Marginalact is always on the edge of almost making a decent game, they usually have an interesting idea, but just short from being enjoyable, sometimes it's technical issues, sometimes it's design issues, but there is usually that junky feel of the game that is present for most of the playthrough. This game had both, I had a lot of glitches, and there are many moments in the game where the interactions felt poorly implemented, with various oversight issues, I can't say that it was fun playing the game because there was always something getting in the way.
If you played the previous game called Bedrotting it has similar mechanics, with an addition of the first-person gameplay and puzzles, but it will still have those survival type meters to keep track of. I was able to finish the game in 2.5 hours, it had a decent amount of variety, even though I thought nearly every level was tedious for one reason or another. It feels like the developer tried to implement more different ideas into this one, but it kinda backfired I think, there are a lot of clunky features that are not fully realized, or sections that may feel confusing, long or frustrating.
It's meant to be a horror game, and yet it never feels like you trying to create much suspense, the main bad guys show up for no reason with no build up, some of the writing felt a bit butchered with the English or errors, there was never really any reason for me to really pay attention to the characters. I only got 2 inferior ending, and they felt very abrupt, only further adding to the sour experience I already had with the game.
[h1] Pros: [/h1]
(+) Honestly I can't think of anything good about this game, I mean you tried to add more features and gameplay, you tried to have more exploration, but it opened more cracks in your game design, too many parts of the game feel clunky and cheap, with a few interesting elements and the narrative largely getting lost in whatever else is happening. I think the only positive we can get from this is a learning experience, perhaps you should focus on making smaller games with a specific idea.
[h1] Feedback: [/h1]
- It seems that sometimes you can use up Fuel before the checkpoint, and it can reset you with zero fuel if you die like in the car. Perhaps if you die you should get some fuel back, like 25% maybe no matter what happens
- The ammo gain from enemies and some stashes does not seem to work correctly, more often with the shotgun, but pistol as well in some situations
- The FPS segments feel kinda like you sliding, not sure if you meant it for water part, but it feels kinda like the game stutters because of it
- In the forest level the doors open after you kill enemies, but nothing of that sort was established in the game up to that point, so I don't see why the player should assume that
- Enemies respawning after loading can get very annoying, especially in the lakes stage
- The wording on the grave and the bird puzzle feels a bit misleading to me
- Was there a way to cancel out dialogue when you start it? Could really use it if not
- Overall I think it might help you if you shift your game design away from mechanics like combat, and just focus more on making interesting navigation, dialogue and visuals. Bedrotting was kinda its own thing and in that context it worked, but now you have all these ideas and all of them are poorly implemented, it's just seems like too much for you to handle.
[b] Overall Thoughts: 4/10 [/b]
I thought almost every level in the game was tedious or clunky in some way, I didn't get a natural flow for the story, it just kinda felt like I was playing some mismatched maps that didn't go together. In contrast to something like Brutalism22 that seems is more within your skill set, I think you should try to focus on making a good level design and just getting that atmosphere, if gameplay is causing all these issues, just create an experience through the mood and exploration, focus more on the characters and creating interesting retro visuals.
[code]Niche, obscure and underrated games: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]
