This is really fun - A very fun psychological horror visual novel turn-based teen drama!
I love the silly little easter eggs, and I always have a soft spot for odd pixelart. Easy to get into, sweet, well implemented replay value. And I have developed an emotional attachement to the Frogs. They deserve a raise.
We've been playing for a while now, trying to figure out the little details, and I love how the little snippets of story are presented. I'd love to know more - Like why are only Nadine and Mary having Rooms? What is with the red room and the doorman? (If anything, I would like more possible conversations with characters, and more variety)
There is potentially a bug when fighting the Deer Man? - Despite Dying, he died at the same turn due to the holy handgranade, and we proceeded on to the third area (guaranteed death still).
While I prefer finished experiences, I think this game has great opportunity for community content, occasional updates, spin-offs and the like. But maybe moreso for a jumping board for another game from the creator~ I'll definitely follow and be curious as to what else they'll make! Thank you so much, we had lots of fun playing!
I made sure to reference and link this game on several reedits on game mechanics and rpg design...
In my post i compared how modern horror games with advanced graphics all reach a point where they start looking like each other (The more realistic the graphics the less variety you can put in, after all, its designed to look REAL)
This was the horror game i referenced when stating that while big budget games can sometimes only hold interest if somebody actually paid a 50$ pricetag and quieting would lose that investment.
However games like this, virtually free, with no advertising or sunk cost, and under 200mb, I will gladly spend 2 - 3 straight days playing...
im kinda worried when i download this everything is ok but then when i try to launch it it say that this software might change something in your computer (I think it said that im kinda bad translator :^* ) so if someone could say me something about this then i would be happy because i could like play this cuz this looks GOOOD :D
I didn't play the game, but if it has a save maybe that's the reason. To save the game, the game has to create a file, that's why it says it would change something in the computer
Playing this was such a fun experience. I loved the well crafted atmosphere and art style, and now I'm definitely looking forward to the next update and full release!
amazing game. An incredible game. There's so much too it, and even though it have got to 100% (and died) there is still is much left to discover. I feel like I know nothing, and I love it
Fantastic game, unsettling and perfect level of difficulty. I started playing with the newer art style and LOVED it, maybe if you could add a toggle for the art styles that'd be cool!!
Thank you for your kind words! I can't spoil too much but that style was originally intended for something different, so it will be in the game in one way or another
Honestly an awesome idea would be if you kept your distance unlocks with Luna so you could talk to act 1 enemies before the first boss and get unique lore and interactions! I tried it and was disappointed to see my memory had reverted ;(
Can't spoil anything, but the acquired actions will probably work like this in the future: once unlocked, they won't be forgotten if you return to a previous area
I saw it at the beginning of the year looking for horror games and I was fascinated by everything, the atmosphere, the designs, how it breaks the fourth wall and the mysteries that await. I excitedly open each email that notifies me when the game is updated, I can't wait to see how it progresses!!
After unlocking Root and Luna and reaching the two 100% progress final bosses, I can say that I enjoyed the different tactics of later bosses which made them distinct from each other.
Here are some ideas:
Pray To The Goddess: It's OP with Rosary since you can spam it every turn if not Cursed and only take 1 dmg from every attack. Only Poison, Bleed, and multi-hit counter it.
So maybe on higher difficulties, you can only Pray 3 times per battle and have to pay 10 Lunar Fragments for every subsequent Pray?
Challenge character:
Starts with 6 temporary hearts.
Starts with Knife
Starts with Gun.
Starts with Second-hand Smoke boon.
All max hp gains/healing items/rest events grant temporary hearts instead (cap of 6 gained from percentage healing).
Two deals with Living Guts basically allow you to easily kill final bosses. Maybe reduce its effect to 1/4?
Doomed/Despair status effect: Increased by 1 by certain enemy attacks, such as charged attacks, and lowered via Pray/defeating a boss/certain events/items. If the counter hits 13 (carries over between battles), explodes and take damage equal to 1/3 max hp.
All bosses so far spend a turn to heal but what if later on, they had a life drain attack (dmg-based healing)?
A boss whose Charged attack immediately resolves all your poison stacks dmg at once, punishing you for ignoring and not curing it.
It's little tricks like this that are hard to set up with randomized encounters that make a run thankfully easier and make up for runs that are stacked against you from the start.
Once in a while it's refreshing to kick ass.
I dont think the game needs to be any harder per see.
It's already pretty close in terms of learning curve to fear and hunger.
Don't know if this is the right place to say, but I think the concept of switching weapons every time you get a new one is really irritating and unfun. Sure, it makes the game slightly more strategic, but mainly it just takes the enjoyment out of getting stronger and progressing. I really wish they were upgrades instead of complete weapon changes or you could switch weapons in the item bag
As you said, I believe this mechanic offers more strategic depth:
-the bonuses (attack and accuracy) you get for weapons are permanent and stay even if you change weapons
-having to switch weapons creates a perfect risk/reward situation: is it worth getting a new effect or higher attack in exchange for losing some accuracy or maybe an interesting effect?
That said, I find the idea of weapon switching interesting, and I'm sorry you found it frustrating. Thank you for your feedback!
I got this game on Steam! :) Saw Markiplier play but wasn't too enthused about the gameplay (I did watch the entire video), then got the demo for myself and it's much more fun playing it on my own. I have lost sleep over this game 😅so it definitely has lots of replayability and intrigue to make me go back for more.
The biggest complaint I have is the moon showing you the list of options every single run, even if you've already bought everything and are lunar shard capped. I am not sure if there will be more items added soon; regardless, I think I would prefer the moon store to be less intrusive (if that's the right word) by putting it as a separate option in the title menu, like the dream diary is (after the first or couple times the moon shows itself to you). Or, as something you can choose to select while you're choosing characters (so like a small icon you can arrow key move to or have a note that says "press m" to spend lunar shards or something.
The reason for this suggestion is that the dialogue repetition gets stale and there are a lot of screens to tap z for, which takes time. The frequency of screen changes in this game doesn't affect my visual sensitivity bad enough, but minimizing them when unnecessary would be very helpful.
