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The controls seemed a bit off and fiddly, but I like the idea, theme and presentation of it. 

Thanks a lot for taking the time to write such a detailed review! I’m especially glad you enjoyed the devlogs. I mostly started them to document the jam for myself, so it’s really nice to hear that they are an interesting read for others too.

And thanks for all the kind words about the game itself. I feel like I learned quite a bit in that one week, mostly because actually finishing and shipping something is such a different experience from just building a prototype. Really glad you enjoyed it!

Fun little endless runner. It took me a moment to figure out what the game actually wanted me to trust, but once I got the hang of it I got into a pretty good flow and made it to a score of 71.

The whole safe/unsafe color idea fits the theme nicely, and the presentation works well for such a simple concept. Nice job!

Thanks for playing and rating! Glad you enjoyed it.

There’s a lot going on here for a jam game. I liked the idea of building a party around different dice and then trying to turn the results into useful combinations during combat.

I have to admit I never quite got the hang of the battles though. I gave it a few runs and kept getting wiped, so I’m pretty sure there are parts of the system I never fully understood.

Still, the party building and dice mechanics are an interesting combination, and there’s clearly quite a bit of depth to experiment with.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to play and for checking out the devlogs too! I’m really glad the board game feel came through, since that was a big part of what I was going for. And it’s nice to hear the daily devlogs were actually interesting to follow. Thanks again!

Absolutely, I’ll gladly help the cat find his balls. That’s a cause worth supporting. I’ll check it out!

Really charming game. The art looks fantastic, the music fits perfectly, and the whole idea is pretty funny.

I think I may have gotten stuck or missed something though, because I only managed to find two rooms and one suspect before I ran out of things to interact with. Still, I really liked the presentation and the premise. 

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Edit: I eventually realized you can cycle through the suspects during the interrogations just like you can switch between the rooms. That cleared up the part I was confused about, and now I’m definitely going back in to find the real culprit.

Thanks for playing and for the feedback! I agree about the difficulty. Right now most of the challenge only really starts once you try to beat your own high scores, so I’d like to push that a bit further in a future version. Glad you enjoyed it!

Played and rated yours! Rummy defeated me in the end, but I liked the concept and had fun with the rulebook shenanigans.

Here’s mine if you want to check it out:
/jam/brackeys-16/rate/4935952

Really neat concept. I liked having the rulebook as part of the game and being able to mess with the rules yourself. Tic Tac Toe worked really well for that and was fun to figure out.

Rummy was where I had to admit defeat though. I have somehow made it this far in life without ever learning how to play it, so trying to learn Rummy and keep track of changing rules at the same time was a bit much for me. Still, a clever use of the theme and fun to try out.

Thanks for the detailed feedback and for taking the time to play! It’s very useful to hear how the game reads on a first playthrough and how I could improve on its look and feel, and these are definitely some good suggestions. Glad you enjoyed it!

This was really funny. The writing worked really well for me, and I had a surprisingly good time just trying to keep my little group of idiots alive while sending them through the rooms.

At one point I noticed a warrior helmet lying next to a shelf with a pair of feet sticking out underneath it. I genuinely had to stop for a second and process what had apparently happened there.

The presentation is great too. The visuals fit the tone really well, the music is excellent, and the whole thing feels very polished.

And the unexpected ending got another good laugh out of me. Did not see that coming.

Ah, got it. I never reached the corruption/side-switching part, so I completely missed the theme connection. Thanks for explaining!

I had a good time with this one. I liked that the applicants come in a different order each run, and the whole setup of using the genie’s hints to figure out who can be trusted fits the theme nicely.

The “No One” twist completely got me on my first attempt. I did exactly what the theme told me to do, refused to trust the genie, and promptly lost. Only afterwards did I realize what his name was actually telling me. :-D

The presentation is also really cohesive. The assets, UI, music and sound effects all fit together well, and the voice acting is wonderfully silly in exactly the right way.

I played through it twice and had fun both times. Nice little and well polished jam game with a clever use of the theme.

Definitely a creative take on the theme. I liked the idea of having to question basically every instruction the game gives you, and a couple of the tricks genuinely got me.

I have to admit rage games really aren’t my thing though, and eventually the platforming got the better of me before I could finish it. Still, the whole “don’t trust the ducks” idea fits the jam theme really well and there are some fun little surprises in there.

Also, the music was really nice, and thanks to this game I now know what a tongue drum is.

Had a lot of fun with this one. Some of the cases were way more morally grey than I expected, which made the decisions genuinely interesting.

Apparently my personal judgement is very different from whatever standards the Afterlife Station is using though, because I somehow finished with 8/18 accuracy.  :-D
Some cases had me thinking “okay, technically that was wrong, but surely not eternal damnation wrong.”

