Ratmancer by Wolfox121
You are the fearsome Ratmancer, second coming of Cheezus Christ. Your goal, to rob the Giant Baron of his legendary beer, and have a wild bender with it! You'll need your wits about you though, as the Baron guards his spoil well - sneak through his mansion, use your rat army to distract his guards, turn off his lights, and rob him of all the beer and cheese he's worth!
Controls
WASD -> Movement
Shift -> Sprint
Control -> Crouch
Space -> Jump
Space + Control -> Crouch Jump to Gain Height
E -> Interact
Left Click -> Throw Distraction
Right Click -> Ranged Interact
Escape -> Pause
Credits
Kyle S - Producer & Lead Programmer
Tony T - Lead Designer & UI
Jordan M - Character/Prop Artist
Max - Level Artist
Noc - Cover Art

| Link | https://shortsidestudio.itch.io/ratmancer |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/56/ratmancer |
Ratings
| Overall | 525th | 3.574⭐ | 36🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 596th | 3.333⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 710th | 3.091⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 659th | 3.544⭐ | 36🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 576th | 3.621⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 317th | 3.455⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 476th | 3.588⭐ | 36🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 70🗳️ | 48🗨️ |
The UI is unique as they worked rat tails as a counter for the amount of rats you currently possess, unfortunately I found it hard to see at some points higher then 5 and there is a hard cap of 10 at a time (Can't find any more then 10 but that irrelevant). The cheese is constantly moving with the player and I find it innovative and jarring as I can actively see my cheese increasing in size but also get motion sick from how much is vibrates at times. As for the main menu UI, I enjoy the hand but it is a bit annoying to tab out with it. Otherwise its funny, especially when you die (laughed my ass of for like 5 mins).
I also found voice lines to be amazing in a sense of its amazing how many different rat sounds can be made from the human voice.
Gameplay wise, I honestly enjoyed myself as I traversed through the 3 dungeons of the game. The first dungeon was a cake wake but I will admit if took me a bit to open the first gate as I didn't realize the rats can hold the levers (btw, throwing all your rats through the fence does not help you in the long run). After that I got stuck trying to get cheese on a fountain, It took me 10 mins to figure out how to jump onto this thing before realizing I could crouch jump on it and got it first time. Level design flaw? Maybe. Self Stupidity? Most likely.
Also can we talk about how the life system is also your means of attack? Guards patrol the dungeons and when they spot you, they can smack you for one rat. If you don't have any rats left, you die. I find this funny and also stupefying as they only chase you for maybe 2 meters and go back like nothing happened. But lets not forget, this is a stealth game! I get splinter cell vibes as I traverse the darkness and as soon as I touch a light source, my game informs me my body can be seen by jaws as white spikes surround my screen, just about blinding me. But worry not my friends as if you are spotted, you can throw your rat (Children? Lives? Summons, we're calling them summons) summons at unsuspecting and suspecting guards to distract and blind them for a small period of time. Once I found the lever to open the gate to escape this Level, I noticed all of the guards moving towards the gate. Honestly I thought it was cool that they did that but annoying if your trying to do a not seen run. I'll leave the other 2 levels alone as they are equally fun (But there is a ladder that, when pushed, will launch you out of the level and cause you to fall eternally).
TLDR: I thought this game was super fun and innovative but it needs more rats.
Remembered a game from my childhood - g-force:)
Adorable main character. Also liked that this note with how many rats are left is designed using rats tails.
The guards did seem to be quite blind that I rarely needed to throw rats at them.
The small steps in the floor you had to jump to get past were quite annoying in last level.