This was so unique, I really enjoyed playing it <3

Absolutely loved the graphics, especially the little monsters. Everything was nicely polished and the core game loop was fun :)

Great job!

Very fun! Difficulty feels good - haven't gone 5 minutes yet, but I've gotten close. Great art + mood too!

Fun and hard. Very interesting take on the genre and felt like a complete package.

Good job on the dark and scary vibe!

This is a really fantastic game. It really shows that simple twists on a classic idea work so well in Jams. Brutally difficult, but very compelling to replay. The furthest I managed to get was 4:12.

I really like having to bounce your weapon away from you as a design concept; it creates great tension between
being powerful and vulnerable. The bounces and player speeds feel very finely tuned, and I think that's a great deal of what keeps me playing. The graphics, music and vibe are cohesive and beautiful, and the upgrade cadence feels good.
I had a bit of trouble with the hitboxes of the enemies. They're a bit bigger than the sprites, I think, which can lead to a bit of a surprise when you pass by a smaller shadow. Furthermore, while I absolutely love the fact that you can't see enemies in the darkness, it can be a bit frustrating to run into one that you hadn't anticipated. Making the eyes of the shadows occasionally flicker in the darkness might help you track them without knowing where they are at all times.

Really great work. Thank you for making it!

Fun game, I really like the aesthetic. I think the hitboxes could be a little more forgiving though. But the game is simple and well executed.

"Light always kills the darkness" I love your take on this theme. Pushing the light to destroy the shadows is an amazing concept. along with the music, art and overall direction in the game. keep it up! <3

I won! Lord of the flies!

A surprisingly innovative game. I could see how something like this could be expanded into a longer game with the whole darkness and passive protection mechanic.

Cool atmosphere / mood. Tough game and the indirect control of your "weapon" takes some getting used to, but once you get the hang of it it's pretty fun. The creature designs were also very neat.

Nice job on the feel and atmosphere!

Great idea and great execution! I really enjoy the core mechanic

Good job! Love the idea, game looks great too.

interesting game, it took me a few playthroughs to get the hang of bouncing the thing around to smack the monsters. overall was a fun game to play.

Very nice atmosphere! Reminded me of my favorite horror and adventure games of the 90s. Thank you!

Fun idea and nice atmosphere, just a good experience all around

Amazing polish for a game jam. Love the vibe, and the gameplay is also great. Good gameplay loop and enjoy the little rogue like power ups.

Such a good atmosphere, I liked the upgrades a lot :D

First of very good mood, everything feels cohesive and is well done. A survivor game with limited space works really well!

Biggest gameplay issue was that the hitboxes for taking damage seem slightly taller than the visual representation and most times I took damage was because of that problem. Even if you couldn't have fixed it due to some limitation you could have added a shadow to warn/indicate that you dont want to be near them (dark is bad). The shadow would also more clearly convey that they are evil (dark is bad) so you instantly know they are enemies instead of wondering the first time you see them.

Most of the upgrades don't have much use, I think you should have made more upgrades that affect the way the combat plays than stats of things like run speed and potion chance. The lights emit more light upgrade is the top tier upgrade and having a couple more that contest it would be nice. Things like enemies move slower in light, lights change direction when hitting an enemy, etc. Changing the combat fundamentally would have made the game much more interesting on replay instead of just do the same thing again until you make a mistake.

Smaller issue but the upgrade image for 'lights are pushed further' seems misleading for what I think it does. It looks like it increases the distance you can push and the name being close to 'lights are pushed from further' doesnt help. If it is 'lights are pushed from further' instead of 'light are pushed harder' then the effect even after two purchases doesnt really feel like it does anything.

The timer wasnt really explained and if it is a game over I feel like that was a mistake. Lots of what I like about survivors games and keeps me coming back is how you feel super over powered late game and at one minute left I started feeling a lot more powerful and if at the end of the timer the game just stopped I would have felt robbed. Many more recent games with that scaling power include a continue feature (crab champions, SNKRX) and while maybe the game is not balanced for continuing, it doesnt have to be because feeling liek you broke the game is many times very rewarding.

