Definitely a very unique entry and a cool idea for interpreting the theme, and I guess technically a Metroidvania in the most fundamental sense. (Does every item that gives access to a new area in a video game automatically make it a Metroidvania? I don’t really want to get into the philosophy of it, but I suppose it’s really up to individual interpretation!) Sadly, being pretty bad at point and click games, I wasn’t able to get very far (only as far as wandering about in the technical section, based on the maps in the extra folder), so take my feedback with a grain of salt!

I do appreciate the dedication to black and white graphics, and some of the sprite work is pretty nice (once you’re able to see it). However, I don’t think it interacts with the echolocation mechanic very well. Since black is the color of both areas that haven’t been echolocated yet and areas that simply have nothing of interest in them, it’s often not immediately clear if you’ve even successfully used echolocation or not. The cooldown also doesn’t exactly help here, and I think having a cooldown on what is essentially your ability to experience the game is just too punishing.

Even though it’d mean breaking with the duotone artstyle, I think having a third color for walls (basically areas that have been revealed but don’t have anything in them) would be a massive improvement. That way, at least you’d be able to keep track of what you’ve already looked at, and what could still contain useful items. Also, the inventory was hard to see over white objects due to having no background, so another color (or even just putting a black square behind it) could help there too.

With all that said, I think the game does a great job at capturing the oppressive atmosphere of the regime, and the subtle ambience makes it even creepier. The idea has a lot of potential too, and doesn’t have to be limited to point and click games either - but I think it definitely needs some work to make sure it works for the player rather than against them. I’m pretty sure there have been several games with this kind of echolocation mechanic, so perhaps looking at them for inspiration could help!

Enjoyment 3.5/5 rounded down - I didn't really connect with this one and the central echolocation mechanic wasn't my thing. I'm sorry, it just was more frustrating than engaging for me.

Execution 4/5 - Conveyance is difficult when you're conveying blindness. How much frustration is intended here? IDK.

Sensory 5/5 - For all that this made really good use of sound and everything overall to convey its theme.

Metroidvania 2.5/5 rounded up - About as Metroidvania as an old Sierra game. For me that means not really much, but using the same item in multiple places helps.

Minimalism 5/5 - Nailed the theme and I don't even have to refer to your interpretation to know that you did.

All in all this one really wasn't my thing so much, but it mainly affected the enjoyment category. I don't think I really 'got it' as far as the main point or, ahem, 'vision' if you will. That said, I'll be following if you do more stuff like this (or else-wise) because for all that I would not call this bad by any means.

This game has a really cool game mechanic although i dont know how to finished it.(i dont really know how to give feedback so sorry if it was weird or smth like that)

Really interesting take on the theme. Seeing the below comment, I’m definitely embarrassed since I like point and click games but I haven’t found the guitar (though did get the badge).

I did figure out the sounds, which is great, and really appreciate the permanent echo. I can’t tell if some grayscale/dithering would be merited, there are still many things where I’m not sure what I’m looking at (many are fine though) so I can’t tell if there’s some bit I’m confused about because I’m just not recognizing it.

I really like the sound design but I am unsure about some of the interactions, specifically the room to the left of the large switch with a double-doored object has something on the ground that seems like it’s making noise when I click it but I don’t see any effects.

Probably need to circle back to this and map it out with pen and paper.

It’s also making me think real hard about what metroidvania means, at least as far as I’ve gotten it feels more direct lock and key (not that I did better with my more traditional platformer).

Obviously the art is really aimed at the minimal but I think it could have looked awesome to have gradients and highlights, this has given me a lot of ideas for some shaders.

Cool entry, I enjoyed it!

I think the gimmick of having to echolocate to see, and making an adventure game are really interesting for the jam. And I really liked the atmosphere of the game.

But, i'm not sure if it is because i'm unfamiliar with the genre (and kind of avoid it, not my cup of tea), but I got stuck, and tried interacting with everything and didn't find how to go forward. (I got the stethoscope, and knife, and I managed to find the guitar, but I think that's not needed for progresing)

I think my biggest critcism would be that, by the nature of the game, you can't see if you are correctly clicking on something on the environment. I know its like, the core of the game, but my issue is that because of that you don't know if an interaction didn't do anything because its supposed to be nothing, or because you are missclicking in the dark. Maybe when you echolocated something it could have kept like an outilne for a few seconds or something so that it would be easier. But what ended up happening is that I would interact with something like 5-6 times just to make sure i'm clicking it right, still miss, and then I would come back, try again, and it would succed, because now I got it right.

Also there were some interactions that seem to do nothing (like cutting the meat? in the freezer?, or breaking the paintings), that i'm guessing are for flavor, but I think in a game like this were you are literally stumbling in the dark trying to find what to do next, those kind of interactions just throw you off too much. (unless they are NOT for flavor and actually do something, in that case just dismiss this, it was just my inability to go through the game lol)

I'm sorry I couldn't get through a lot more of the game,I'm pretty sure there was quite a bit more to do.