Hey, thanks for checking it out! Glad you enjoyed it, even if the retreat didn’t go quite as planned!

The croak and enemy indicators were fun systems to work on, so I’m glad those stood out.

And that’s interesting about the controls working properly in your Chromium-based launcher. Good to know, since I’ve had some mixed feedback on that.

Really appreciate you giving it a play and sharing your experience!

Thanks for playing and for the feedback! Glad you enjoyed the visuals, sound, and especially the croak!

That’s a fair point about the level design. I think the earlier sections do a better job of giving you things to engage with, while some of the later areas ended up feeling a bit too empty. Definitely something I can learn from.

Appreciate you giving it a shot and sharing your thoughts!

Thanks for playing! I’m definitely seeing the browser shortcut issue come up a lot, so that’s something I’ll need to account for next time.

Glad you both still enjoyed the stealth and challenge!

Thanks! I’m glad you stuck with it and ended up having fun with the challenge.

And yep, CTRL is a toggle for crouch. The Firefox RMB menu issue is good to know too.

Really appreciate the level design comment especially. I spent a lot of time trying to introduce the mechanics gradually and give you spaces where you could actually use things like the croak, body hiding, and patrol routes instead of just explaining them.

The level was probably where I spent a vast majority of development time. It went through so many iterations and changes because level design is not something I consider my strong suite. So I put a lot of effort into trying to learn and understand how the player might use the map and lean into that where I could.

But level design is something I’ve never really messed with enough. So I definitely appreciate the compliment and that you noticed it.

Thanks for playing and for the detailed feedback!

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.

Tthe controls/onboarding are definitely the biggest thing I’d change. A few people have had trouble figuring out the takedown and stance controls, so that’s something I need to communicate much better next time.

Thanks for playing!

Thanks for playing! Yeah, the browser controls have definitely been giving people more trouble than I expected haha. That’s something I’ll need to revisit.

Good point about the grey background. I was going for that dark, minimal look, but I can see how the grey makes things feel a little less cohesive.

I’ll have to experiment with that.

Glad you liked the croak mechanic. That was one of my favorite parts to put together.

Thanks for playing!

Thanks! I’m starting to realize just how differently browsers handle certain inputs. I spent so much time getting the controls to feel right that I probably didn’t give enough attention to how they’d behave outside the desktop build.

Definitely a lesson I’ll be taking into the next project. Glad you enjoyed the stealth mechanics.

Thanks for playing!

Thanks! I really appreciate this. I put a lot of time into trying to make the low-poly look feel intentional, so I’m glad that came through.

The takedown feedback is definitely becoming a pattern, so that’s something I need to make much clearer. And the browser right-click issue is another good catch. Between that and Ctrl+W, the web build has taught me a few lessons about controls I wouldn’t have thought about otherwise.

Also, thank you for the wildcard comment. I really wanted the frog part to affect how the game actually plays instead of just putting a frog somewhere visually, so that means a lot.

Glad you stuck with it even though stealth isn’t usually your thing!

Thanks for sticking with it! That CROAK feedback is really useful. If the safest strategy is to just never use it, then I definitely pushed the risk/reward too far in the wrong direction. It’s supposed to help you manage patrols, not feel like a self-destruct button.

And yeah… Ctrl+W has officially claimed way too many victims this jam lol. That binding is absolutely getting changed.

Yeah, I’m definitely seeing a pattern with that first level being harder to read than I expected.

The takedown especially needs clearer feedback so players understand what they’re supposed to do instead of having to guess at it.

And Ctrl+W has officially become my favorite accidental design mistake from this jam lol. I absolutely need to rethink that binding for the browser build. Thanks for sticking with it and for the feedback.

Thanks! I had a lot of fun figuring out how to work the theme into the mechanics rather than just the story. Glad you liked the art style too! I was going for something simple that still felt atmospheric.

Thanks for playing! I’m glad you had fun with it, even if the stealth was a bit brutal! Haha.

I’ve been seeing quite a few people struggle with the difficulty, so that’s definitely something I need to take another look at. Really glad you liked the different enemy states and the radar system, though. Those were some of my favorite mechanics to work on!

You really dug into the systems here, which is awesome to see. The body distractions, croak lures, injuring guards, vents, and takedowns were all things I hoped players would experiment with, so it’s cool seeing you actually use all of that together.

I’m also a little surprised by how difficult people are finding it, but your notes on the instant rotations, search turning, and knife hit detection are really useful. Those sound more like readability/consistency issues than things I’d want to solve by just making the game easier.

Also, Ctrl+W… yeah, that is unfortunate lol. Thanks for putting this much time into it and for the detailed feedback.

Thanks! I really like both of those ideas. I’m definitely rethinking the takedown now; if the player has already successfully gotten behind a guard, making that a clean one-hit stealth takedown may be a better reward than adding another timing layer.

I also agree the alert state could use stronger presentation. The patrol behavior changes, but I think some screen effects, stronger sound cues, and a more aggressive music shift would make that transition much clearer and more dramatic.

Glad the Metal Gear influence came through. Thanks for the feedback!

Thanks! This is really helpful. I’m definitely seeing a pattern now that the first level is asking too much too early.

I think I stripped too much feedback out of the takedown mechanic near the end of the jam, and that probably made the difficulty feel harsher than I intended. I also like the checkpoint suggestion, especially around reaching the warehouse so players don’t have to replay the entire opening every time.

I’m glad the mechanics and visual design still came through, though. Thanks for sticking with it and giving it multiple attempts.

Haha, that’s actually really useful feedback. I was worried during development that I might be making it too easy because I’m not particularly great at games and I was having trouble with parts of it myself.

I’m realizing now that I was still playing with all the designer knowledge. I already knew the patrols, the timing, and how the mechanics were supposed to work. A new player has to learn all of that at the same time.

I also stripped out a little too much feedback near the end of the jam, especially around the takedown timing. Definitely something I’d change if I revisit it. Thanks for giving it a shot!

Thanks! I think this criticism is completely fair. I actually had more feedback around the takedown earlier in development, including a progress indicator, and I think I probably stripped that system down a little too far for the final version.

There is a timing element to the takedown, but without that visual feedback I don’t think the game communicates it very well. So instead of feeling like you’re trying to hit a specific timing window, it can definitely come across like you’re just supposed to walk up and mash LMB until something happens.

Looking back at it now, I think that progress feedback was doing more important work than I gave it credit for. That’s something I’d want to restore or redesign in a post-jam version.

Thanks for sticking with it and for the detailed feedback. And I’m glad the HITMAN influence came through. That was definitely part of the space I was aiming for.

Thank you!

The fact that the knife/takedown controls stopped you is really useful feedback for me.

They’re intentionally directional, but if that didn’t come across clearly enough in the tutorial, that’s on the game to communicate better. I’ve been trying to keep the onboarding pretty light, so this is a good sign that I may have gone a little too light there.

The Hitman comparison is very much in the neighborhood of what I was going for, so I’m glad that came through even from the short amount you got to play.

Definitely don’t feel like you need to be “better” at it 😄 If you give it another go and the controls still feel unclear, that’s useful information too.

Thanks for trying it and for the feedback.