Absolute Cinema. I absolutely enjoyed playing this game! I really liked it, and it's a huge leap from your previous games, not that they were bad, but this one is much more in depth. There are so many details and I can definitely see the amount of work you put into it. You mentioned that you were inspired by TLOU and RE4 and I can see that, but I also like that it's not a 1-to-1 copy but it's own unique game. The puzzles weren't too hard but they still required some thinking.
Now, I wanted to point out a couple of bugs/problems and suggestions I ran into while playing the game. It might be a bit too much to read but I tend to overcomplicate and I'm not the best at explaining stuff so take it with a grain of salt 🫠
- Intro:
- I really wish there were save slots. I had a few moments where I wanted to go back to a previous stage to check if I missed an easter egg or something else. Since the game auto saves, it basically locks me out of doing that so I ended up having to restart the whole game like 2 times.
- The TV at the beginning of the game was completely black on my first playthrough when you sit down to eat. It worked fine on my second run though, no clue why.
- To be honest I had no idea what the order for the first padlock in the hut was. At first I thought it might be related to the movement of the lightbulb since it kept rotating counter-clockwise, but that wasn't it since you can move it around with the player. I ended up just trying 1-2-3 or 3-2-1 (order of the symbols from the wall).
- Church Area:
- When you have to rotate the spotlights, the 'A/D to move' UI text is still being shown on the screen even after you've completed the task. I loaded a checkpoint in my video to make it go away.
- The lighter doesn't really help you see much.
- The lighter/flashlight item will float right by your right hand after you load the save.
- Farm Area:
- After you fall out of the big ladder, the text will still say 'Climb' on the screen when you're close to the ladder.
- Also, when you get out of the field, your flashlight automatically turns on if it's off. I wanted to hide from the enemies but the flashlight would keep turn on (no idea if that affects the detection bar)
- The stealth mission was pretty frustrating. It was definitely challenging, but that wasn't the main issue, it was the detection bar. On some enemies, the meter would randomly jump up to 100 out of nowhere and pretty much make me reset the whole area. I wasn't running, I wasn't making any noise and I wasn't even in their line of sight, detection bar would go 100, they'd turn around and catch me in a second. I think something similar also happened in the Main Camp stealth mission, but not as bad.
- When you fall down from the barn top floor, you drop the flashlight on the ground. The problem is that it would either rolled over to a really weird spot far out in the barn, or straight up fall into the ground and became basically impossible to pick it back up. As the barn has some wheat/grass patches that seem to have no collision, dropped objects can easily pass through them. That pretty much made it impossible to retrieve the items. I ended up having to drop items right in front of the barn door (to make up inventory space) because the ground is more flat/clean.
- Unfortunately I also ran into the inventory/items bug. I'm not sure exactly how I triggered it but when I picked up the ladder, it seemed to get stuck to my right hand. I picked up the wheel after and they basically merged together, the inventory UI showed only the Wheel though. Even after I dropped the wheel, the ladder was still in my hand. It wasn't just a visual bug, I couldn't use any items that I had equiped as they would get merged with the ladder.
- I think the big problem is when you drop items and put them back into different slots, especially the lighter/flashlight from the middle. You drop the lighter, you hit TAB and select the left (or right) slot, pick up the ligther and it would somehow but out the game because it's not used to not be in the middle slot. I think doing this is what bugs out other items. I also cannot use F to turn it off when it's either on the left/right side in inventory (only middle).
- Last Area/Building:
- Sometimes the chatbox would say 'Cop' and sometimes it would say 'Me'.
- I think there should be some reminder that you can lockpick the doors. Not sure if it was just me, but I got stuck for a good couple hours because I didn't realize I could lockpick still. I know the gate outside shows a text prompt telling you exactly that but for some reason I totally forgotten it.
- The notes for the padlocks/clues are rotating, both sides show the same image but mirrored/reversed. This can be confusing because it's hard to tell the correct default alignment.
- After you open the Goat Door, you can still open it when it's on the ground.
These are basically the biggest things I noticed the most. Might've missed a few but these were the ones that stood out while I was playing and editing the recordings. Of course, not everything I mentioned is game-breaking, you don't have to take in all of my suggestions; They're just my thoughts and what I observed the most during my playthroughs.
Regardless, it's a 10/10 from me. Had a ton of fun playing your game and I really wanted to thank you for making it free at least for a limited time. I really wish you the best with it and I truly hope it gets more popular. I know puzzles are not every gamer's cup of tea but they should at least try it out and see for themselves if it's hard or not.
I hope you'll like my gameplay video. I tried my best to explain every puzzles and also include almost every item/event into the YouTube chapters/timestamps.
I am really looking forward more games from you!
Thank You ❤️