It was fun though even if I found a few issues you can't make something perfect easily and many things require itteration and time. Great game and great job!

This was great, hurt boxes on the monsters feels a little big, but really fun and engaging game :heart:

The music and sounds realy create an amazing atmosphere and the gameplay is challenging but not too hard. Well made!

Very fun! Controls really nicely, and when you can line up a bounce and get a bunch of shadows it is really satisfying. Really good challenge level. I wish you got additional fireflies more often though

It was a bit hard to figure out at the start but after understanding the mechanics it was a very fun experience! awesome work!

This was such a cool game! The use of light as a defense is such a clever mechanic. The little monsters are so cute too!

Very simple and very good game. Good graphics and good sounds. After some minutes it became a little bit redundant. But really cool !

Very simple and satisfying, great game! only complaint is it felt kind of repetitive after a while.

Super simple concept that's executed well, loved how intuitive the upgrade system/UI is

Neat idea! Work well even if a bit hard!

The pixel art is great, I'm a big fan, and it feels well balanced. Good submission and well done for doing it in 48hrs.

A great and intense game. Player's hitbox might be too big, I often get hit by shadows that appear to be distant from me. Great music and art.

Awesome game! I'm a real sucker for these survivor-like games. This was super polished and had a perfect amount of challenge. I did die/get hurt a couple of times because I was by the wall and something spawned off-screen beside me which was a bit annoying, but that is my only gripe. Overall, it is an excellent game. Great work!

very cool, i play this long time

That was very fun! it was scary and challenging, good work!

This is a great time sink! I survived over 3 minutes, this is so eerie, challenging and rewarding! I'd play hours of this, amazing. Love the level-up mechanics, really round the game up!

I enjoyed it a lot, the gameplay is unique and you did really good graphics ! I like survivor games a lot and you did a good job !

full five

I really enjoyed the atmosphere and and ambient sounds which went really well with the visuals. The UI is amazing and is something that sometimes gets overlooked. Controls and overall gameplay felt solid although I found the player character to be a bit too tall to be agile during horizontal movement to avoid enemies. A healthbar for the boss would also be nice.

Overall a fantastic entry. I always have a soft spot for spooky titles and I am glad this one didn't disappoint.
Great job everyone!

I'm not a fan of vampire survival, but the game is really well polished and executed.
Good job :)

- Cool idea, I liked the upgrades
- I found it hard to aim the fireflies and tended to run behind the firefly and bait enemies into walking into it.
- It was pretty tough at the beginning with one firefly and getting a second one made it much easier, maybe you could start with two but they would gradually lose their light and flicker out.

This is like a spooky variation of pool. I didn't make it far, but at any point can you earn a 2nd firefly? Really entertaining loop. Thanks for the fun!

Same as other, the hit boxes seemed a bit off. Like the hit box for the character is the rectangle the texture is in which encompasses a lot of "not character" space.
A second of invincibility after choosing an upgrade would be nice to avoid getting hit by things you don't see anymore while choosing the item.
A brightness configuration at the start of the game would help too. Playing during the day in a bright room makes it harder to see enemies.

Super cool concept! The boss really caught me off guard! The progression system is simple but super cool. I have a few gripes with the design: Hitboxes of the player should in generally be smaller than the sprite and enemies' should be larger than their sprite. An unfair balance is perceived as fair by the player. And the game shouldnt continue unless the menu is nearly faded. I often got sucker-punched when i couldnt see anything.
But very well done and very nice concept!

It's a cool "vampire survivors" kind of game with a twist. The firefly both helps to see what's happening and acts as your weapon. It is pretty good entry, nicely polished and fun to play.

I had great fun playing this, went a few rounds, held on for about 90 seconds. The difficulty curve seems a bit steep to me and a few of the pixelated words were nearly unreadable. Other than that no problems and good execution.