Other than that I like that the game forces you to manage your resources efficiently because of the random outcomes. I'm familiar with roguelites enough to know that poor outcomes are not solely because of rng, even if a series of nothing events can get frustrating 😅I am curious and eager to learn more about the lore (rhyme!); definitely lots of open mysteries surrounding... well, everything, but especially Noire.
Thank you for your feedback! Right now, the moon shows the upgrades even after they've all been purchased to remind the player of the additions they've unlocked. I thought it would be strange to never show the list again. Additionally, an option to enable/disable upgrades will likely be added. I understand that right now it’s a bit annoying to go through that screen at the start of every new run
I played through both V0.4 and now V0.5. I really enjoyed am excited play though each new major update to be released. I've wishlisted the game on Steam and am looking forward to what all comes next! With that said, I want to leave some feedback that may or may not be helpful with development.
- This is a little dated at this point, given the change you made a few days ago, but I agree that the previous art style is probably better, though still like the other sprites as well.
-Root was my favorite character to play as in V0.4, as her unique playstyle felt really engaging to me. In V0.5, she was more frustrating to play as than anything. Even in 0 faith mode, my fight against Melody was still down to the wire, and I had even saved up a crucifix and two medkits for it! Maybe that's a skill issue, as I didn't have the grenade or either revival from the frog shop, which would have made things easier, but it was still pretty frustrating I couldn't get a good-enough run with normal difficulty settings. I usually had at least two mutations in each weapon category (accuracy, damage, ammo) and plenty more health, so I really don't know what I could have done differently. Unlike with Luna, Root's effective three-in-a-row boss fights after 60 percent felt hard to stretch my items through.
-My experience with Luna, contrary to my experience with Root, was really easy. Like. Really easy. My strategy was to get damage upgrades to melee damage (red room translator, goddess blessing anvil, etc.) whenever possible, accuracy be damned, and just get the first area's frog shop item where a missed melee attack is followed by another at 80 accuracy. Even without that, though, Luna was pretty hard to lose with for me, especially because I never had to worry about fleeing or ammo and could plan my item collection accordingly (no need for cigarettes or ammo). I don't really understand the razor blade from a gameplay perspective, though, as I never felt like I was moving too fast through a run, so I felt no need to kill myself to go back; If anything, it felt like it didn't move on from at least the first area fast enough.
-Noire felt pretty balanced, with the only regular challenge I had being damage output in the late game, but even that was easy enough to overcome with a little luck.
-The shops felt pretty balanced, and I actually found myself going to the long-gilled fish's shop a few times in V0.5, unlike in V0.4.
-The woman with snake eyes was an annoying fight, especially when it was one of my first few encounters of a game. I like the randomness of it, as with Noire from another timeline, but for the woman with snake eyes, snake scales aren't a very useful item, you can't get a mutation off killing her as Root, and I always seemed to come out of the fight with more hearts lost than with most other encounters.
-Some playstyles and strategies were really unique and fun, like going for second-hand smoke blessings and getting a ton of cigarettes, and I wish I could make those sorts of things even more viable.
-I'm not sure how to feel about the golden bullet change in V0.5. It definitely feels different than it did inV0.4, but it didn't seem to help me with my Root runs, nor was it a game-changer with Noire or Luna.
-I found it very awkward and difficult to get item-specific encounter interactions to occur, like the hunter's knife with the hanged man or dagger 48 with the red mirror. I even did runs specifically to get them, but I couldn't get it after a fair few tries. They're definitely possible, but I never encountered any of them, let alone in my actual runs, and I wish I had.
-I also never figured out what the predator and prey blessing did. Maybe I just got unlucky, but I never encountered their effects after choosing that blessing in any of my playthroughs.
-I bought all the lunar fragment purchasables and then maxed out my lunar fragment counter pretty quickly -- way before I beat the game. I'm not sure what a sustainable way to spend them would look like, but at least it would keep me from having 99 of them forever.
-The game window was a bit buggy at times, turning into a borderless window when I got a notification to my desktop in fullscreen mode more than once.
Really enjoying the game so far! Best of luck with development!
Thank you for your detailed feedback. Here are some answers:
Luna is meant to be op. As for Root, I don't want to buff her too much because she already seems too op for some players. Her route is intended to be a very challenging experience
Snake Scales is a much stronger item than it might seem, you just need to know how to use it. However, I understand that the unique mechanic of Snake Eyes can be frustrating the first time you encounter her
The interactions that require items (like the hunter knife and dagger48) are something I've been working on for a while, but it requires much more time than this small update
The way lunar fragments are spent will be managed differently in the final game ofc
Personally I think Root is too powerful... My two cents on the subject: To me it sounds like you aren't putting enough into damage and accuracy mutations... Ammo is not at all helpful unless you feel like you're strong enough already or you use the translator (you can get plenty of ammo refills from Trish, the fish, and the reload upgrade)... And you do need a lot of health upgrades (mutation or not)... But it's mainly important as a thing to spend on damage/accuracy... You don't need to have a high max health (more than 6) if you're beating every enemy by the second turn at most (first boss should take three turns)... Golden bullets are great when you're dealing 7+ base damage (and then add gunpowder into the mix for good measure)... Getting a lot of combats is important... But you can't exactly force that... So instead you can be mindful of which enemies you can beat on the first turn and focus on them... And also enemies you can beat on the second turn because those are a good backup... Though early on you want to visit Trish a couple of times for ammo... Meadow's gimmick is technically meant to counter Root's damage output... But she (like every boss) gets countered easily by her if you have an obscene damage output and just win on the first turn with a few golden bullets (she really should start the combat with mosquitos)... Alternatively you want to get things that allow you to attack more than once per turn... Like floss/fossil/second hand smoke... Cult's robe effectively allows you to skip Deer headed man (or the previous boss but there are other ways to skip that one like cigarettes or snake scales)... And Crucifix is a great way to recover between the many bosses... Obviously not everything I said is strictly required for victory... I'm just throwing all the ideas I could think of...
