That was absolutely incredible! The pacing, the story, the use of repetition to establish a pattern, and then brutally taking that pattern away... An absolute masterclass in horror, and a joy to play!
A good example of a short game that works perfectly as it is. I really enjoyed the few minutes it took to play through. I like how you built up the player’s immersion by providing simple tasks to complete while gradually unveiling the background story and drama through small doses of information and events. I have to admit, I somewhat anticipated the twist —probably because I was biased by my expectations— but it was still surprising and clever how everything connects at the end. The atmosphere and dialogues worked great. It’s impressive that you managed to do all this in just two weeks. Congrats! :)
Really nice! Back to early point and click adventures like Kings Quest. Got a Beneath a Steel Sky vibe from it. Great work, hope you continue this project!
Hey! Wow. That was great. Nice, puzzles, lovely animations, great story. It all led nicely to the end. Are you planning to continue this one 'out the door'? It's kind of asking for it, no? Bravo.
It works to leave it too, for sure. But... A monk from the middle ages in some kind of techno dystopia could be pretty fun! Where might he be in five years...?
Take the inkwell and combine with the ash. Fill a bucket of water and combine with ash filled inkwell. Take the knife from the table and use it on pillow. Take feather and use the knife on it. :3
How to get the quill? I have ink ready, knife and a water bucket(for some reason?), and I used the knife to open the pillow..? But I can't take the feathers out of the pillow as Anchorite just talks about sleeping and something about the pillow. Lol, please send help.
It was a pleasure playing your game! It has nice graphics and a great plot! The music fits very well to the atmosphere and the game gets more and more thrilling. Hats off!
Very interesting premise, and I enjoyed the twist. However, I did encounter some bugs that unfortunately messed up the narrative pacing. .
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. SPOILERS!
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The broken wall was immediately accessible from the very beginning, just as I first entered the bedroom. This resulted in me getting to what I assume is one of the endings within five minutes of play, which I suspect wasn't intended.
I also encountered some of Steven Don's issues on the replay (the visible Amos sprite on top of the sealed door whenever he (it?) speaks, wrong draw location for Amo's words, the chest was already open and the hammer acquired at the start of the game, etc)
Two weeks definitely sounds like an intense crunch, so I think this is pretty impressive for such a short time. If you don't mind me asking, what engine / software (or library) did you use to make this?
EDIT: Playing all the way through a second time gave me the narrative as intended. Excellent -- the pacing was very important to the payoff at the end. I'd love to see a sequel where the Anchorite navigates life outside the, eh, "tower".
Hi, thank you I have fixed the wall, sorry I missed the scheduling of that hotspot too... the dangers of having limited rooms and lots of different things happening over different periods! I used Adventure Game Studio to make it, it's a free engine that I started making a horror game called Abscission with about four years ago, I've never used anything else so not sure about how it compares to other engines, but I like it. All the sprites and backgrounds etc are mine (I made everything apart from the candles and fire from scratch for the jam). Thanks again for playing!
Really nicely done. The sudden shift in tone was really quite effective.
Few minor issues I encountered:
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. empty lines to keep from spoiling
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.
.
.
.
.
the "3 commandments" and "closed chest" are hotspots, but there are no labels for them (oddly enough, the chest has one, but only when opened)
the "mess" and "broken pestle & mortar" hotspots are available right from the start
a few issues with draw ordering:
the cake coming through the opening gets drawn on top of the opening
when the anchorite is sitting at his desk, writing on the parchment, the parchment is drawn on top of the anchorite
the shovel does not seem to go into the ground, but draws on top of the wood surrounding the garden bed
several "you can't do that" style messages appear erroneously (like when actually doing the thing you're supposed to do):
when digging up the garden to plant the seeds
when putting the clothes in the tub
when putting the bucket under the pump
when dropping the water into the tub with the clothes
when using the inkwell with ashes on the water in the bucket
Typo: I won"t be able to get all of the dirt out with just water should probably have a ' instead of a "
restarting the game (to try out what happens when choosing a different option at the end) results in glitching out almost everything:
I have the inkwell, quill and knife already in inventory at the start
the cake is already in the room when the young anchorite wakes up
Amos's blue text is by the anchorite's head, rather than by the door
Amos's sprite can be seen drawn on top of the door and he becomes an interactible hotspot... I can actually ask him the same questions I can in the control room:
from here the game is too glitched out to be able to get further, I had to quit and relaunch the game to be able to do a second playthrough
Thank you! Yes I had to get it out for the game jam, so didn't have as much time testing as I would have hoped. Thank you for your help with these, I have fixed most of them (except for the draw animations), and will get an update out. Thank you again!