Really fun concept, and definitely one that made me think more about my choices than I expected.

I had a really good time with this. The basic idea is simple, but I haven’t really seen a tower defense do it quite like this before. Shooting your own little creatures out of the cannon feels great, and I only realized afterwards, while reading the other comments, that letting them stick around makes them level up, which adds a really neat bit of risk and reward.

The art is fantastic too. Everything looks really polished, the UI is clear, and the sound fits nicely. I made it to around wave 7 before things got out of hand and one of the enemies made off with my crystal.

The only part that didn’t really land for me was the jam theme. I enjoyed the game a lot, but I never really understood where “Trust No One” came into it.

Definitely one I could see myself playing again. Great job, Bob & Bob!

Thanks a lot! Glad the building placement felt good. I’m especially happy you liked the building art, since I drew all of it by hand during one very full workday. :-)

The hand-drawn art is fantastic. I really like the contrast between the cute little lab mouse, the almost storybook-like props and environments, and all the rather nasty ways the game can kill you. It gives the whole thing a lot of personality.

The puzzles didn’t quite click with me, though. I often only understood what the game expected after I had already failed, and having to restart the whole level made that pretty frustrating. The WASD controls also felt a bit awkward, so I ended up using the hints quite a lot.

Still, the visual work is excellent, and that cute look mixed with cartoon gore is definitely memorable. 

I played through all the endings and really enjoyed the dark atmosphere throughout. The story fits the theme nicely, and the art and sound work really well together.

I did run into one small issue during the Daisy ending where both Daisy and the background were missing in one scene, but otherwise everything worked well for me.

Really nice job overall, especially for a solo jam game.

Thanks a lot! I had a lot of fun putting the different factions and building effects together, so I’m glad the whole thing worked for you. Thanks for playing!

The presentation here is fantastic. I absolutely love the art style and the mix of 2D characters with the 3D environment, and the music and sound create a really charming atmosphere. The whole sauna setting is wonderfully unusual too. I especially liked the guy who feels sorry for the firewood. :-D

Once I understood what the game wanted from me, I went back for all three endings. The “good” ending definitely caught me off guard.

I still think the game could communicate the different paths and consequences a little more clearly, since my first run left me pretty confused. But once I understood what was going on, I appreciated the idea a lot more. Very charming, original and beautifully presented.

I really like the atmosphere and the overall idea here. The main character art especially has a bit of a Don’t Starve vibe, which I absolutely love, and the whole forest setup fits the theme really well.

The game was pretty tough for me, though. The owls hit hard, the map is quite large, and it took me a little while to figure out what I was supposed to be doing. I eventually made it to the Hunter fight and apparently killed him, only to get struck by lightning immediately afterwards. I’m still not entirely sure whether that was meant to happen, because the game suddenly started spamming lightning all over the area during the fight.

The different spells are a neat idea too, although I didn’t always understand exactly what some of them were doing. Visually, the individual elements are charming, even if the overall art style feels a little mixed in places. Music and SFX fit well.

Overall, a cool and ambitious jam entry. I just wish I’d been good enough at it to see more of the endings.

Really nice puzzle game! The difficulty felt just right for the short runtime, and the UI is clean and intuitive. I got everyone out safely on my first run, then immediately replayed it just to see what happened if I lied to everyone instead. Unsurprisingly, that ended with me trapped. :-D

I really like the twist on the theme too. Being dishonest can directly sabotage your own chances of escaping, which is a neat interpretation of “Trust No One”. The core mechanic is simple, but I could easily see it supporting more levels and increasingly complicated situations.

Really impressive game! The combat itself feels good, the classes are nicely distinct, and the whole trust and betrayal system is a great fit for the theme. My cleric apparently decided she liked the enemy team better during the second fight and started healing them and attacking my mage instead, which got a laugh out of me. :-D

The presentation is fantastic too. The character art, UI and overall polish are way beyond what I’d normally expect from a jam game.

My main issue is the length of the fights. Everyone feels like they have a bit too much HP, so battles tend to drag on longer than they need to. Cutting that down by maybe 20-30% would probably make the pacing feel much better without losing the tactical side. I also wasn’t completely sure I understood all the finer details of the trust system, but the core idea works really well.

Very impressive overall.

This is probably the most polished jam game I’ve played so far. The art, animation and overall presentation are absolutely outstanding, and the whole thing feels far beyond what I’d normally expect from a game jam entry.

The deduction gameplay is fantastic too. Figuring out who is lying, who is telling the truth and how the different clues fit together was easily the strongest part for me, and I ended up playing all the way through.