This is a real fun little concept. I like the rogue lite drops. Good job.

That's a nice system!

It was a bit hard to guess when I will be touched by a shadow and when I won't (so, not so clear of a hitbox), but otherwise enjoyed playing it!

Nice, game, very atmospheric, I liked the earie music, and the mosnter shapes are pretty cool >///<

Best Mood so far

Overall very well done. Great ambiance, addictive gameplay and i loved learning some "tricks", and refining strats by playing.
It's a bit too hard too fast, you dont enjoy the power scaling so much as you could. But frankly it's a very good entry!

A really fun game. I loved the combination of the fireflies being a way to attack and a way to see enemies. Lining them up to hit multiple enemies was also fun.

a fun twist on rouge-lite games and similar - really challenging but super enjoyable. i loved the music and sound effects, although i do agree with some of the reviews on the size of the hitboxes - it's certainly no dealbreaker though, 5s across the board :)

Wow Super addictive. I played it multiple times, but only ever managed to get down to the last minute with three fireflies being kicked around. Love this game, exactly the style of game I enjoy!

I liked the tradeoff from pushing the firefly to attack leaving you more vulnerable. It is a neat twist that added some complexity with how you play.

Ooof, I love it, so atmospheric, great ambient music, and brutally hard; I can't beat it. Made it to four fireflies. I quickly started not pushing the fireflies at all, since they will (permanently?) move slower afterwards. Maybe a life lesson.

Perhaps a pull on the fireflies would be nicer as a game mechanic? It's tricky to predict their trajectory and lure the monsters into it without getting far into the darkness, where new monsters might be. The hitbox also feels unfair at times, with the stakes of getting hit being as high as they are it would be nice to feel every hit is justified.

Having a new firefly at exact minute marks would give the player something concrete and known to look forward to, now I sometimes feel a bit frustrated and desperate when I'm running around on one heart with no potions dropping despite having multiple upgrades on those.

Somehow I felt that the difficulty first seems to get easier and then harder again, I wonder if more people feel this way.

Your game is actually kind of similar to mine, and you might also enjoy this one with a similar mechanic: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/54/vade-ratro

Made it to end only to be killed by the big shadow lol. Good work, nifty lil game

Very nice and fun game, you can almost cheese it if you manage to put the firefly in a perfect horizontal position. The music is nice and the art style is very good. The hitbox of the player seems a bit to large

This is a really good game! captures the essence of the theme really well, is simple to understand and fun to play. Music and art are harmonious in concept and I love how the powerups were simple and easy to understand. Great game! you could even expand this to include a bigger map and it will still translate really well

Very cool game! I was a bit caught off guard when it was "game over", because there was no indicator of such. However, pushing the fireflies was fun, and getting upgrades was satisfying. Props on the spoopy vibes too!

Really impressive how much game you got packed in there, was not expecting the upgrades and it was very satisfying lining up the firefly to kill the shades. Ws not able to beat it yet but I will keep trying.

fun and challenging game. feels so good to get that second firefly. the lighting is perfect. I appreciate the size of the game gives that limited space feel. It would be nice to get like half a second of invulnerability frames when you level up, i often die right as i choose an upgrade. Perhaps a playing area that restricts would add to the challenge. I wasnt able to beat level 1 haha. Audio was good it fit the vibes very well.

That really was brilliant. I read the other comments to make sure they really thought it was as good as I did, and yes, it's a good myth. This is a lesson in how simple and at the same time complex and innovative a game can be. So on topic. It was a relief to finally find a fully rated game within the theme. A very tight space indeed. Very fun. I gave the theme full marks. It just wasn't more fun than 3 because the difficulty could be more balanced, it gets very difficult very quickly, but the main thing: after choosing a card, I end up dying because I can't remember where the enemies that stopped were. are below the letter. The graph is nice, but I can't give it a very high rating in this regard. But really it was brilliant, really great work. The best I've tested so far.