I tried to play the downloadable version, but Windows Defender quarantined the archive with an error message indicating it contained a Trojan, "Trojan:Script/Sabsik.FL.A!ml", when I tried to unzip it. Thankfully, I was able to restore the file from quarantine and unzip it as normal. I did have to check "unblock" in the files' properties afterwards to get them to run properly, though.
I'm not sure if it's something you can really do anything about since Windows Defender apparently gets these occasional false positives, but I thought I'd mention it in case anyone else experiences the same problem.
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Comments
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actually fire ass game
very cool! thanks for sharing. Maniac Mansion vibes
Very i interesting game.i like this graphic
Thank you!
loved this game great
Much appreciated
wow 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Thank you:)
That was absolutely incredible! The pacing, the story, the use of repetition to establish a pattern, and then brutally taking that pattern away... An absolute masterclass in horror, and a joy to play!
Thank you! I didn't think it was particularly horror when I was working on it but I guess I can't get away haha
This was sooo fun and enjoyable. I enjoyed the cutscenes and little animations. The length of the experience was perfect.
Thanks! I did think about adding a bit for the city outside but I also liked the mystery, and maybe sets up a sequel
I loved everything about this game. The twist was kind of predictable, but its presentation is perfect here. Great work!
Thank you :)
A good example of a short game that works perfectly as it is. I really enjoyed the few minutes it took to play through. I like how you built up the player’s immersion by providing simple tasks to complete while gradually unveiling the background story and drama through small doses of information and events. I have to admit, I somewhat anticipated the twist —probably because I was biased by my expectations— but it was still surprising and clever how everything connects at the end. The atmosphere and dialogues worked great. It’s impressive that you managed to do all this in just two weeks. Congrats! :)
Thank you, it was a lot of work to get it done in time, I'm glad it was effective :)
Amazing game. I really enjoyed the plot twist.
Great, I'm glad it worked :D
The plot twist is crazy tho
Thank you!
Great game! I guess I need to check out all your other games now
Please do :)
A beautiful game with a sad story...
Thank you!
really good! we need more!
I should have a new game out early 2025 (I hope).
Nice this was really good game I like it and you did really great job for this game! anyway well done keep it up!
Thank you for the kind words :)
Really nice! Back to early point and click adventures like Kings Quest. Got a Beneath a Steel Sky vibe from it. Great work, hope you continue this project!
I loved Kings Quest VI and Beneath a Steel Sky, still have my Amiga big box of BASS!
Love the art style, love the story, love the anticipation..
Thank you!
Such an amazing game and would love to see it continue.
Maybe one day...
Hey! Wow. That was great. Nice, puzzles, lovely animations, great story. It all led nicely to the end. Are you planning to continue this one 'out the door'? It's kind of asking for it, no?
Bravo.
Maybe, I have so many games I have planned and want to make, we will see...
Amen to that!
It works to leave it too, for sure. But... A monk from the middle ages in some kind of techno dystopia could be pretty fun! Where might he be in five years...?
Really great, thanks so much!
Glad you liked it :)
Congratulations,
this is a good game with a "crescendo" of mystery. Too bad it was so short.
Yep the game jam time frame is super tight!
i am so stuck LOL. i have the quill but cant figure out what to do with the ash to make ink. i feel so stupid, anyone have tips? thank u!!
Take the inkwell and combine with the ash. Fill a bucket of water and combine with ash filled inkwell. Take the knife from the table and use it on pillow. Take feather and use the knife on it. :3
Add water to the ashe to make poor man's ink.
Great and amazing game. I really enjoy it. ALL ENDINGS HERE:
Thank you for playing!
How to get the quill? I have ink ready, knife and a water bucket(for some reason?), and I used the knife to open the pillow..? But I can't take the feathers out of the pillow as Anchorite just talks about sleeping and something about the pillow.