TL;DR: Ammo mutation bad... Pump a ton into the other mutations... Stash some ammo early... Try to keep track of enemy max health... And get things that allow you to attack more than once per turn... (And get strong items/upgrades in between as you normally would...)
Side note: Root's gun does work with snake eyes... You can reduce her health to 0... It doesn't matter that she heals after you've already done that...
That all makes sense. I think I was trying to be too balanced by going for health upgrades too many times and got burned by not saving up enough ammo a few times which I overcorrected into getting an ammo mutation or two every run. I'd probably be better off just embracing the glass cannon playstyle and going for one-shots more. Basically, skill issue on my part.
I'm still not sure how snake scales work, but I guess I'll figure it out for myself in the next demo version!
I played the the 0.5 and the visual changes are okay. But I personally prefer the old one. Also, it would be better if new damage indicator (hearts blinking) can be turned off in settings. Its amazing to see the creator actually hearing players suggestions. This game is one of my favourites all-time.
You see this one typing detailed answers with bullet points, like it's their job to keep us happy or something, when we have already received something cool for free.
This is the true wonder of sites like ITch with free distribution.
I feel like the majority of people do not review, or even rate, titles, but it's always important to leave a "Hey, this is cool , and this worked out well" sortof a message.
Surely we can all understand how somebody getting only " suggestions", however well meaning, can be a bit draining. Ironically, this can be doubly true when the suggestions have a true and valid point.
I feel no soft shows remarkable grace, as the commentators show equal restraint (or vice versa?), in hearing out these "suggest-icisms", without bending their creative vision.
On the flip side, no other game or studio has creators actively listening and responding to fans.
When i made a comment about the lighter mechanic and got a response that was the first time I felt my input was directly heard on a project.
That was a founding moment for me in regards to this site, as somebody who stays away from all social media, memes, and podcasts....
Hate to be negative but I'm not really a fan of most of the changes in 0.5. The gameplay changes feel less like rebalancing and more like reinvention. Stuff like the golden bullet doing variable damage makes it very op on ranged builds and the crawling fossil attack costing fragments makes it feel kinda worthless (though I do like the change of its heal being guaranteed in exchange for costing fragments, feels more thematic and adds more strategy)
The thing I have the most opinions on is the art change. I tried hard to keep an open mind but I dramatically prefer the old style, even if it could be more difficult to make out details sometimes. The new designs don't feel like they fit together like the old art did. Something is taken out of the atmosphere by giving everyone full faces (and very similar ones at that). Most portraits I saw (particularly the humanesq ones) felt over detailed compared to what's around them. Combine that with issues in anatomy and it'd just really hard to take any of it seriously. It feels wrong, but not in the uncanny dreamlike way it used to. Just not as effective. I also definitely prefer the smaller battle FOV for the claustrophobia and attention drawn to the enemies, who feel right up in your face.
The old art direction and style is so good and honestly feels to me like lightning in a bottle. I'm really going to miss it if the new style is used going forward. Sorry again for the overly negative comment, I really do like the game
Thank you for your feedback. The graphics were reverted to the previous style. As for the balance changes, while of course not everything is 100% balanced, I think that the game now offers a lot more different strategies to win a run (fish shop is more viable, guns are stronger, must-have frog items are now optional), whereas previously there was only one strategy that practically guaranteed victory. The fossil was way too strong in the old version and guaranteed a 100% advantage over not having it in your party
Yeah, having had more time to digest I think I agree. It's easy to forget this games development still has a ways to go and fine tuning difficulty can wait until after making sure different tools and methods are usable in the first place. Not to mention theres still a whole nother act waiting to shake up the meta later
I appreciate the switch back to the old art. That said, I'm sorry the attempt at improving it didn't work out, that must be frustrating
Wow, another example of an open dialogue between a fan who cared enough to not only make their feelings heard, but put in the care to sound tactful and respectful. It's a real delight to read through and a real course on "Active development" and "Consumer Feedback" as only software development updates can embody it.
It makes one wonder how much rude and hateful comments are merely people venting because with most other games and products "They know nobody is listening".
Off topic, but it reminds me of the irony of the Mcdonalds Company President. You would think he would eat it every day if he devoted his life to the company, however you know most likely he never set foot into one as a customer with his salary. Or like how the walmart president likely doesn't own a thing from walmart ...
The creator is a person who takes his game seriously and you know nobody has spent more hours playing it than him.
I read your comment on steam about the new design meaning to add distinctive features but I must say that I find everyone looks much more similar now. The eyes are uncanny in the wrong way. Like not creepy but just unaesthetic (I'm sorry to say this😔)
PLEASE switch back to the old design, I genuinely think that the new design, while only having good intentions in mind, is doing the opposites of what you were hoping for (as an artist myself I know how frustrating that feels)
- It looks unprofessional and incoherent
- it's actually harder to tell people apart I find
- the anatomy is OFF (especially with Nadine and Rugs)
- the colours seem less vibrant and enticing (exterminating angel, and everyone's skin tone looks really bad)
- I especially loved te Crimson Dancers being faceless but I prefer that for the whole game.
- I also suggest going back to the square background it looked much better, I find.
Lastly I really appreciate that you communicate with the fan base and I hope you are taking our suggestions to heart because the game is really awesome and I loved the vibe and atmosphere but now it just feels like it lost some of its charm (which would be a real pity for such a great game)
This game DEMO was an amazing experience to go through!
SPOILERS AHEAD*
i originally completed the game in its entirety in V0.4 and came back to play around a bit with the new character designs and gameplay changes in V0.5 and I've got to say i love the new tweaks and add ons.
The atmosphere in this game is really like no other that I've played, from the small bits of lore, secrets and horror aspects its a really good mixture for what most gamers might find thrilling and fun.
