Cutscenes, minigames, nice pixel assets, you put a lot of work in this and it shows!

Well done, and also an original take on the theme!

That was really well put together and pulled me in from the moment it started! The first little reality-transistion was a little confusing, but by the second one it made complete sense.

I really liked this!

INTERESTING AND FAITHFUL TAKE ON THE THEME; CLEAN, CONSISTENT GRAPHICS; GOOD MUSIC & SOUND.
IT IS NOT FUN BUT I DO NOT THINK IT IS MEANT TO BE FUN.
THE GAME EXPLORES ADDICTION AND SELF DESTRUCTION. UNFORTUNATELY IT IS TOO SHORT TO DELVE INTO THESE COMPLICATED THEMES AND WE ARE INSTEAD LEFT WITH A SUPERFICIAL CAUTIONARY TALE THAT HARKENS BACK TO CLASSIC PROPAGANDA FILMS, SUCH AS 'Reefer Madness' (1936).
DEVELOPER guladam SHOWS TENACITY BY CHOOSING TO CREATE SUCH AN AMBITIOUS GAME WITH ONLY 72 SHORT HOURS TO WORK WITH. I EAGERLY AWAIT TO SEE WHAT THEY ARE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING GIVEN THEIR OWN TIME.

i got really confused for the first half of the game, but wow! the last scene and ending were epic... i do think it'd have benefitted from a trigger/content warning at the start of the game or anywhere on the page at all. also, i usually don't enjoy pixel art a lot, but this pixel art is top notch! good job!

Wow. The game really took me in from beginning to end. The first rewind was a bit confusing and strange, but I guess that was good the way it way as it explained the premise without spelling it out.
And just a touch. I kind of would have loves if the end scene was interactive as well. "Proceed" => press Left, "Take a seat" => space. would made it even more meaningfull I guess. But great work 5/5

Oh and coming back to the main menu after the end I find the music doesn't match the tone of the game at all. At the beginning it was great. But Right after the end it feels too happy (But that has nothing to do with the overall game experience)

I liked it. Good idea, real story!

I really like your take on the theme you really nailed it!

The art and music was great and you really connect with the story.

Very nice job!

i loved the art, and the way you used simple mechanics for storytelling that made me play until the end. loved the sounds ! story was a bit too dark for me.. but made me want to see the end

Really well done and nicely polished game, a confusing but an excellent story to follow that up. And i also really liked the simplistic pixel art of the game.

loved the game concept and the graphics are clean. good job

The scope of the story is far too large to fit in a narrative as small as this. The result was a lack of emotional impact because it didn't leave room for interpretation but also did not have enough concrete stuff to make it feel emotionally impactful. The graphics and audio were decent, the mood was set well, but the lack of a powerful story in a story-driven game meant that I didn't really have a good time with it.

Good attempt, can be easily made longer and more powerful with some work and time.

I really enjoyed the mood and pacing of the game, especially the atmosphere music and sound created in combination with the visuals.
Also really interesting take of the theme.
Overall I really liked it!

@hapiel thanks for the feedback, glad you joined the ride! :v:

@nick-howard happy to hear you liked it, and that you could make sense of the story by the end :smile:

@goblinkingmatt Wow, that was a very insightful piece of feedback and review, thank you so much. Yeah, I agree it is way too short and ambitious for the 72H limitation. Thanks for the movie reference, I will definitely check 'Reffer Madness' out!

@ty Yeah we were going back and forth for the interactivity at the end. We decided that it makes sense if Bruces _loses control_ both figurately and definitely :smile:. Glad you still liked it and thanks for the feedback!

@bitlight Thanks! :v:

@dynamix Glad to hear that, thank you so much! :thumbsup:

@dobrila Yeah it is a bit dark... Thank you for still finishing it even though it is not your cup of tea. :tea:

@sthealthinator Happy to know you liked it! Thanks for the feedback :v:

@smiley405 Thank you so much!

@steve-dragon Thanks for the valuable feedback. To be honest, I have to agree with you there. We wanted to fit in maybe a bit too much with the scope. Maybe we will work on a post-jam version with a longer narrative so the story has enough time to unravel.

