This is great, enjoyed it a lot. It has a really fun and engaging gameplay loop and I love the theme.
Its a bit too hard imo
Had to play it a few times to beat it, but it was a great time!
Play game
THEY WILL DESCEND's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Narrative | #811 | 3.561 | 3.561 |
| Enjoyment | #890 | 3.803 | 3.803 |
| Creativity | #1721 | 3.856 | 3.856 |
| Audio | #1722 | 3.371 | 3.371 |
| Artwork | #3762 | 3.250 | 3.250 |
Ranked from 132 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
We tackled the 'countdown' theme by creating a race against the Mayan doomsday clock, where feeding the gods is the only way to delay the inevitable.
(Optional) Please credit all assets you've used
JMO Assets
LightningBolt
(Optional) What would you like to be called if GMTK features your game?
ChefGames
Comments
love your take on the concept here and I am a sucker for ancient history aztec/mayan/egyptian all of it. played through a few times to see how far I could make it before my world got destroyed each time but really well thought out concept and well executed all around. my only notes here for art would be to scale your pixel art to the same resolution throughout so they size more cleanly for some of the objects and artwork you had in the game but your style and attention to detail were not unnoticed and really unique! please push out more updates for this one great jam game I'd love to see expanded upon!
Amazing entry for a 4 day jam ! Great concept, had a lot of fun playing and managing my resources. I also particularly liked the sfx and the soundtrack. This game fits really well to the theme, as I really felt the tension created by the countdown.
The game was super frantic and intense but in a fun and engaging way, the timer is constantly ticking above your head while you are trying to manage resources and build the village further up, i have a lot of fun playing it!
Really fun game, love the frantic resource management! Hope you develop this further post-jam; I feel this has the potential to be huge!
I had A LOT of fun playing this. Really stressed me out too. Also fits nicely to the theme.
Very nice game! I had a lot of fun with it. It was fun to strategize where to put all of the people, and having to decide whether to try spend resources on making more guys or on making god happy was fun! The art was good, but it didn't feel all that cohesive. A lot of the art was in different styles and sizes, but in a vacuum all of the art looked really good! The ending was really funny too lol!
Your game is really well done! I'm a little bit slow with my hands so I wasn't able to finish the game (or maybe it's because I like being crush by a meteor, we don't know), but it was a really pleasing experience!
Haha, thank you so much! Honestly, getting crushed by a meteor is a valid aesthetic choice we don't judge 😄
We're really glad you had a pleasing experience despite the challenge. And don't worry about finishing sometimes the journey itself is the fun part. But if you ever feel like trying again, we believe in you!
Thanks for playing and for the kind words — they truly made us smile!
You have a great way to introduce players to the game mechanics; that is a very nice invisible tutorial that you have built here. I'm impressed, and it is inspiring to see how it can be done.
Great use of the theme, and the music and deisgn feet it nicely.
Congrats to all of the team!
Thank you so much for the kind words! We're really glad the tutorial felt natural — that was one of our main goals, to teach without being intrusive. It means a lot that you noticed it.
Also happy to hear the theme, music, and design resonated with you! We put a lot of thought into the atmosphere.
I'll pass your compliments to the whole team — they'll be thrilled. Thanks for playing and for taking the time to leave such encouraging feedback!
Very great audio and sound design. Well done with that! Had fun with the resource management aspect!
Really appreciate that! Audio and sound design were a big focus for us, so it's awesome to hear they stood out.
And we're glad you enjoyed the resource management part — that was one of the trickiest things to balance, so knowing it felt fun makes it all worth it.
Thanks for playing and for the great feedback!
So much tension in this game! I think that the balancing is great. Like, I don't know if I'm just bad at this, but I was never in a chill position to be able to leave workers where they were infinitely working. I had to manage where they were working each time because workers were the bottleneck. Really creative idea! Congrats!
Wow, thank you so much! That tension was exactly what we were going for, so it's really rewarding to hear you felt it.
And we're super glad the balancing hit the mark - the workers-as-bottleneck mechanic was a risky design choice, and we spent a lot of time tweaking it. Knowing that it kept you on your toes without feeling unfair is the best feedback we could ask for.
Really appreciate the kind words, and I'll make sure the whole team hears your praise! Thanks again for playing and for taking the time to share your thoughts
I am blown away by the sound design of this game. It was such an intense yet fun experience. The game perfectly manages the difficulty curve and despite a lot of stress never feels frustrating. The decisions are also well crafted and give the player enough freedom and challenge without distracting from the countdown itself.
Very well done, I can only recommend this game to anyone, it is addictive without ever feeling too stressful. Great work!
This honestly made our day — thank you so much!
We put a huge amount of effort into the sound design, so hearing that it "blew you away" is incredibly gratifying. And it's wonderful to know that the difficulty curve hit that sweet spot — intense but not frustrating, challenging but fair. That was one of the hardest things to get right, and your feedback confirms we're on the right track.
We also really appreciate your thoughts on the decision-making and the countdown balance — giving players meaningful choices without losing sight of the ticking clock was exactly what we aimed for.
I'll share your kind words with the whole team — they'll be over the moon. Thanks again for playing and for such a thoughtful, encouraging review!
TIme's TICKING! Really love the events appeared when the countdown ends, like drought and stuff. Cool game to mess with your time management ability :)
Haha, time really does tick! Glad you enjoyed the post‑countdown events — we wanted those moments to feel like genuine curveballs, so it's great to hear they landed well.
And yes, messing with time management was exactly the core challenge we aimed for. It's awesome that you had fun with it and appreciated that stressful but satisfying loop.
Thanks a bunch for playing and for the encouraging words — means a lot to us!
Really good game, I liked managing resources by allocating and deallocating cards! Like everyone else has said, I think you captured stress really well!
Thank you so much! We're really happy you enjoyed the card‑based resource management - allocating and de‑allocating was a core mechanic we spent a lot of time refining, so it's great to hear it clicked with you.
And yes, capturing that stressful feeling was absolutely intentional, and it means a lot that you and others have pointed it out. Knowing that the tension worked without becoming overwhelming is the best validation we could hope for.
Thanks again for playing and for the kind words - we truly appreciate it!



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