Vincent's Sacrifice by Honest Dan
Jam version is now live - thanks for patience Those who played it early are invited to try again, as the version we put up here was an early build as we had version management issues when we were trying to submit! Thank you
Mouse aim version available - a lot of people complained the retro controls made it too tough, so in hope that more people get to access the content we put together, we've made a new build which uses keyboard and mouse controls. Both versions are still available on the download page on itch.io.
CONTROLS
Mouse Aim Version
- W, A, S, D (or arrow keys) - Movement
- Left-Click - Attack
- Space - Interact, Hold to Drag / Push Objects
- Left-Shift (or right click) - Dash
Keyboard only version
- W, A, S, D (or arrow keys) - Movement
- J - Attack
- K - Interact
- L - Dash
- Space - Drag / Push Objects
The Game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btvw3ZD4gEw
You play Vincent, a rabbit who’s poorly son has just died. When burying his son, Lucifer appears and offers Vincent a way to bring his son back to life.
Vincent is taken to Lucifers dungeon, and told he must prove how much he wants his son back through fighting his way through the dungeon.
During this trial, Vincent can gain help from Lucifer: reviving yourself when dead, helping you clear / solve a dungeon room, providing you with improved character stats.
However, all of these come at a cost: losing character stats, making immoral decisions, making the end boss fight more difficult.
Vincent must make it to Lucifer at the end of the dungeon, in order to bring back his little baby rabbit son.
How To Play
Clear the rooms of the dungeon until you face your final test. Monster rooms need all monsters cleared before you can move on to the next room. Gauntlet rooms require you to simply get to the end of the room and avoid all the traps. Puzzle rooms require switches to be activated in order to open the exit door. Sacrifice rooms require you to make a moral decision before you can progress to the next room.
When you die, you can be resurrected. You will have sacrifice your stats when doing so (Max HP, Attack, Defence, Attack Speed, Move Speed). If you help Lucifer, he will reward you by improving your stats - though your decisions will impact your final test at the end of the dungeon.
F.A.Q
The game is too hard! It is difficult, but you can be revived as often as you like other than on the final boss.
The aiming is too difficult Yes, it is. We wanted an old school approach, but in hindsight it will frustrate more people than we'd like.
*There's a bug with... * Please let us know with as much detail as possible <3 thank you!
| Windows | https://honestdan.itch.io/vincents-sacrifice |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/43/vincents-sacrifice |
Ratings
| Overall | 134th | 3.92⭐ | 71🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 176th | 3.721⭐ | 70🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 478th | 3.201⭐ | 69🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 63th | 4.243⭐ | 70🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 221th | 4.052⭐ | 69🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 255th | 3.524⭐ | 65🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 174th | 3.608⭐ | 62🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 132th | 3.886⭐ | 68🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 142🗳️ | 105🗨️ |
Admittedly I do feel like it's intentional, so as to have the player die to sacrifice more often but still it makes the gameplay itself feel less challenging and more frustrating. Like you're fighting the controls then the monsters.
Managed to get through a few rooms but then just kept dying all the time.
Some thoughts:
- Absolutely AMAZING art. Has to be my favorite of the jam so far.
- The theme is implemented in a really clever way here. Really enjoyed it.
- The homing attacks felt a bit too long. I dash away through the entire room and they would still hit me. I don't know if this is fixed in your final version, if it is, nevermind.
- When I respawned, I had to click the text box away. While I did that, I got hit already so I effectively started with 80 health. Again, if this is fixed in the final build, no complaints here.
@vincent-blot the bullets are fine, the most annoying thing I found were the green blobs. It took a while to get their pattern in my head, but once you get the hang of dashing, the game actually became pretty easy :id:
Great job!
- Feedback on how much damage I dealt and how much HP the monsters have left. The attack doesnt feel rewarding without them.
- Click to finish the sentence. This does not make it skippable, just to display the sentence faster. It feels dragged out without this, and the effect is really shown when the player die and I have to watch the same talking happen, slowly.
- Some people commented earlier about taking damage right after respawn and I was there too. My suggestion is either having 1-2s of immunity after respawned or respawn at a safer location.
This is an ambitious entry and I'm happy for you guys that you made it on time. Big congrats and good luck with the results!
There is one annoying thing though: when being revived, the game unpauses before the UI elements disappear, resulting in the rabbit instantly losing health to invisible enemies.
The only part I am not very fond of is that the more you suck, the harder the game is.
It is interesting that the sacrifices are not only a story or gameplay feature, but both. Also, i really liked the sprites, made the game have a retro charm. I think the cutscenes could use the same graphic style, but both were very well done so i dont really have nothing to complain about.
I only tried the mouse aiming version and could beat the game dying only once. I dont think it would be possible without this mechanic, it really helps.
Congratulations!
Proud to be a never-sacrificer and managed to kill Lucifer without a scratch! (mouse controls) So I couldn't appreciate the sacrificing.
I think the art style is quite inconsistent in parts with pixel graphics mixed with the drawings. Rooms also felt a little empty sometimes. Otherwise, absolutely loved the story, love the artwork, and it was really fun to play with tight action.
Oh and Vincent's ear should be clipped at the end.
First of all: poor Bobby! :'(
The intro is really amazing, the story is cool and the hand drawn characters are cute and creepy at the same time!
Lucifer is hateful, I basically saved only the homeless and the chicks...
I even sacrificed the horse... I feel so bad for this. ;_;
The mechanic of reviving is cool, and in combination with the illusions make this game fit the theme 100%.
Even the gameplay is really well made: different enemies with different behavior (How hard is to dodge the green slimer tho?), stats for the player attack/difense and cool puzzle parts.
It reminds me a sort of Binding of iaac where you need to clear the dungeons before proceeding.
Let me guess: the bunny is called Vincent like Vincent Van Gogh because it has only one ear? XD
Unfortunately I was unable to finish the game because I got stuck into the puzzle with the barrels connected by the red light. I don't get how to pass it.
At the end the entry is really solid: Good mechanics, 100% fit theme, a really good atmosphere with narration and nice music and sfx.
Maybe it is a little bit hard but I know you did it in order to push the player being "bad", sacrificing "innocent" animals/people. XD
Well done guys! :)
I've encountered 2 small bugs in ver .3:
When pushing the barrels without pressing space, the barrel will just keep on moving.
This visuals/sprite order issue with the charcter, barrel and the laser-thingy:
Oh, and I hate the slimes. I'd gladly sacrifice those bastards...
I reckon the chicks and the mother are really behind it all (and M. Night Shyamalan helped you put together the script).
Thanks for submitting!
I dread to think how hard this would have been without mouse aim, but as it is now, it's perfect: challenging, but not frustrating. The puzzles were spot-on too, they took a little figuring out but they weren't bash-your-head-against-the-wall difficult. I'm not sure about the cutscene artwork, but when you've only got 72 hours, you gotta cut corners. (And the ending still gave me a shiver... brr...)
My main complaint is the final boss: it might be the mouse aim, but it felt too easy. I was able to beat it by backing right up against the wall, dodging occasionally, and just firing at the centre of the room, where Lucifer was. Even his assistants (without spoiling anything) didn't make things much more difficult. All in all, though, I really enjoyed playing through this. Well done!
One last thing, that occurred to me while I was writing this: is Vincent named after Vincent van Gogh? What with his ear getting cut off and all...