@rekit Glad to hear that, thank you so much! :v:

As always, awesome to get feedback, thank each and every one of you! :smile:

It felt depresing! I loved it, kicking adam to death was fun tho! hehe.
The dialog is impresive too, the story here is dark as hell man. Great job :heart:

A very sad, although interesting game. It's mostly a visual novel as I do not believe I had any choice, but to do what was asked by me(?), and it does carry a pretty well-written story. I do agree with the other commenter that it would have benefitted from some more depth. I personally would prefer if there was some more choice, although as a visual novel it does well! Mood and graphics were wonderful.

Depressing, but very well done. Good idea, and very nice art

Really cool art and great use of limited palette. Did you make the palette during the jam, or get is somewhere? Would love to see.

@ds-nahogara Adam definitely had it coming! :muscle: Thanks for the feedback!

@tarfield Yeah I agree, it's more like a visual novel. Glad that you still gave it a go. Maybe if we keep developing it we can give more freedom to the player? Thanks for the idea! :v:

@rubenwardy Thank you so much! Glad you liked it. :-)

@rhoff95 I'm happy to hear you liked it! :v: We didn't make the palette ourselves, you can grab this from LoSpec: [Palette Link](https://lospec.com/palette-list/nyx8)

We don't know too much about color theory so we picked one that we liked from the site. I definitely recommend you to check out [lospec](https://lospec.com/palette-list), there is a myriad of cool palettes there. :smile:

Beautiful and incredible art, I love it all the minigames and the cutscenes! The game is awesome man! Congratulations!

I have absolutely no idea what I just played, but charming art and nice haunting music. Good stuff!

Absolutely brilliant - wonderful art and cutscenes!

Nice job but a bit too depressing!

Wow it was a unique game experience, i'm stun... It was great and I loved how you used the theme. Graphics and sound effects are good too, impressive that you did all that work in 72h ! Great Game !

Excellent surprise. I really loved following Bruce. Thank you for this entry

Wow at first I was captured by the games structure, I always wondered if you made a minigame compilation and created a story arc how could it work and I think you managed to find it , super impressive. I also love the gradual unfolding storytelling , constant sense of confusion and foreboding, and the finish . Awesome sound effects , great presentation across the board.

This is my favorite Ludum Dare game so far you should be super proud of what you made in such short time.

Unique take on the theme. I am absolutely impressed by the high quality of sound effects and music. They really set the tone for the game. Also the way the story is being told is very interesting. Found this very solid and enjoyed my experience very much. Thanks for this entry!

Well, that was fuckin' grim... but I wanted to follow the story the whole way! Really like the art direction and sound design. Well done!

Very little gameplay and sometimes some sound is very loud, however the primary goal, ie the story, and this part is very successful! the "descent" effect works very well, as does the "beug" effect which adds a lot. A very good job, congratulations

Sad and moving but in a good way. Really liked the perception vs. reality mechanic and I think the art works wonderfully for a game like this, good job!

Fantastic theme perspective. You did it. I shall thank you for submitting this jewel. It kept my heartbeats high for the whole duration. It is unnecessary that I list all the merits of this jewel, I guess the others in comments have already done it. Thank you agian, sincerely.

Very dark game! Early on I started thinking "is the right answer to stop playing?" as you could only do messed up things haha :D Nitpick: I think the audio was mostly coming out of my left speaker, or at least it felt like it. Cheers for the unique dark experience!

@mrleao Thank you so much, happy to know you enjoyed it! :smile:

@binaryspark Thanks! I guess... that's a good thing right? :sweat_smile:

@m11 Wow, thanks for the kind words! :v:

@makse Yeah, it's kind of depressing. Sorry if it got you into a bad mood. Hope you still found something to like about it.

@shin0nome So happy to hear that! Glad you enjoyed it and of course, thanks for the kind feedback! :heart:

@shubart Wow, I'm glad you followed his journey along. Thank you for playing and being part of his story!

@jonathan-jennings First of all, thanks for the detailed and elaborate feedback. Secondly, thank you for those kind words, it really means a lot. :slight_smile:

@villanelle Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed it :v:

@cameron-paxton agreed... It's totally grim. Glad you still experienced the whole thing and thank you.

@nyanpierre Yeah, the primary goal was to create something which is more like a story or an experience. Hope you liked the imagery of the story! :arrow_down:

@frokes Thanks, feedback like this means a lot!