The Wizboy minigames are a fun little diversion, but the interrogation system didn’t quite click with me as much as the deduction itself. Since there’s no penalty for trying different spells, you can simply keep using them until the interrogation bar is full. Some kind of limitation or trade-off could make that part more interesting.

Still, this is an incredibly impressive game. The humor works, the presentation is fantastic and the core mystery-solving gameplay is excellent

Fantastic game! The core idea is simple, immediately understandable and works really well. I especially like that the tells aren’t always identical, so you still have to pay attention instead of just memorizing one feature per monster.

The presentation is absolutely outstanding. 

The art style is gorgeous and incredibly cohesive, and everything from the character designs and animations to the UI, music and sound fits together beautifully. This is easily one of the best-looking jam games I’ve played so far, and the atmosphere completely sold me on it.

I made it through all six rounds with one life left, then immediately made the wrong call in the bonus round and died. Finished with 2850 points. Is that any good? I’m definitely going in for another run.

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Edit after a second run: I made it to round 20 and nearly 10,000 points before stopping. Once I knew all the tells, it started to get a bit too easy and repetitive, so a few more variations or some increasing difficulty over time could add even more longevity. Still a fantastic game overall!

Really enjoyed this one! The core idea is simple but very satisfying, and I can definitely see it becoming pretty addictive. The visuals and UI are excellent, and having a proper little tutorial in a jam game is fantastic. A back button there would be handy, though. I also leaned very heavily on Reflect cards in my winning run, so those might be worth keeping an eye on balance-wise. My biggest wish would be some audio, since good sound effects would add a lot to the impact and atmosphere of the card plays. Overall, a very polished and fun game!

Thanks a lot! The influence a building grants is actually the same as its base point value before the favor bonus, so that information is available before placing it, but I could probably communicate that more directly in the UI. 

Your point about only having two turns to correct the balance is interesting too. Certainly worth considering. I’m really glad you liked the art and the different faction identities! 

I haven’t decided yet whether I’ll continue working on it, but I do have a few ideas for expanding it beyond the jam version. 

Thanks a lot! I’m glad the core idea came across well. I definitely have a few ideas for how it could be expanded beyond the jam version, so it’s really nice to hear that you can see the potential there too.

Really polished game! The art, music and overall presentation are fantastic, and I really liked the randomized murder mystery setup. 

One thing I would have loved is for some of the witnesses to lie or give misleading information, just to make the deduction a little trickier. 

Also, I was mildly disappointed that the whoopee cushion didn’t end up being the murder weapon in my case. I have a morbid curiosity about how that one would work. :-D

This is the third "wolf hiding among sheep" game I’ve played in this jam, and it’s been really fun seeing how differently people approach the same idea. The visuals and sound here are fantastic, and the whole thing feels very polished. I loooove the art style!

My work laptop was already struggling with the sheer number of fluffy sheep in the Gates level, though. :-D 
I’m definitely not brave enough to try the Stress Test level on this machine. Really fun game overall!

I like the dungeon setting and the idea of using cards for the encounters, and the pixel art looks great too. I did struggle to understand how the card play actually works, though. I managed to play my cards onto an enemy's cards, but once their cards were revealed I wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to do next. There’s definitely a good idea here, and I’d be curious to see it developed further.

This was excellent! I really liked the idea of taking something that feels almost like an old parser-based text adventure and turning it into a rover mining game instead. Typing commands to explore and collect minerals works surprisingly well, and the whole thing feels incredibly polished for a jam entry. The sound design in particular is fantastic, and the visuals fit the terminal setup perfectly. Had a great time with this one!

Thanks for the thoughtful feedback! You're not the first person to point out that the influence system could use a bit more pressure, so that's definitely something I'd revisit. The decisions were meant to feel more tense than they currently do. Glad you liked the idea!

Really solid little dice poker game! Simple, clean and fun, and the bluffing is a nice fit for the theme. Managed to win my run too! Abe didn't seem too pleased :-D

Really nice little puzzle game! Such a simple idea, but very cleanly executed and surprisingly challenging. The answer button definitely saved me on at least five of the puzzles, and I didn't manage to crack the Dark One's name. Everything else felt really polished and I had a great time with it!

Really solid little tower defense game! The controls feel good, the presentation is polished, and managing the moody minions gives the simple TD formula a fun little spin. Made it through to the end and had a good time throughout. Nice music as well!

I was a bit confused about what was happening here and I assume I ran into a bug. For some reason I got a "You win" screen shortly after this.

The visuals are really charming though, and I especially like the color palette and character art. With a bit more polish this could turn into a really nice little stealth game.