Reading some of the comments on the new designs of the characters made me want to add on to it, as much as i like the old designs, i definitely noticed more attention to detail for most of the characters in the new version, i love most of the new enemy designs, but as others said with most of the main characters now having a face, some of the uncanny/creepy feeling of encountering enemies have been impacted, furthermore i personally found that some of the faces or some general features of the characters feel a little to similar and may look the same.
with this said, if i could recommend something, either the developer could adjust the facial features of each character and change some of the poses of them to somehow differentiate them or make them seem more uncanny would be a plus, but also could add on to the whole "loss of memory" story, An idea for this is to keep the characters faces removed in the first part of the game to add back the uncanny/creepy feeling, and when the character moves on to the next area they will then have their corrupted forms/design (as of the ones currently implemented), furthermore when you progress into the game and find each of the characters memories you can now see their faces in those recollections within the dream diary. (A little add on to this could be when Noire first starts in the new area she can have a bit of dialogue questioning why she cannot remember who these people are when they dont have a face), this is just a personal idea and i understand if this may not follow along with what the developer might have planned for the story or game, which is 100% okay.
Other then that this game is a 10/10 for me and i will definitely be on the look-out for when this game fully releases, for the dev i want to say thanks for creating this experience of a demo and i hope you keep adding onto this cool project, but please don't forget to take your time :)
Just created an account to say that it would be really cool if there was an option to switch back to the old graphics. Don't get me wrong, I like new graphics but sometimes I miss the old ones
My point exactly. The new graphics were entirely removed. I like the old and new for different reasons and wish there were a switch. They just have different feels to them, and I'd like to experience them both
There have been many complaints about the new graphical style, and I haven't made a decision on it yet. While a toggle for the current version is definitely possible, it would likely be almost impossible to implement for all the assets in the final game, because the graphical change is also meant to allow for greater variety in the design of future enemies and characters
Was an absolute joy to play through the demo and unlock everything. I haven't had time to play the new update yet but I'm excited to. It's really fun, the story and its hints and mysteries have me hooked. The art direction is incredible and tho I really liked the old enemy portraits, I'm open to seeing what the new ones offer. Can't wait to see what comes next
In terms of accessibility, I'd like to humbly request screen reader support. It's already a pretty forgiving game for visual impairment (turn based, simple UI, primarily text based, high contrast graphics), I was able to get by with just magnification software, but expanding that so it can be played by the blind and more severely visually impaired would add it to a library without many other games. And, more selfishly, would ensure I could keep playing as my vision gets worse.
Is there a wiki or trello where i can see info like how many characters and how to get the last endings or do i have to search youtube? Also fantastic game
I've played over 5 hours of the game, it's extremely fun and I'm looking forward to the full release.
I figured that the corrupted dialogue can be decoded I think this was a wonderful addition love the extra hidden lore.
I did have a question regarding an item called "Rosary" that can be obtained from the frog liar in the item description it states "In the turn you pray to the goddess, deal damage to the enemy equal to the melee weapon's damage and its accuracy." and personally kind of sounds misleading at first I thought it meant that you would combine the damage with both melee damage + accuracy but instead maybe the text could be something along the lines of "Retains the stats of your melee weapon" it's not a big deal just kind of confusing first time reading it.
Is there a planned or expected release date time frame?
Thank you for your feedback on the Rosary text, I will make it clearer. The release date is planned for the end of the year, but I'm not 100% sure if I might need some extra time
The base chance to escape from the son in the second area is 25 now? That's a weird change... I remember it being 35 last version... Now it's kinda annoying...
I dont often play itch games, but I didn't expect to find such a good and unique product. I love the game, the recent update that added small QoL improvements made me return to the game after not playing for a while and I "beat" it. the game is extremely fun and I will give my money happily once the full release is out. the game might have some balancing issues, like if you know what you're doing you can become extremely op, especially with the third character, but I love the details in the game. It's extremely fun and I cannot wait to see how the story will be handled in the full release. I figured that there is hidden lore in the game and the corrupted dialogue is probably decodable but Im too lazy to figure it out. I can't praise it enough. One issue I've had... it's too easy. there is a system that can lower the difficulty of a run and you should also be able to raise the difficulty and get more lunar shards in return or something. also, it is funny how the lunar shard counter stops updating after 99. although it would be neat to be able to see how much I have even though I have no use for them anymore... perhaps also add a system where you can procure upgrades that are only for the next one or few runs. probably not tho. anyway. love the game, can't wait for the full release, make the game have a harder mode, thx.
I made an account to post a comment on this, genuinely amazing game. I completed a full run where I was able to take out THE MAN WITH NO SKIN. Will most definitely do another run through with the unlocked character I got. 100% worth buying when it comes out as a full release.
I don't want to critizise or anything, but the new faces the way how they look now seems like a little bit odd, In my humble opinion I think that the character models before was better (referring before the Ver 0.5).
(Btw I really love this game and I've completed it to 100%, its an amazing piece of art)
Ive been playing this game for a total of 5 hours today. pls help ;-;
this atmosphere is something i havent felt before, like the combo the the realistic, desaturated pixelated backgrounds behind the vibrant cartoonish (using that word pretty lightly lol) characters with their own unique horror designs really makes this game into something special, this shit is fucking gas
also the frogs are my favorite, if the game ever gets big enough to do merch please let us buy the frogs :3
also also the little lore drops after each encounter with the no skin man is really rewarding
I've had SO much fun playing! the demo is already pretty big, can't imagine how big of a project the final game will be. looking forward to hearing more :)
← Return to game
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
This is really fun - A very fun psychological horror visual novel turn-based teen drama!
I love the silly little easter eggs, and I always have a soft spot for odd pixelart. Easy to get into, sweet, well implemented replay value. And I have developed an emotional attachement to the Frogs. They deserve a raise.
We've been playing for a while now, trying to figure out the little details, and I love how the little snippets of story are presented. I'd love to know more - Like why are only Nadine and Mary having Rooms? What is with the red room and the doorman? (If anything, I would like more possible conversations with characters, and more variety)
There is potentially a bug when fighting the Deer Man? - Despite Dying, he died at the same turn due to the holy handgranade, and we proceeded on to the third area (guaranteed death still).
While I prefer finished experiences, I think this game has great opportunity for community content, occasional updates, spin-offs and the like. But maybe moreso for a jumping board for another game from the creator~ I'll definitely follow and be curious as to what else they'll make! Thank you so much, we had lots of fun playing!