@leggy Wow, I'm a bit speechless. It's so good to hear you enjoyed it that much. What more could we ask for? Thank you becoming a part of this story :blush:

@sodaro Maybe it is the answer yeah... Cheers for sticking through the end. :v:
Thanks for the tip about the audio, I'll look into it, but it should be fine.

Very interesting and dark game, great job! But i didnt really like the font and i dont know why, but all the sounds were only to my left ear xD) Anyway, really cool!

I really dig your game, the style and the pixel art are great! Nice job!

Congratulations on the game, strong story, minimalist graphics but beautiful, game was well executed congratulations, thank you for the opportunity to have known your work, a big hug to everyone, and I await your evaluations regarding my game.

Good work ! I love the minigame with the car keys :D It's sad that it as only one like that guess you had no time to do more like this one. The story is very interesting (and sad). The effect when the game switch between what bruce think he has done and the reallity is nice. Good job :)

This was very dark and I loved it! You really nailed all aspects - the graphics, gameplay, sounds, voice acting and the story as well. Switching between imaginary and real Bruce was amazing and incredibly well done! You are super talented and this was one of the best, if not the best entry I played so far!
The only minor complain is the font - sometimes it is a little bit hard to read. Otherwise, this is really amazing entry and I hope I will see more games from you, perhaps even on Steam or something, you definitely have that in you!

Really enjoyed the dark mood, and how it snuck up and then escalated, gradually consuming the mundane. Was the font hand drawn? I didn't pay careful attention to see if the letters repeated exactly, but either way I didn't mind that was a little bit of a struggle to read. I also think you used some deliberately long speech-advancing delays for a few parts, maybe? The impediments to normal easy for of reading were in line with the game's tone so I definitely didn't mind.

Nice pixel art, especially the night scene in the park with my friend there. The audio was also really nice.

Great job on achieving a clear, consistent voice for this entry.

Well, I can tell you went for a "deep" thematic! Haha.
Anyhow, here goes:
What struck me the most in your entry was the game's mood. Minimalist graphics, a dark theme... good material! Writing a story up in an LD is from my experience very tough; you got to string the plot together in a game, with a nice "minigame" flavor in each scene; cheers to that!
I can't say I enjoyed the plot itself too much: the few premises it has felt a bit entry-level. The illusion/reality twist in each chapter is pretty neat, but past the first time it became fairly predictable. The ending scene felt plain weird too. It's over the top, and along the story it feels like the main character's been given issues piled onto another to fit a stereotype role.
Were the story longer, it would establish a more logical progression and you would likely do fine there.
My impression entering the game was very nice! I believe you did well with your planning and direction - while I criticized the plot, I didn't fail to notice the good work you put into the game. Congrats!

Thank everyone for the awesome, detailed feedback.

@egercreator Thanks for your feedback. Absolutely agree about the font, it wasn't the best choice, thanks for pointing it out. Also, thanks for reporting the audio bug, we managed to fix it so we really do appreciate your feedback. :v:

@marcoming Thank you so much, glad you enjoyed it! :pray:

@etrealjunior Thanks for the kind words, we liked your game as well, nice job! :smile:

@lorwon Glad you liked it! :v: We also loved doing the mini games. Unfortunately, we didn't have the time to add more but would have liked to do so! Thanks for playing it! :cloud_lightning:

@dzejpi Wow, thanks for the kind words, we feel speechless! Your feedback is very heart-warming and motivating and we are absolutely glad that you enjoyed our little game! :heart: We agree that the font wasn't the best choice, promise we'll do better next time. :v:

@pkenney Yeah we kind of screwed up with this font in hindsight. Happy that you still played the game though and that you found it interesting! The speech-advancing delays were definitely deliberate, we wanted to sort of make it match the emotional tone of the cutsene, nice catch! :wink: Thank you for the awesome feedback :v:

@fusionnist Great detail on the feedback, thank you so much for that! Yeah, I absolutely agree with you. Writing a story up is definitely a great challenge for a LD game. As a matter of fact, this was the first time we ever tried to create a "story-based" game. Glad you still enjoyed it and again, cheers for the feedback! I believe we can even do better for the next one! :v:

Breaking Bad with no choices and straightforward morale, a hopeless one deep story with some aftermath. I think, I saw where this one was heading. It's a rabbit hole with no backdoor. If you continue on this project, I hope, there're going to be choices to get better. Liked the writing, though.