man, I love how brutal this game was, it reminded me a lot of Hotline Miami, good implementation of the theme!

Very effective gameplay. I love the 10s "pulses" that forces to think & rethink.

Good job very visely usage the 10s jamgame game took me to old days

This was an absolute blast to play. The gameplay was hard but easily picked up, and felt fluid and satisfying all of the way through.

Amazing work!

man, that last level was really really really really really good

What a banger! This game nailed both the mood and the gameplay, and they complement each other well!

The gameplay is one of the most interesting games I've seen in the jam. It takes a simple concept and adds many layers of complexity and depth to it. Additionally, each level feels different and gives a different kind of vibe, some are stealth challenges while other are brutal all out fights. I really liked the puzzly aspect of the game, and trying out good routes through trial and error (bonus points to instant restarting). One of my gripes is about how precise some parts of the game is (I almost gave up at level 3), like how missing a single shot usually means death. Still, I think the game is fair and can definitely be learned and mastered.

The constant pressure of escaping traps, dropping weapons and escaping sentries keeps me really tense. With the constant beeping music and flashing red borders every 10 seconds, it felt really tense and nerve-wrecking, as if any misstep would cause me to die. A perfect mood for a game about breaking out of a "jail"!

It's an amazing game!

well thought out level designs, good music, good gameplay :v:

First thing noticeably cool - the cover art. It was actually the main reason I clicked into this game in the first place. It definitely evoked some door breaching action which, while not totally accurate, still matched how the game felt.

The game is really interesting and fun right off the bat. It's a bit like Monaco where you're sneaking around, except it covers one of the biggest issues with that game which is the ability to just hide forever. The red zones forces action from the player, and the level design is done such that they play hand in hand together.

Would the game have been better without guns? I'm not terribly sure. I did miss some of the stealth once guns were introduced, but I can understand how there are only so many stealth designs that you can do with only 1 enemy.

The last level in particular turned basically into Hotline Miami, or if you want to use a looser analogy, the last level of Max Payne 1 where it's go time, and all you're doing is blasting everyone away using what you learned. It's very fun, very intense. I sure died a lot, but won in the end.

Overall the design is very tight. It didn't seem like anything was wasted and you guided the player from interesting level to interesting level. The intensity of the game is ramped up with all the nice effects you have in there, ESPECIALLY the exploding heads. I loved the feeling of power from the shotgun. Awesome job!

I'm very new to Ludum Dare and I thought there was no way of replying to a specific comment, as it turns out I can just mention everyone I want to reply :]

@oolimry Thanks for the in-depth analysis, this game was inspired by the trial and error style game loop of games like Hotline Miami and Katana Zero, I'm glad to hear that the game feels balanced and fair, since it's rather difficult to have good balance in games that require you to try over and over again.

@peachtreeoath I don't often get compliments about the art of the games I worked on as I'm mainly a musician, I was quite happy with the cover art and I'm glad that you share the same opinion.

The game was originally a lot more focused on gunplay, and stealth only came into play once I figured since the player has no way of hurting the enemies without a gun, and cannot receive a gun without killing enemies, I can fluidly switch between stealth and action by using the weapon pickups. I had a few more stealth levels in mind but didn't have the time to implement them.

I also thank everyone else for their nice comments and feedback, and I'll try to be faster to reply future comments :]

Very nice :D I really like the idea. The guards AI are really good, didn't feel cheated once. Very well done :thumbsup:

It was weird at first the the character only looked to the left, than when I picked up the gun I understood why.

I knew when I saw the title screen that this was going to be a great game.

This is a really innovative, new game idea, that goes especially well with the theme, even though nothing goes really well with the theme. Full props for creativity. And on that note, a banger soundtrack and, again, great title screen too.