I made sure to reference and link this game on several reedits on game mechanics and rpg design...
In my post i compared how modern horror games with advanced graphics all reach a point where they start looking like each other (The more realistic the graphics the less variety you can put in, after all, its designed to look REAL)
This was the horror game i referenced when stating that while big budget games can sometimes only hold interest if somebody actually paid a 50$ pricetag and quieting would lose that investment.
However games like this, virtually free, with no advertising or sunk cost, and under 200mb, I will gladly spend 2 - 3 straight days playing...
Even when in early, or alpha release...
Ill do my part to spread the word.
Again, Thank you.
Thank you for your support <3
im kinda worried when i download this everything is ok but then when i try to launch it it say that this software might change something in your computer (I think it said that im kinda bad translator :^* ) so if someone could say me something about this then i would be happy because i could like play this cuz this looks GOOOD :D
I didn't play the game, but if it has a save maybe that's the reason. To save the game, the game has to create a file, that's why it says it would change something in the computer
that makes sense thx
continuation? hmm? maybe? when? lol i cant wait
Playing this was such a fun experience. I loved the well crafted atmosphere and art style, and now I'm definitely looking forward to the next update and full release!
amazing game. An incredible game. There's so much too it, and even though it have got to 100% (and died) there is still is much left to discover. I feel like I know nothing, and I love it
Thank you for your feedback <3
Fantastic game, unsettling and perfect level of difficulty. I started playing with the newer art style and LOVED it, maybe if you could add a toggle for the art styles that'd be cool!!
Thank you for your kind words! I can't spoil too much but that style was originally intended for something different, so it will be in the game in one way or another
01110000 01100101 01110010 01100011 011 = perc(?)
Honestly an awesome idea would be if you kept your distance unlocks with Luna so you could talk to act 1 enemies before the first boss and get unique lore and interactions! I tried it and was disappointed to see my memory had reverted ;(
Can't spoil anything, but the acquired actions will probably work like this in the future: once unlocked, they won't be forgotten if you return to a previous area
I saw it at the beginning of the year looking for horror games and I was fascinated by everything, the atmosphere, the designs, how it breaks the fourth wall and the mysteries that await. I excitedly open each email that notifies me when the game is updated, I can't wait to see how it progresses!!
After unlocking Root and Luna and reaching the two 100% progress final bosses, I can say that I enjoyed the different tactics of later bosses which made them distinct from each other.
Here are some ideas:
Pray To The Goddess: It's OP with Rosary since you can spam it every turn if not Cursed and only take 1 dmg from every attack. Only Poison, Bleed, and multi-hit counter it.
So maybe on higher difficulties, you can only Pray 3 times per battle and have to pay 10 Lunar Fragments for every subsequent Pray?
Challenge character:
Two deals with Living Guts basically allow you to easily kill final bosses. Maybe reduce its effect to 1/4?
Doomed/Despair status effect: Increased by 1 by certain enemy attacks, such as charged attacks, and lowered via Pray/defeating a boss/certain events/items. If the counter hits 13 (carries over between battles), explodes and take damage equal to 1/3 max hp.
All bosses so far spend a turn to heal but what if later on, they had a life drain attack (dmg-based healing)?
A boss whose Charged attack immediately resolves all your poison stacks dmg at once, punishing you for ignoring and not curing it.
Thank you for your feedback and all your suggestions!
It's little tricks like this that are hard to set up with randomized encounters that make a run thankfully easier and make up for runs that are stacked against you from the start.
Once in a while it's refreshing to kick ass.
I dont think the game needs to be any harder per see.
It's already pretty close in terms of learning curve to fear and hunger.
Don't know if this is the right place to say, but I think the concept of switching weapons every time you get a new one is really irritating and unfun. Sure, it makes the game slightly more strategic, but mainly it just takes the enjoyment out of getting stronger and progressing. I really wish they were upgrades instead of complete weapon changes or you could switch weapons in the item bag
As you said, I believe this mechanic offers more strategic depth:
-the bonuses (attack and accuracy) you get for weapons are permanent and stay even if you change weapons
-having to switch weapons creates a perfect risk/reward situation: is it worth getting a new effect or higher attack in exchange for losing some accuracy or maybe an interesting effect?
That said, I find the idea of weapon switching interesting, and I'm sorry you found it frustrating. Thank you for your feedback!
i got 4 random events in a row i just wanted ammo
HAHAHAHAHA
I got this game on Steam! :) Saw Markiplier play but wasn't too enthused about the gameplay (I did watch the entire video), then got the demo for myself and it's much more fun playing it on my own. I have lost sleep over this game 😅so it definitely has lots of replayability and intrigue to make me go back for more.
The biggest complaint I have is the moon showing you the list of options every single run, even if you've already bought everything and are lunar shard capped. I am not sure if there will be more items added soon; regardless, I think I would prefer the moon store to be less intrusive (if that's the right word) by putting it as a separate option in the title menu, like the dream diary is (after the first or couple times the moon shows itself to you). Or, as something you can choose to select while you're choosing characters (so like a small icon you can arrow key move to or have a note that says "press m" to spend lunar shards or something.
The reason for this suggestion is that the dialogue repetition gets stale and there are a lot of screens to tap z for, which takes time. The frequency of screen changes in this game doesn't affect my visual sensitivity bad enough, but minimizing them when unnecessary would be very helpful.
Other than that I like that the game forces you to manage your resources efficiently because of the random outcomes. I'm familiar with roguelites enough to know that poor outcomes are not solely because of rng, even if a series of nothing events can get frustrating 😅I am curious and eager to learn more about the lore (rhyme!); definitely lots of open mysteries surrounding... well, everything, but especially Noire.
Hope you've been giving yourself enough rest!
Thank you for your feedback! Right now, the moon shows the upgrades even after they've all been purchased to remind the player of the additions they've unlocked. I thought it would be strange to never show the list again. Additionally, an option to enable/disable upgrades will likely be added. I understand that right now it’s a bit annoying to go through that screen at the start of every new run
when is the next update like a rough estimate
I played through both V0.4 and now V0.5. I really enjoyed am excited play though each new major update to be released. I've wishlisted the game on Steam and am looking forward to what all comes next! With that said, I want to leave some feedback that may or may not be helpful with development.