This is a great game! Very simple, with beautiful graphics and moody music! The atmosphere was really spooky, and the gameplay was challenging enough to keep me entertained for a long time! Great work!

Very fun ! Really liked the pushing mechanic. As other said, colliders on monsters are too big (hitbox are nice when they recieve damages but not when they inflict damages) so it's too hard. And again as other have said, the upgrades could be better, more useful. But overall great entry with a lot of potential I think !

(Oh and also great Mood !!)

Very fun game, good job!

Cool twist on the survivors genre. Really like the use of light & darkness.

What a cute game! Very addicting to play. Art is nice. Gameplay loop is good. Upgrades are okay, but some don't feel like they make a noticeable impact. Hitbox was a bit punishing. Especially with the boss, almost impossible to avoid. I would have wanted more fireflies on the screen. Boss was very scary though, as in I managed to somehow beat it on the first run but avoiding it felt way too difficult and I was sure I would have died. Which would have been sad because if I did I probably wouldn't have started another run given how much time it takes to get to the boss.

Overall a very solid entry. Well done!

What a great game! Really simple to understand but still a great challenging experience. Overall it is extremely polished and a brilliant entry :)

The theming and art is really good. I found it difficult to aim the firefly - a visual arrow indicating the direction the firefly would be pushed in would've been immense help. A really solid entry for the jam though, good job to both of you!
The hitbox for the enemy is difficult- it doesn't seem to match the sprite. But from what I understand, it also makes it easier to hit the enemy. It would be good to keep it easy to hit the enemy since its already difficult to hit with the firefly, but make the actual collision with the character more accurate/or more forgiving.

Fun game and nice art. The hitbox is a bit difficult hard to play. But I love the atmosphere.

Super fun game and great mood! It's a great balance of satisfying and difficult to push the fireflies around.

Loved it! Great concept and mood. An improvement could be to have a little pause or invulnerability window after you picked an upgrade and the game continues, as I often took damage right after, not being back in focus quick enough. Awesome work!

A very creative approach to the classic, worthy of winning the jam

As others have mentioned, the music and mood were great but the hitboxes were a bit unforgiving.. Feels like what you would get if you were asked to turn breakout into a roguelike / bullet hell.

Also, thanks for the volume controls!

Woah, this game was so much fun. The gameplay loop is simple and effective, keeps you engaged while not being overly complex.

The general polish of the mood, aesthetics and fun is top notch! Well done, guys!

Very addictive and smooth game. Thanks! Nice take on arcanoid mechanics.

Nice survival game. I wish the hitbox is more smaller and default sight is larger

Great game, had a lot of fun with it! The more fireflies you have the more fun it gets, so it's a bit of an issue how long it takes to get that second fly... It feels a bit too hard because of that, often I died before getting there.

all five stars!!!I love this game so much,wish there are some permanent upgrade for my character

Interesting concept. Making the darkness be the limited "space" is a fun interpretation! :-)

I loved this game! So much creative and well made!

so this is a great game... shooting fireflies at enemies is a decent challenge but not annoying... great entry

Thank you all for playing and commenting! :) :heart:

I did it! Finally!

I enjoyed playing this little gem. It's quite hard with the hitboxes and the darkness, but it's very addictive!
After many tries I finally survived for 5 minutes, was surprised it wasn't over but still managed to finish the game on that try. I really enjoyed the cheerful music after finishing the game. That's a relief! Haha :smile:

Original game with cool mechanics!

brilliant mechanic!

A very interesting mix of Vampire Survivor and Pong.
Unfortunately for me I'm bad at both styles of play. :D

I managed to make the most of it.

Simple and well-made game. It's everything a game needs to be.

Congratulations!

This makes a simple and innovative concept go a long way. My only criticism is the hitbox for the player/enemies felt larger than my instincts thought they would be, and the bullets smaller.