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Sunscorned's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Theme | #1 | 4.804 | 5.000 |
| Aesthetics | #3 | 4.323 | 4.500 |
| Innovation | #5 | 2.882 | 3.000 |
| Audio | #5 | 3.683 | 3.833 |
| Horror/Spookiness | #5 | 3.683 | 3.833 |
| Stakes | #7 | 2.562 | 2.667 |
Ranked from 6 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
specs:
- mac mini m2, 32gb ram, 12 cores
- mac download, played native .app
overall:
- great art direction, big lively world, very janky controls/graphics display
first impressions:
- nice RE/SH-feeling splash screen but bland UI elements and no interaction choices except start/quit. pleasantly surprised to see an indepth iso topdown ARPG in the mix.
audio:
- nice standard SFX and music one would expect from a game like this
art/visuals:
- a lot of care obviously went into the presenation here for the gameplay assets.
- UI elements left a lot to be desired, contrasts harshly with other aesthetic eleents
customization/accessibility:
- zero instructions, controls, settings: big negative
- pause menu exists: slight plus
gameplay:
- environment was so dark in most places that it was impossible to tell what was going on.
- when i picked up a lantern, it seems it changed my attack, but no idea how to switch back to starter weapon or use the lantern. seems to be a buildup/charge type AOE attack, but no indication of charging progress, ready state, or anything else related to using it.
- sudden random animatic when approaching area before first interior, didn't seem to be tied to anything in-game but i think it was supposed to be the enemy that hit me and took 50% health in one shot. no idea due to total darkness and zero lamp or anything.
- isometric games need great care with placement, and things like trees/overhead buildings blocked out a lot of line of sight.
- standard iso ARPG controls/movement, shift to run is nice
- absolutely no idea how to switch weapons, check inventory/gear/etc.
- wild jank with shuddering visuals and mouse movement flying all over the screen. no options to customize settings is made much worse by this.
- runs very slow on my very powerful machine. no settings to play with to get better results, but also no reason it should've run this way for me using this hardware and a native mac app.
Pretty cool, I liked the art, the atmosphere and the audio. Got a little tired of running around in the dark trying to find stuff. The little touches like the comments when running and swinging the weapon was nice.
Thank you! We're happy to hear that! Thanks for sharing.
First of all, thanks a lot for making a Linux build, and sorry I gave you extra work!
You can tell that a lot of work went into the art direction. The atmosphere is creepy, heavy, and uneasing. The colour palette enhances this perfectly, as well as the sound design, even though I felt the music was maybe a bit too “action oriented”. The lighting in the first level (outside) really gave that “bloody eclipse” vibe. If you do continue the game, I hope there’ll be more time in exterior!
The combat was reactive and I never got hurt because of the controls or the camera. It was quite simple but polished. Even though the attacks were limited, the fights were not boring, thanks to a good moveset including the dash and the sprinting, that gave a tactical aspect about how to approach combat.
There is a lot of lore to find here and there to understand better what’s going on in the story, and it’s a good way to let the player discover it gradually and as a reward, instead of info dumping the story. The notes were interesting and well written, and added a lot to the immersion.
The Doom 3 style mechanic of picking between a light and a weapon in the castle was a nice touch, that I haven’t seen in a while =)
As suggestions for improvements:
Thank you very much for your detailed review and your constuctive criticism. As the sound designer and composer I also thank you for your opinion on the music. That really helps.
Nice game, the level design and models are great, thought I think there is some room for improved with the controls, my first impulse was trying to move with point and click (like Diablo) as the game reminds me that, I think that kind of controls fits better for the game, but it can also be a personal preference (configurable maybe?). The only negative thing (personally) is the usage of GenAI, I don’t support it, even for code.
Thanks for playing! Not the first time, that we hear about issues with the controls. Appreciate your feedback. Yes, we used AI for coding, and for coding only and we respect that you dislike the use of it.
I liked the game, it was fun also remembers me Diablo 1, good job. One thing that I dint liked was the controls and I have to say that personally I don't like any kind of GenIA in video games, thanks to mentioned in the submission.
Thanks for playing! Yes Diablo was at least one of the inspirations. Appreciate your feedback on the controls. Yes we used AI for coding, and for coding only and we respect that you dislike the use of it.
Really liked this one, extremely intrigued by the screenshots, although not really resembling the actual gameplay - given me the vibe of those old school games, doing exactly the same - screenshots kinda showing more there is, which fires up the imagnation nicely!
Would love some low-end pc mode or something, I was running it on a laptop, and needed to use some Windows based trickery to play it in lower resolution, to actually be able to play. Liked the writing, some of it very gruesome, but I would cut on the protagonist yapping, or at least place the text UI somewhere else, as it was obstructing a lot of stuff in the gameplay portion, being directly in the center.
Awesome work on the assets, and the overall difficulty and checkpoint handling was amazing, really nice I wasn't forced to repeat same moments all over again if dead, kinda got cheesy with the bosses, but in the end, the constant flow of things, was worth it (we all now, we sometimes don't have a lot of patience, thinking about how many games there are ahead of us playing on itch).
Level design wise, it flowed nicely, made it right to the end easily. Very nice introduction, and the switch to darkness with the light, was an amazing thing, made a nice moment. I would personally, light up boss spaces more, just to make them more readable, and add variety as well. Also basic gate introduction, before you find the key, was not always on point, but that's just total nitpicking, and a totally minor thing for a jam game. The game was just short and sweet enough, to not overstay it's welcome.
Very on point with the theme, and even the sub-theme was nicely addressed. Would love, the light special ability to regen faster, to give variety in combat.
Yeah, overall an amazing experience ! 🫀🫀🫀
Well Jakob, thank you for playing! Also for hosting the whole jam! And last but not least, thank you for your detailed review. We have taken some notes. There will definitely be some fixes and maybe we change a few things in the future to make the overall experience even more rounded. Maybe see you on the next one!
I really enjoyed it! Although the combat could use a bit more impact, the boss fights are well-executed. Throughout my entire playthrough, I never once had to spend 20 minutes wandering around locations just to find a key, which was a nice touch.
Thank you for playing! And thanks for the praise and the critique.
It looks really cool, unfortunately it seems it doesn’t run in on Linux, even through Proton, so I won’t be able to play it or rate it :/ If you’ll consider making a Linux build please let me know!
Bro I would love to make this happen for you. Idk how but damnit I will try.
Done!
Thanks a lot, I’ll try it right now!
Sometimes the game doesn't recognize left clicks
Thank you for reporting, Stadyn. We will work on a fix asap
This has been addressed in most recent build. Thanks for your patience. I do hope you'll try it again!