- This is a little dated at this point, given the change you made a few days ago, but I agree that the previous art style is probably better, though still like the other sprites as well.
-Root was my favorite character to play as in V0.4, as her unique playstyle felt really engaging to me. In V0.5, she was more frustrating to play as than anything. Even in 0 faith mode, my fight against Melody was still down to the wire, and I had even saved up a crucifix and two medkits for it! Maybe that's a skill issue, as I didn't have the grenade or either revival from the frog shop, which would have made things easier, but it was still pretty frustrating I couldn't get a good-enough run with normal difficulty settings. I usually had at least two mutations in each weapon category (accuracy, damage, ammo) and plenty more health, so I really don't know what I could have done differently. Unlike with Luna, Root's effective three-in-a-row boss fights after 60 percent felt hard to stretch my items through.
-My experience with Luna, contrary to my experience with Root, was really easy. Like. Really easy. My strategy was to get damage upgrades to melee damage (red room translator, goddess blessing anvil, etc.) whenever possible, accuracy be damned, and just get the first area's frog shop item where a missed melee attack is followed by another at 80 accuracy. Even without that, though, Luna was pretty hard to lose with for me, especially because I never had to worry about fleeing or ammo and could plan my item collection accordingly (no need for cigarettes or ammo). I don't really understand the razor blade from a gameplay perspective, though, as I never felt like I was moving too fast through a run, so I felt no need to kill myself to go back; If anything, it felt like it didn't move on from at least the first area fast enough.
-Noire felt pretty balanced, with the only regular challenge I had being damage output in the late game, but even that was easy enough to overcome with a little luck.
-The shops felt pretty balanced, and I actually found myself going to the long-gilled fish's shop a few times in V0.5, unlike in V0.4.
-The woman with snake eyes was an annoying fight, especially when it was one of my first few encounters of a game. I like the randomness of it, as with Noire from another timeline, but for the woman with snake eyes, snake scales aren't a very useful item, you can't get a mutation off killing her as Root, and I always seemed to come out of the fight with more hearts lost than with most other encounters.
-Some playstyles and strategies were really unique and fun, like going for second-hand smoke blessings and getting a ton of cigarettes, and I wish I could make those sorts of things even more viable.
-I'm not sure how to feel about the golden bullet change in V0.5. It definitely feels different than it did inV0.4, but it didn't seem to help me with my Root runs, nor was it a game-changer with Noire or Luna.
-I found it very awkward and difficult to get item-specific encounter interactions to occur, like the hunter's knife with the hanged man or dagger 48 with the red mirror. I even did runs specifically to get them, but I couldn't get it after a fair few tries. They're definitely possible, but I never encountered any of them, let alone in my actual runs, and I wish I had.
-I also never figured out what the predator and prey blessing did. Maybe I just got unlucky, but I never encountered their effects after choosing that blessing in any of my playthroughs.
-I bought all the lunar fragment purchasables and then maxed out my lunar fragment counter pretty quickly -- way before I beat the game. I'm not sure what a sustainable way to spend them would look like, but at least it would keep me from having 99 of them forever.
-The game window was a bit buggy at times, turning into a borderless window when I got a notification to my desktop in fullscreen mode more than once.
Really enjoying the game so far! Best of luck with development!
Thank you for your detailed feedback. Here are some answers:
Personally I think Root is too powerful... My two cents on the subject: To me it sounds like you aren't putting enough into damage and accuracy mutations... Ammo is not at all helpful unless you feel like you're strong enough already or you use the translator (you can get plenty of ammo refills from Trish, the fish, and the reload upgrade)... And you do need a lot of health upgrades (mutation or not)... But it's mainly important as a thing to spend on damage/accuracy... You don't need to have a high max health (more than 6) if you're beating every enemy by the second turn at most (first boss should take three turns)... Golden bullets are great when you're dealing 7+ base damage (and then add gunpowder into the mix for good measure)...
Getting a lot of combats is important... But you can't exactly force that... So instead you can be mindful of which enemies you can beat on the first turn and focus on them... And also enemies you can beat on the second turn because those are a good backup... Though early on you want to visit Trish a couple of times for ammo...
Meadow's gimmick is technically meant to counter Root's damage output... But she (like every boss) gets countered easily by her if you have an obscene damage output and just win on the first turn with a few golden bullets (she really should start the combat with mosquitos)... Alternatively you want to get things that allow you to attack more than once per turn... Like floss/fossil/second hand smoke... Cult's robe effectively allows you to skip Deer headed man (or the previous boss but there are other ways to skip that one like cigarettes or snake scales)... And Crucifix is a great way to recover between the many bosses...
Obviously not everything I said is strictly required for victory... I'm just throwing all the ideas I could think of...
TL;DR: Ammo mutation bad... Pump a ton into the other mutations... Stash some ammo early... Try to keep track of enemy max health... And get things that allow you to attack more than once per turn... (And get strong items/upgrades in between as you normally would...)
Side note: Root's gun does work with snake eyes... You can reduce her health to 0... It doesn't matter that she heals after you've already done that...
That all makes sense. I think I was trying to be too balanced by going for health upgrades too many times and got burned by not saving up enough ammo a few times which I overcorrected into getting an ammo mutation or two every run. I'd probably be better off just embracing the glass cannon playstyle and going for one-shots more. Basically, skill issue on my part.
I'm still not sure how snake scales work, but I guess I'll figure it out for myself in the next demo version!
maybe just have the mouths instead of both mouth and eyes? can add more emotion to the sprites without taking away from the surrealism
I played the the 0.5 and the visual changes are okay. But I personally prefer the old one. Also, it would be better if new damage indicator (hearts blinking) can be turned off in settings. Its amazing to see the creator actually hearing players suggestions. This game is one of my favourites all-time.
The graphics were reverted to the previous style. I think adding an option to turn off damage indicator is a good idea, thank you
That is true.
