Feedback (caution: spoilers)

[fxknight]

Congratulations on finishing your game, Nathaniel!

I played your game at LTU some months ago and was pleased that the final version maintained that unique premise and visual style. I thought you might be interested to hear some feedback on the finished product.

Overall, I think that the game is a success as a social horror game, and that low-res presentation was spot-on. Ingenious touch that makes the game very special. I'm sure many will praise it, and for good reason.

Speaking of the premise, I found it fascinating. Slowly discovering what had happened was very interesting. Lillian's perspective (and VO) was excellently done.

The puzzles and finds were by and large well-done and reasonable. I enjoyed revisiting the locations and, much to your credit, I never felt like you were trying to artificially lengthen the game with the backtracking. The end length (it took me about an hour and a half my first time, not counting a half-hour of searching for that gate key) felt perfect for what it was.

I'm going to get into a few things here which I thought might bear a bit of thinking. Please don't take these as attacks: the game is great. Just a few things I thought while playing that you might want to know about.

From a story perspective, I think that the final suicide scene and the whole build-up in general would have been more impactful if I HADN'T been told at the very beginning of the game that I was at the site of a mass suicide. Allowing me to hope that such a tragedy hadn't occurred would have made that ending much more meaningful. With that given away at the beginning, the suicide scene and Lillian's struggles afterward in that (awesome) collection of bunker scenes felt like I was learning things I already knew. Why give all of that away?

Some of the visual horror elements seemed a bit gratuitous... surely, they wouldn't have left massive pools of blood in the cleansing center, there's a sink right there, for crying out loud, and while I get that the axe on the altar had seen some use blood still being there seemed unrealistic. If there were that much blood, nobody would be able to be in there from the smell, if nothing else. Most importantly, though, I think that the gore there desensitized me to the real violence like the body in the mine and the burning at the end. If it hadn't been there, the ending would have hit me all the harder.

Also gratuitous was the depths of Father James' depravity. I get that he was essentially Satan himself, but a few of those things went so far they broke my suspension of disbelief. The porn mags under his bed would have been a great touch if we hadn't already known that he was a perverted rapist; why would even a lustful brute bother with stuff like that if he was already having sex with every woman in the cult constantly? It felt like sometimes you were trying to get me to hate him more when I already couldn't hate him any more, and my justified anger and rage were starting to become eye-rolling.

That first gate key. it was the only thing that I think you should consider moving. I checked that room from top to bottom, and even that side many times, and I didn't find it, nor was there any hint to look there, at least that I recall. Finding the shed key there (from the well-placed note) told at least my monkey brain that there wouldn't be anything else there, but even so, I did check many times and didn't see it. The camera is in very close there, so you really have to intentionally look up to see it, and without a clue I think many will not. I'm a veteran of walking simulators and puzzle games both, and I never would have found it if you hadn't told me. Would you consider making it appear under it instead? Or in a different location? The kitchen currently has no use at all, and while the shed key should have been hidden, there was no reason that gate key should have been hidden from anyone. They need it to get anywhere at all, and in reality, you could just step over a gate that low anyway. Please consider relocating the key or sticking in a few words to the shed key clue note (such as "by the other key" or something like that) to get people to look there. I think it will frustrate many, and that early on in a game, it's not a good thing. Apologies if there was a clue and I missed it.

One other tiny thing: why was Viola's note to Lillian in both Viola's and Lillian's trailers? It should have been in Lillian's, obviously, but I couldn't think of a reason it would be in Viola's. It didn't have any special import or revelations in it, and it was handwritten so there wouldn't have been a copy, by my way of thinking. Not a problem at all, just something that I wondered about. Seemed like it might be a mistake.

Two questions:

Why was Juliet's mentioning Jesus as a role model at the school cause for concern within the cult? They repeatedly talk about worshipping Christ, and Father James even explicitly points out to them all in a note that he is not the Christ whom he loves and worships. I felt like I was misunderstanding something there. Doesn't the cult worship Jesus?

I got all of the achievements, including the speedrun, but one: the tapes. I found 11 out of 12 of them. I played quite thoroughly, and I wouldn't know where to begin looking for the last one. I'm susprised I missed it, as according to the Steam statistics about 75% of those who finished the game found all the tapes. Any hints on where I might look for the last one? Was there one that people tended to miss in testing?

That's all. Congratulations once again on this. If this were a review, I would write pages about how wonderful it was, and the above observations would be a small paragraph close to the end. This is feedback and not a review, so I didn't do it that way here, but I want you to know what a wonderful accomplishment this game was on the whole and how proud the Michigan game dev community is of your achievement. I only hope that when my game is released in a few months, it will be of such a quality.

[CitizenArcane]

Thank you for the feedback, both positive and critical! It means a lot.

To answer your questions:

1) Juliet's work is concerning because it's low effort and her mother doesn't believe her heart is in it - not because she's writing about Christ.

2) Hmm, I can't think of one that was consistently missed. Did you listen to the tape in the first room of the bunker?

[fxknight]

You, sir, are a class act.

Kudos to you for taking my feedback/bugs so well and for pushing a patch so quickly.

Your ability to take constructive criticism bodes well for your future in this industry. Any chance you'll give a presentation at Ypsi Spark next month? We'd all love to hear about your experience.

[Sisyphus]

How do you get malum habitans? I've both finished the game finding all tapes and speedrun it...

[fxknight]

Didn't find the hint, eh? There's a note in the game which gives you a code to use on the main menu screen. Hold the Run button/key while selecting a new game. That's it.

[HIM]

I had trouble figuring out that a key was hidden in the cornfield. I had to resort to a guide and search for over 30 min. What hints did I miss?

[fxknight]

If memory serves, there was a note by the body in the mine detailing its location.

[Causality]

Yes, I really loved the whole experience. Looking back, the underutilization of Juliet hurts a little. She was really being set up as a little rebel and her being forced to drink/burn would've made the perfect catalyst for flipping Lillian at the finale. Lillian's non-coercion statement to the FBI even implies Juliet went along with it. I feel like she was kind of ignored, and that she would've fought at the end. We also are left hanging as to whether or not James assaulted Juliet before burning her to death.

It's pretty obvious the whole weapons and last stand thing against the authorities was dropped for time reasons, but that's understandable.