, and being able to level up your Fortune to find better objects, my only issue was not being sure what I could interact with and what I couldn't eventually I figured out most barrels, boxes and bookshelves could be interacted but I don't know if there was something else I missed.
Overall I think it is a very cool game and will try go back and see if I can get farther once I am done playing the rest of the games in the Jam. I was also very surprised to see a seemingly 3D model as the player, I didn't knew you could do that in RPGM.
Thank you graciously for your detailed comment and feedback.
The game is inspired by and replicates gameplay mechanics/progression from a game series that is notorious for being punishing and obscure and I realize this can feel a touch overwhelming for new and unfamiliar players.
The game is meant to be played organically and like in the old days where guides/handholding were at a minimum and the player must feel their way blind and usually fail a lot and make small progresses at a time to overcome difficult challenges. That said, you've done a good job figuring out that a lot of things can be examined for extra loot; sussing out different enemies have different triggers depending on your behaviour whilst exploring etc.
As for the story I prefer to drip feed lore to the player slowly since story writing is my Achilles heel. The game is not finished yet but I do plan to bring the plot together in a cohesive manner that is understandable to the player by game's end. I'm happy you like the NPCs I put a lot of thought into giving them all differing styles of speech and personalities.
Thank you for the compliment about the character. I made her myself and although it was fun it was a lot of work so it brings me joy that she has been well received. Thanks for playing my game, I do plan on making an update before the jam concludes. I also do plan on getting to every other submission and will play yours although I don't know when. I use RPG Maker's random variable to decide which game I play next!