You see this one typing detailed answers with bullet points, like it's their job to keep us happy or something, when we have already received something cool for free.
This is the true wonder of sites like ITch with free distribution.
I feel like the majority of people do not review, or even rate, titles, but it's always important to leave a "Hey, this is cool , and this worked out well" sortof a message.
Surely we can all understand how somebody getting only " suggestions", however well meaning, can be a bit draining. Ironically, this can be doubly true when the suggestions have a true and valid point.
I feel no soft shows remarkable grace, as the commentators show equal restraint (or vice versa?), in hearing out these "suggest-icisms", without bending their creative vision.
On the flip side, no other game or studio has creators actively listening and responding to fans.
When i made a comment about the lighter mechanic and got a response that was the first time I felt my input was directly heard on a project.
That was a founding moment for me in regards to this site, as somebody who stays away from all social media, memes, and podcasts....
I have to be honest I played this demo so much ! Its just the demo but it has so much to do ! Such an amazing game !
Hate to be negative but I'm not really a fan of most of the changes in 0.5. The gameplay changes feel less like rebalancing and more like reinvention. Stuff like the golden bullet doing variable damage makes it very op on ranged builds and the crawling fossil attack costing fragments makes it feel kinda worthless (though I do like the change of its heal being guaranteed in exchange for costing fragments, feels more thematic and adds more strategy)
The thing I have the most opinions on is the art change. I tried hard to keep an open mind but I dramatically prefer the old style, even if it could be more difficult to make out details sometimes. The new designs don't feel like they fit together like the old art did. Something is taken out of the atmosphere by giving everyone full faces (and very similar ones at that). Most portraits I saw (particularly the humanesq ones) felt over detailed compared to what's around them. Combine that with issues in anatomy and it'd just really hard to take any of it seriously. It feels wrong, but not in the uncanny dreamlike way it used to. Just not as effective. I also definitely prefer the smaller battle FOV for the claustrophobia and attention drawn to the enemies, who feel right up in your face.
The old art direction and style is so good and honestly feels to me like lightning in a bottle. I'm really going to miss it if the new style is used going forward. Sorry again for the overly negative comment, I really do like the game
I don't think the crawling fossil changed are really bad, it was kind of a must grab before. Now it's situational but still very good
yeah that's a good point
Thank you for your feedback. The graphics were reverted to the previous style. As for the balance changes, while of course not everything is 100% balanced, I think that the game now offers a lot more different strategies to win a run (fish shop is more viable, guns are stronger, must-have frog items are now optional), whereas previously there was only one strategy that practically guaranteed victory. The fossil was way too strong in the old version and guaranteed a 100% advantage over not having it in your party
Yeah, having had more time to digest I think I agree. It's easy to forget this games development still has a ways to go and fine tuning difficulty can wait until after making sure different tools and methods are usable in the first place. Not to mention theres still a whole nother act waiting to shake up the meta later
I appreciate the switch back to the old art. That said, I'm sorry the attempt at improving it didn't work out, that must be frustrating
Wow, another example of an open dialogue between a fan who cared enough to not only make their feelings heard, but put in the care to sound tactful and respectful. It's a real delight to read through and a real course on "Active development" and "Consumer Feedback" as only software development updates can embody it.
It makes one wonder how much rude and hateful comments are merely people venting because with most other games and products "They know nobody is listening".
Off topic, but it reminds me of the irony of the Mcdonalds Company President. You would think he would eat it every day if he devoted his life to the company, however you know most likely he never set foot into one as a customer with his salary. Or like how the walmart president likely doesn't own a thing from walmart ...
The creator is a person who takes his game seriously and you know nobody has spent more hours playing it than him.
This game was super fun, I definitely gotta get better at it
I read your comment on steam about the new design meaning to add distinctive features but I must say that I find everyone looks much more similar now. The eyes are uncanny in the wrong way. Like not creepy but just unaesthetic (I'm sorry to say this😔)
PLEASE switch back to the old design, I genuinely think that the new design, while only having good intentions in mind, is doing the opposites of what you were hoping for (as an artist myself I know how frustrating that feels)
- It looks unprofessional and incoherent
- it's actually harder to tell people apart I find
- the anatomy is OFF (especially with Nadine and Rugs)
- the colours seem less vibrant and enticing (exterminating angel, and everyone's skin tone looks really bad)
- I especially loved te Crimson Dancers being faceless but I prefer that for the whole game.
- I also suggest going back to the square background it looked much better, I find.
Lastly I really appreciate that you communicate with the fan base and I hope you are taking our suggestions to heart because the game is really awesome and I loved the vibe and atmosphere but now it just feels like it lost some of its charm (which would be a real pity for such a great game)
make a dualshock 4/5 support
like i mean layout
This game DEMO was an amazing experience to go through!
SPOILERS AHEAD*
i originally completed the game in its entirety in V0.4 and came back to play around a bit with the new character designs and gameplay changes in V0.5 and I've got to say i love the new tweaks and add ons.
The atmosphere in this game is really like no other that I've played, from the small bits of lore, secrets and horror aspects its a really good mixture for what most gamers might find thrilling and fun.
Reading some of the comments on the new designs of the characters made me want to add on to it, as much as i like the old designs, i definitely noticed more attention to detail for most of the characters in the new version, i love most of the new enemy designs, but as others said with most of the main characters now having a face, some of the uncanny/creepy feeling of encountering enemies have been impacted, furthermore i personally found that some of the faces or some general features of the characters feel a little to similar and may look the same.
with this said, if i could recommend something, either the developer could adjust the facial features of each character and change some of the poses of them to somehow differentiate them or make them seem more uncanny would be a plus, but also could add on to the whole "loss of memory" story, An idea for this is to keep the characters faces removed in the first part of the game to add back the uncanny/creepy feeling, and when the character moves on to the next area they will then have their corrupted forms/design (as of the ones currently implemented), furthermore when you progress into the game and find each of the characters memories you can now see their faces in those recollections within the dream diary. (A little add on to this could be when Noire first starts in the new area she can have a bit of dialogue questioning why she cannot remember who these people are when they dont have a face), this is just a personal idea and i understand if this may not follow along with what the developer might have planned for the story or game, which is 100% okay.