Lol, please send help.
You need to click on the feathers that are showing (white), to get a feather... but then something else to make it into a quill :)
ohh ty, seems that I had only been pressing the pillow instead of the feathers. I didn't notice it had a different spot to click.
A cool game tho! Love the art style and the way the colors are so saturated. (And the cool kinda dystopic story too) !! <3
I have nothing to say besides that it was an amazing game. It shows that sometimes long doesn't mean better.
Thank you so much, I'm glad it was effective!
THIS WAS INSANE GUYS... THIS WAS INSANE.
So much said with so few words, there's a compassion in this work that I didn't know I needed to see.
I want to thank you for making this one.
That's such a lovely thing to say, thank you I'm really touched :)
It takes some serious talent to tell a story this captivating in such a short amount of time 👏
Btw, finished your game on Linux natively. Take a look at this if you want to package it yourself: https://itch.io/t/4016389/play-ags-games-on-linux-natively
Wow, I had no idea it was that easy! Thank you, I will try this out on the weekend :) And thank you for your kind words.
Thank you for playing! I appreciate it :)
beautiful story. continue making games. wish he walked faster haha
He's a gentle, relaxed monk haha
It was a pleasure playing your game! It has nice graphics and a great plot! The music fits very well to the atmosphere and the game gets more and more thrilling. Hats off!
Thank you! Yes the music was great, it's by a composer/sound designer named Bernardo Uzeda
woah beautiful graphics, awesome story, loved it!
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
I loved it! Great job!
Thank you!
I strongly recommend playing this game to anyone who comes across it. If you like a strong story with some gently puzzles, you will have a good time.
Thank you very much :D
I really enjoyed your game. Good work as always
Thank you!
Hello,
Very interesting premise, and I enjoyed the twist. However, I did encounter some bugs that unfortunately messed up the narrative pacing.
.
.
.
.
.
. SPOILERS!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The broken wall was immediately accessible from the very beginning, just as I first entered the bedroom. This resulted in me getting to what I assume is one of the endings within five minutes of play, which I suspect wasn't intended.
I also encountered some of Steven Don's issues on the replay (the visible Amos sprite on top of the sealed door whenever he (it?) speaks, wrong draw location for Amo's words, the chest was already open and the hammer acquired at the start of the game, etc)
Two weeks definitely sounds like an intense crunch, so I think this is pretty impressive for such a short time. If you don't mind me asking, what engine / software (or library) did you use to make this?
EDIT: Playing all the way through a second time gave me the narrative as intended. Excellent -- the pacing was very important to the payoff at the end. I'd love to see a sequel where the Anchorite navigates life outside the, eh, "tower".
Hi, thank you I have fixed the wall, sorry I missed the scheduling of that hotspot too... the dangers of having limited rooms and lots of different things happening over different periods! I used Adventure Game Studio to make it, it's a free engine that I started making a horror game called Abscission with about four years ago, I've never used anything else so not sure about how it compares to other engines, but I like it. All the sprites and backgrounds etc are mine (I made everything apart from the candles and fire from scratch for the jam). Thanks again for playing!
Very interesting and atmospheric game. ALL ENDINGS HERE:
Really nicely done. The sudden shift in tone was really quite effective.
Few minor issues I encountered:
.
.
.
.
. empty lines to keep from spoiling
.
.
.
.
.
.
Thank you! Yes I had to get it out for the game jam, so didn't have as much time testing as I would have hoped. Thank you for your help with these, I have fixed most of them (except for the draw animations), and will get an update out. Thank you again!
Game jams can get pretty hectic! Glad you were able to fix them :)
I tried to play the downloadable version, but Windows Defender quarantined the archive with an error message indicating it contained a Trojan, "Trojan:Script/Sabsik.FL.A!ml", when I tried to unzip it. Thankfully, I was able to restore the file from quarantine and unzip it as normal. I did have to check "unblock" in the files' properties afterwards to get them to run properly, though.
I'm not sure if it's something you can really do anything about since Windows Defender apparently gets these occasional false positives, but I thought I'd mention it in case anyone else experiences the same problem.
Thank you, yes it sometimes struggles with some AGS files... not sure why. It's exactly the same way of compiling as my Steam releases! Ah well.