In Hypotalamus Simulator, you need to control the reaction of the body of Erwan to external actions by producing hormones.
This game is meant to be educational and original. To be able to fully enjoy it, take a look at the in-game manual.
Game Jam 2025 entry.
Nice idea but implementation is too rough
I appreciate the fact I wasn't in front of a puzzle game, but the UI is not the best to navigate and there is no feedback to understand when things are going south - except for the numbers (e.g. they could turn red when their level is too low/high). It was nice to see an experiment, unfortunately gameplay-wise is not there yet
Kinda boring
Nothing that interesting really happens, your kinda just given a few buttons to click and some numbers to look at. I dont really know what to say other than its not that good. and has no relation to the theme what so ever
Thou shalt not flood with too many hormones
Basically nothing in this game at all. You hover over the cross-section of an immobile human body and click some buttons. Some numbers change, and there are words telling you what the body is feeling. There is no visual feedback whatsoever, making the guy more interesting to kill than to keep alive. As soon as you do get around to killing him, you are banned from the world, and you have to create a new one, if you care at all. This could be interesting in the future though, with actual animation of some kind and more to do.
Also, as I have said far too many times, how does this have to do with "line of sight" at all????
Scores rate how good different aspects of the game are.
Effects is mostly how the game looks/feels. If a game doesn’t have good-looking textures, particle effects, or architecture that is actually plot-relevant, it can get a low Effects score.
Gameplay involves how good, fun, interesting or effective the gameplay is. If a game doesn’t have well-designed puzzles that are something a gamer actually feels they can figure out with obvious end results, it can get a low Gameplay score.
Plot is how good the plot is, how well it fits with the game itself, and whether it is actually interesting for players. If a game doesn’t have an obvious plot or goals, it can get a low Plot score.
Theme is how the game feels and is laid out. If a game doesn’t feel right, doesn't have a theme that fits its plot or gameplay, or is too bland, it can get a low Theme score.
Game Jam Theme is how well the game fits the theme set (this year is "line of sight")
All of these are rated out of ten (#/10), and the final result will combine all these scores out of fifty (#/50).
Effects: 3/10
Gameplay: 3/10
Plot: 4/10
Theme: 3/10
Game Jam Theme: 1/10
Overall: 14/50 🔗
Technically cool, practically boring
When I first started the game I soon found the little book that held the tutorial, while reading this the charactor I was supposed to be keeping alive (Erwin), died from mental issues. Not a good start. I soon found that it bans you when erwin dies which is kinda irritating as I had to make a new world. Once I did I immediately paid more attention to the HUD, which was not very easy to understand.
The tutorial is more of a general overview of the basic systems of the human body and what the hormones are, instead of how to use them. I would expect the contents to be part of a highschool presentation more than a game jam game (not saying it's bad, just that I expected a little more insight on how to play the game).
I ended up sticking with the game until the night literally set in-game and it was almost morning. During this time nothing super interesting happened, he got sick a few times and I put him to sleep, then he was fine. Everything happened so fast it was hard to reward running/playing with dopamine because they ended up going to sleep before it was done producing.
Generally the game play was literally doing nothing at all, I didn't touch the blood sugar once and it ended up with Erwin sleeping the entire day cycle pretty much (idk how I'm supposed to control his sleep schedule with just those hormones, I'm not gonna dump adrenaline into him lol).
The game is a pretty cool idea but it ended up being really boring and I didn't really do anything.
Pardon my long winded-ness
Looking-at-numbers simulator
(DISCLAIMER: This review was written for the game jam version, written by a participant.)
This game (?) is basically a looking-at-numbers simulator, and super confusing. The game is meant to be educational and it does include an in-game help but how it relates to the game is unclear. I also have no idea how accurate any of the information presented to us is; the meaning of the icons is not explained. I suggest readers to be skeptical by default.
You as the player can only interact by producing stuff like adrenaline but what does it do? No idea. Also, that's the ONLY way for you do do something. The rest of the time you can only follow some numbers which I assume are some measurement values of the body.
And this is the whole "gameplay". SUPER confusing. The help is not really helpful; I don't really understand what is the point of clicking the buttons. The help only gives you vague relationships but the info seems incomplete. It seems a lot more is going on behind the scenes than is displayed which makes it harder to understand. I highly doubt this "simulation" is even close to medical reality.
The "blocky" body shown in the background means nothing. You might expect that it would show something interesting like bloodstreams or chemicals moving in the body or whatever, but no. Nothing happens there ever, it's just background decoration.
This game aims to be educational but I believe it failed even at that goal because it does not do a great job in visualizing or explaining things or how stuff interacts with each other.
Sorry Erwan
Poor poor Erwan he died so many times... It was funny to see him sleeping for two days straight when the game said he gets about 5 hours of sleep a day. :D I suppose there is a bit of educational content here, but I didn't see a tie in for Line of Sight, which has me quite confused.
Thanks for the game :)
This game helped me to learn about some of the hormones, some I already knew (like Dopamine and Adrenaline), but some others I didn't knew what it helped at.
Thanks Ü