Other then that this game is a 10/10 for me and i will definitely be on the look-out for when this game fully releases, for the dev i want to say thanks for creating this experience of a demo and i hope you keep adding onto this cool project, but please don't forget to take your time :)
Just created an account to say that it would be really cool if there was an option to switch back to the old graphics. Don't get me wrong, I like new graphics but sometimes I miss the old ones
definitely agree, as much as i appreciate the new graphics an option to switch back would be amazing
My point exactly. The new graphics were entirely removed. I like the old and new for different reasons and wish there were a switch. They just have different feels to them, and I'd like to experience them both
There have been many complaints about the new graphical style, and I haven't made a decision on it yet. While a toggle for the current version is definitely possible, it would likely be almost impossible to implement for all the assets in the final game, because the graphical change is also meant to allow for greater variety in the design of future enemies and characters
Was an absolute joy to play through the demo and unlock everything. I haven't had time to play the new update yet but I'm excited to. It's really fun, the story and its hints and mysteries have me hooked. The art direction is incredible and tho I really liked the old enemy portraits, I'm open to seeing what the new ones offer. Can't wait to see what comes next
In terms of accessibility, I'd like to humbly request screen reader support. It's already a pretty forgiving game for visual impairment (turn based, simple UI, primarily text based, high contrast graphics), I was able to get by with just magnification software, but expanding that so it can be played by the blind and more severely visually impaired would add it to a library without many other games. And, more selfishly, would ensure I could keep playing as my vision gets worse.
Thank you for your feedback! I'm sorry to hear that you have vision problems, and I will do my best to make the game as accessible as possible
Is there a wiki or trello where i can see info like how many characters and how to get the last endings or do i have to search youtube? Also fantastic game
Unfortunately, I don't think there's a wiki for the game yet. There are a bunch of yt videos that answer your questions
ok thank you for everything mr/mrs noeye-soft
I've played over 5 hours of the game, it's extremely fun and I'm looking forward to the full release.
I figured that the corrupted dialogue can be decoded I think this was a wonderful addition love the extra hidden lore.
I did have a question regarding an item called "Rosary" that can be obtained from the frog liar in the item description it states "In the turn you pray to the goddess, deal damage to the enemy equal to the melee weapon's damage and its accuracy." and personally kind of sounds misleading at first I thought it meant that you would combine the damage with both melee damage + accuracy but instead maybe the text could be something along the lines of "Retains the stats of your melee weapon" it's not a big deal just kind of confusing first time reading it.
Is there a planned or expected release date time frame?
Thank you for your feedback on the Rosary text, I will make it clearer. The release date is planned for the end of the year, but I'm not 100% sure if I might need some extra time
The base chance to escape from the son in the second area is 25 now? That's a weird change... I remember it being 35 last version... Now it's kinda annoying...
That was a bug, thank you for reporting! Just uploaded a new ver with the fixed escape chance
I dont often play itch games, but I didn't expect to find such a good and unique product. I love the game, the recent update that added small QoL improvements made me return to the game after not playing for a while and I "beat" it. the game is extremely fun and I will give my money happily once the full release is out. the game might have some balancing issues, like if you know what you're doing you can become extremely op, especially with the third character, but I love the details in the game. It's extremely fun and I cannot wait to see how the story will be handled in the full release. I figured that there is hidden lore in the game and the corrupted dialogue is probably decodable but Im too lazy to figure it out. I can't praise it enough. One issue I've had... it's too easy. there is a system that can lower the difficulty of a run and you should also be able to raise the difficulty and get more lunar shards in return or something. also, it is funny how the lunar shard counter stops updating after 99. although it would be neat to be able to see how much I have even though I have no use for them anymore... perhaps also add a system where you can procure upgrades that are only for the next one or few runs. probably not tho. anyway. love the game, can't wait for the full release, make the game have a harder mode, thx.
First of all, thank you for your feedback! The difficulty is too low right now for two reasons:
The final game will definitely be much harder! (And it'll be possible to play at different difficulty levels)
Luna boss crashed as soon as it started in the new version :(
Was playing as Root if that's relevant...
Sorry about that! The bug has been fixed, you just need to re-download the game (and yes, it happens if you use Root)
I made an account to post a comment on this, genuinely amazing game. I completed a full run where I was able to take out THE MAN WITH NO SKIN. Will most definitely do another run through with the unlocked character I got. 100% worth buying when it comes out as a full release.
I don't want to critizise or anything, but the new faces the way how they look now seems like a little bit odd, In my humble opinion I think that the character models before was better (referring before the Ver 0.5).
(Btw I really love this game and I've completed it to 100%, its an amazing piece of art)
I second this
third it
Yeah I agree, I love the new drawings but the old ones were more dream-like and the lesser details gave the game a more uncanny atmosphere
I'm sorry to hear that, but it's totally understandable
Ive been playing this game for a total of 5 hours today. pls help ;-;
this atmosphere is something i havent felt before, like the combo the the realistic, desaturated pixelated backgrounds behind the vibrant cartoonish (using that word pretty lightly lol) characters with their own unique horror designs really makes this game into something special, this shit is fucking gas
also the frogs are my favorite, if the game ever gets big enough to do merch please let us buy the frogs :3
also also the little lore drops after each encounter with the no skin man is really rewarding
wow... solo wow, grandissimo, non mi aspettavo una qualità del genere girando a casaccio, davvero complimenti
Grazie mille Jack :)
I've had SO much fun playing! the demo is already pretty big, can't imagine how big of a project the final game will be. looking forward to hearing more :)
Will there be an android version?
Probably not, I think the controls would be really uncomfortable
Ok 😭
So easy to learn and hard to pass game. Im so waiting for releasy). Demo is big, one second i think this game have ending.
But no skin man meet me in 3 location
I LOVE THAT GAME SO FKN' MUCH!!!! LOOKIN FORWARD FOR UPDATES :3
Thank you, updates are coming soon :)
Best game ever
<3