No recommendation, because the gameplay experience is still bland due to incompleteness. A lot more work is needed, but it's a start. To players I advice to just wait until the complete game gets released. Currently, this is mostly feels like an early demo version. I think the size of the map was ultimately this game's downfall, the author made the map WAY too big and then was unable to create a complete (or even semi-complete) experience within the time frame. I still appreciate the work that has been put into this MASSIVE map already, I think I should check out this game again if a post-jam version is planned. Although the game got no recommendation, I do NOT say it's worthless. I would love to see an actual polished adventure/mystery-style game in MT.
Gameplay
First of all, this game might be the first attempt to create a non-trivial adventure/mystery-style game in Minetest ever (together with Piranesi, I guess). The attempt alone is cool, it's high time that Minetesters explore new genres. :-)
Sadly, the result ultimately falls flat IMO. You explore the various rooms and collect items and clues, except the only item that actually matters are the keycards that unlock new rooms. Oddly, the key cards just magically increase your security clearance by using them in mid air (not at a terminal)??? There are working computers which their own GUI, which is nice, but you can't do much with them yet. A minimal game functionality is available: You can open doors and close them and the security clearance is checked properly.
Oh wow! So many 3D models and textures! That must have taken a long time to put together. Also, the map is BIG and pretty detailed for the given time frame. There are many rooms you can explore and many items you can find, although most items still seem to be dummies. I think this alone gives the game potential for future releases, but it obviously needs more work. The map
It rare you see hi-res textures actually being used in a Minetest, we're all so used to 16×16. XD But it makes sense
Music / Sounds
With 2-3 small exceptions, the game is completely silent. :-( Seems like there wan't time for that.
Story
Oh no, it seems the author ran out of time. :-( I like the idea of a mystery / adventure-style game to figure out what went wrong, but currently, the story is more like an jigsaw puzzle where like 80% of the pieces are missing, in a bad way. The few pieces that are available aren't really written out yet. It seems the story writing must have been done as a last-day panic effort. For a game like this, story is key, hopefully a future version will improve on this. Although, maybe you might even get away by throwing away all text in the post-jam version (should you attempt it) and still have a good game.
What's good is that the game's premise is very clear right from the start.
UI/UX
It's the standard Minetest controls, you can't do anything wrong with that. A lot of furniture randomly drops items when clicking them. I'm not sure it's a good idea the game lets you toss away ALL items tho (possible unwinnable state?). The game sometimes uses red text on a blue background, ew! (My eyes are still bleeding ...)
Many events are told to the player with chat messages, rather than a dedicated (and more pretty) UI. :(
Performance / Stability
I had no performance issues. The game, like most submissions, greeted me with many console warnings. But I found no real bugs, so the game seems stable.
Overall rating
No recommendation, because the gameplay experience is still bland due to incompleteness. A lot more work is needed, but it's a start. To players I advice to just wait until the complete game gets released. Currently, this is mostly feels like an early demo version. I think the size of the map was ultimately this game's downfall, the author made the map WAY too big and then was unable to create a complete (or even semi-complete) experience within the time frame. I still appreciate the work that has been put into this MASSIVE map already, I think I should check out this game again if a post-jam version is planned. Although the game got no recommendation, I do NOT say it's worthless. I would love to see an actual polished adventure/mystery-style game in MT.
Gameplay
First of all, this game might be the first attempt to create a non-trivial adventure/mystery-style game in Minetest ever (together with Piranesi, I guess). The attempt alone is cool, it's high time that Minetesters explore new genres. :-)
Sadly, the result ultimately falls flat IMO. You explore the various rooms and collect items and clues, except the only item that actually matters are the keycards that unlock new rooms. Oddly, the key cards just magically increase your security clearance by using them in mid air (not at a terminal)??? There are working computers which their own GUI, which is nice, but you can't do much with them yet. A minimal game functionality is available: You can open doors and close them and the security clearance is checked properly.
(the review continues in the comments)
Graphics / Map
Oh wow! So many 3D models and textures! That must have taken a long time to put together. Also, the map is BIG and pretty detailed for the given time frame. There are many rooms you can explore and many items you can find, although most items still seem to be dummies. I think this alone gives the game potential for future releases, but it obviously needs more work. The map It rare you see hi-res textures actually being used in a Minetest, we're all so used to 16×16. XD But it makes sense
Music / Sounds
With 2-3 small exceptions, the game is completely silent. :-( Seems like there wan't time for that.
Story
Oh no, it seems the author ran out of time. :-( I like the idea of a mystery / adventure-style game to figure out what went wrong, but currently, the story is more like an jigsaw puzzle where like 80% of the pieces are missing, in a bad way. The few pieces that are available aren't really written out yet. It seems the story writing must have been done as a last-day panic effort. For a game like this, story is key, hopefully a future version will improve on this. Although, maybe you might even get away by throwing away all text in the post-jam version (should you attempt it) and still have a good game.
What's good is that the game's premise is very clear right from the start.
UI/UX
It's the standard Minetest controls, you can't do anything wrong with that. A lot of furniture randomly drops items when clicking them. I'm not sure it's a good idea the game lets you toss away ALL items tho (possible unwinnable state?). The game sometimes uses red text on a blue background, ew! (My eyes are still bleeding ...)
Many events are told to the player with chat messages, rather than a dedicated (and more pretty) UI. :(
Performance / Stability
I had no performance issues. The game, like most submissions, greeted me with many console warnings. But I found no real bugs, so the game seems stable.