I like how you teach the gameplay as well, introducing the two main elements separately at first and then quickly letting the player figure out how they play together. The game gets hard fast, but in a way that feels fun and fair: as the player, I always feel like I know what I need to know, and I am absolutely aware that the reason I keep respawning is that I suck. Actually, on that note, maybe the one exception is the (really hard) last challenge: the fact that the enemies can see you a little bit before you can see them means that memorizing the movement patterns of that enemy with the machine gun in the center and just blindly shooting in their direction with the shotgun is pretty much the only way to beat the level, from what I saw. Maybe half a star deduction for that, even though I'm aware that memorizing some of the initial movement patterns is part of what makes the level fun, too (it's pretty much the only way to get out of the spawning area anyway, as you just have to know to point down the shotgun blindly and shoot the two enemies there, or you're just toast).

For the graphics, I like your pixels, but I feel the game would have made more sense in a top-down perspective. As it is, it just looks as if everyone was glued to the wall.

Still, all in all, the best game of the compo I saw so far.

The music, SFX and graphics are on point. I love the different take on the theme where it is just a CHECK of where you are standing. I didn't see such mechanic so I appreciate it. The balance of the game is nice until one point :D Then it gets difficult all of a sudden, it could use some easing there. Others mentioned it too I guess but the perspective of the game is weird. Either characters should be top-down or blocky walls could use some perspective. Overall, because it's also a COMPO game, it is amazing! Very well done! Looking forward to see you on another LD!

nice innovative game! I love the consept and I think with more story element and more polish it can be turned into a commercial game, I like the legal/illegal system and how it progresses as you do. the enemies are really difficult to sneak past (untill you get a gun). I wish the difficulty was a bit less harsh for potatos like myself, maybe more forgiving enemy detection etc.. but I guess there is fun in a challenge as well (although this game admittedly made me rage at some point lol). nice entry, well done!

Wow! I had a blast playing this game- it felt like a twist on Hotline Miami. Excellent use of the theme in this game with the global bomb timer that was always ticking. Great music and art too. Just a great entry all around.

Tense and fun use of the theme. You certainly used the 10 seconds to your advantage, where I often was thinking "oh man if I only had one more second I could have lived!" Good pacing as well, where persistence would pull me through each challenge.

I think it was a little hard to understand what would get me caught, so I ended up erring on staying further back and playing it safe, and I think that pulled out some of the tension from what seemed liked very thought out levels. I imagine if I watched someone play this game well I'd see all kinds of things I did poorly. That said, for a game jam this came together very well! The legal/illegal mechanics seem like you can take this game further and do more with it!

Great job!

Love the concept. The atmosphere is oppresing but fits well with the game. It's a bit hard for a noob like me so I appreciate the checkpoints! I really like the way you used the theme, very original, I have not seen that in other games for the moment. Good job =D

really innovative game, i'd say so! the concept is great, like that the usage of weapon is limited, you need to understand how to get through the mobs, etc. i'd recommend you to make your levels less bigger, cause sometimes it took too long to get to the starting point or areas with mobs was too broad, but it's just a little recommendation for the better gaming experience. nice art, tho. some more details would make it more Futuristic, idk. i liked it a lot, you did a great job!

I really liked this game, the main machanic was well done, the music was very fitting and the gameplay was inventive. I really liked one level where you have to pass behind the guard and grab a weapon while he's trying to shoot you. Good way of teaching how AI works. The last two levels reminded me of the Hotline Miami a bit as there were a lot of guards and a lot ways to die unexpectedly, i died many times there but it was great dying and seeing how much more I know about the level. The only thing that could be better presented in my opinion was graphics, top down view would give clearer picture where the enemies are looking at and where they are going. Great entry!

This is cool, I like the idea and the theme application. The game is hard but not impossible, it has a well balanced progression. The graphics are a bit simple, but readable. Controls are easy to understand and apply. Well done :thumbsup:

Adventure, stealth, shooting, mysteries ... I wasn't expecting all of that! Solid entry, good work!

43 overall lets go!!! :D Thanks to everyone for their ratings and feedback :]