This is a super difficult puzzle (at least it was for me), the beginning levels are easy to train you, and then it gets harder from there - fast. The final levels are combinations of mazes, parkour, and discovery, all while making sure you don't get out of range of a good eye. You have infinite time and lives to complete a puzzle, so you just need to figure out the path and combination of buttons that will get you to the portal. Look around everywhere for hints and be very cautious - if you're quick about it, you can make a move forward and then backward to 'see' if you can proceed any further, without resetting. In some cases it's just quicker and easier to run around like a madman though, especially near the beginning of a puzzle. I really like the concept of this game, the last level with the tower was my favorite.
However, I think this game went too overboard on the creepypasta element: it's a lot like the backrooms in several levels, and the writing on the walls in various levels appear to be written in blood. Most rooms are very dark and combined with the music and the eyes, it's completely terrifying. It's flagged as "Gore" which I definitely think is appropriate but this still caught me by surprise. If that's your thing, this game is for you, I guess, but I turned off my music and adjusted my contrast to try to alleviate the mood immediately. Awesome puzzle though, recommended if you're not affected by creepypasta.
Personally I perceived the atmosphere more as "weird" than "creepy"; it didn't occur to me to interpret the "writing on the walls" as blood for example.
Have you considered a friendlier reskin? It should be pretty easy to make something like a texture pack (or a mod which only overrides media including sounds, maybe a few story elements) to make this a game suitable for a broader range of peeps (though I don't know whether children would have the patience for some of the levels ;)).
I think a friendlier reskin would be a great idea! It could be easily customizable with a setting that's linked to all textures used in the game, or of course in a texture pack / mod format. Yeah, I agree with you, the level with the dark spheres is going to be the end for most children ... and even probably most adults :-)
I totally understand the style is not everyone’s cup of tea and I already suspected some people wouldn’t like the theme to begin with. But if the game made people feel uneasy, that’s kind of the point. If every game was 100% “friendly”, things would get boring. :P
The reason for this very dark theme is pretty much random. It started with the word "Eyeballs" and it all more or less developed to some weird surreal otherworld where it starts at a cult. In fact, I actually planned for it being more “gore”-like, where you would spawn inside a giant freakish creature but it was just too difficult to create the textures for that.
I’m probably going over all my thought process in detail in a post-mortem later. There’s so many things I still want to say.
What I’m not going to do is a “friendly” version because then the whole idea kind of falls apart and I don’t want that. But people can always make texture packs if they want them.
I openly admit the level with the suspended balls was pretty mean. At least I left two important hints and it turned out many people still solved it.
This is a super difficult puzzle (at least it was for me), the beginning levels are easy to train you, and then it gets harder from there - fast. The final levels are combinations of mazes, parkour, and discovery, all while making sure you don't get out of range of a good eye. You have infinite time and lives to complete a puzzle, so you just need to figure out the path and combination of buttons that will get you to the portal. Look around everywhere for hints and be very cautious - if you're quick about it, you can make a move forward and then backward to 'see' if you can proceed any further, without resetting. In some cases it's just quicker and easier to run around like a madman though, especially near the beginning of a puzzle. I really like the concept of this game, the last level with the tower was my favorite.
However, I think this game went too overboard on the creepypasta element: it's a lot like the backrooms in several levels, and the writing on the walls in various levels appear to be written in blood. Most rooms are very dark and combined with the music and the eyes, it's completely terrifying. It's flagged as "Gore" which I definitely think is appropriate but this still caught me by surprise. If that's your thing, this game is for you, I guess, but I turned off my music and adjusted my contrast to try to alleviate the mood immediately. Awesome puzzle though, recommended if you're not affected by creepypasta.
Personally I perceived the atmosphere more as "weird" than "creepy"; it didn't occur to me to interpret the "writing on the walls" as blood for example. Have you considered a friendlier reskin? It should be pretty easy to make something like a texture pack (or a mod which only overrides media including sounds, maybe a few story elements) to make this a game suitable for a broader range of peeps (though I don't know whether children would have the patience for some of the levels ;)).
I think a friendlier reskin would be a great idea! It could be easily customizable with a setting that's linked to all textures used in the game, or of course in a texture pack / mod format. Yeah, I agree with you, the level with the dark spheres is going to be the end for most children ... and even probably most adults :-)
Well, you can’t claim you weren’t warned. ;-)
I totally understand the style is not everyone’s cup of tea and I already suspected some people wouldn’t like the theme to begin with. But if the game made people feel uneasy, that’s kind of the point. If every game was 100% “friendly”, things would get boring. :P
The reason for this very dark theme is pretty much random. It started with the word "Eyeballs" and it all more or less developed to some weird surreal otherworld where it starts at a cult. In fact, I actually planned for it being more “gore”-like, where you would spawn inside a giant freakish creature but it was just too difficult to create the textures for that.
I’m probably going over all my thought process in detail in a post-mortem later. There’s so many things I still want to say.
What I’m not going to do is a “friendly” version because then the whole idea kind of falls apart and I don’t want that. But people can always make texture packs if they want them.
I openly admit the level with the suspended balls was pretty mean. At least I left two important hints and it turned out many people still solved it.