Going Down Protocol by Ein

[raw]
made by Ein for Ludum Dare 57 (JAM)

The doors sealed behind you. An emergency protocol is engaged. The only way is down...

>>> Atmospheric first-person puzzle game - Play on itch.io <<<

Operating Procedure * This game focuses on tension and mood - sound is important * Each floor presents a new puzzle - decipher the path downward * Use WASD/Arrows + Mouse * If you are stuck, check the hints on itch.io page

WINWORD<em>2025-04-07</em>19-46-37.jpg

Credits * Code — Vladimir Kryukov & Andrei Petukhov * Art & Models — Pavel Smolin * Music & SFX — Maria Gorchakova * Narrative & Gamedesign — Dmitry Kosinov

>>> Play on itch.io <<< and please share your thoughts!

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Ratings

Given 4🗳️ 4🗨️

Feedback

MagnesiumNinja
08. Apr 2025 · 05:35 UTC
The atmosphere vignettes are nicely assembled! I appreciated the heads-up that there were no jump scares.
I found myself getting quite motion sick due to the way the look direction lags slightly behind the mouse pointer, though.
Marilou
08. Apr 2025 · 16:07 UTC
Nice submission ! I have to admit i often left the game to look at the hint you put in description cause i was stuck but i enjoyed a lot the mood and all the puzzles were very smart ! Loved it !
Chemie
09. Apr 2025 · 17:02 UTC
Unfortunately, I experienced motion sickness from the movement almost immediately, which is unusual for me. It's a real shame because the game looks very cool and I would have loved to play more of it!

Edit @ein:
Gave it another try and ended up playing through the whole thing! Loved it! Seriously creepy AF!
slay a stone
09. Apr 2025 · 17:10 UTC
I also got a bit motion sick due to the head movement and the head-wiggle. The puzzles were cool, I couldn't figure out the goo chamber unfortunately.
Lazar Cvetkovic
09. Apr 2025 · 17:13 UTC
Holy smokes!! This game is so bloody well made it scared the shit out of me lmao

The audio, the atmosphere... May as well be the best game I've played on this jam :)
Astoeth
09. Apr 2025 · 17:19 UTC
That's really nice ! had to look at the hint a few times but each time i felt stupid to not have seen it before so nothing frustrating, Good job !
🎤 Ein
09. Apr 2025 · 17:28 UTC
@chemie We think we fixed the motion sickness issue! Give it another try if you’re interested.

@slay-a-stone You can find hints for all floors just below the game on the itch page.
Jacky San
09. Apr 2025 · 17:29 UTC
I love this game, beautifully crafted, everthing is polished, really enjoyed my time (renember me The whitness <3). Great job guys :D (best game so far for this jam)
Monogatari
09. Apr 2025 · 17:30 UTC
Hey really cool little puzzle game, nice concept i wish to see more, music and sfx are so nice, the ambiance works perfectly ! Great job =)
Tetracold
10. Apr 2025 · 01:38 UTC
Loved the atmosphere and style! How it increasingly gets more messed up as you go down

The puzzles felt intuitive, I was a able to figure out everything on my own. I really like how the limited space of the elevator was used hide the puzzles in pretty clever ways
Suslik
10. Apr 2025 · 02:13 UTC
имба, заслуживает больше рейтинга)
Corbak
10. Apr 2025 · 09:52 UTC
It was a really great and smooth experience. I loved the aesthetic and the claustrophobic settings. This is a very cool entry and you can be proud to have achieve such a great puzzle game. Well done!
Yorsh
10. Apr 2025 · 17:31 UTC
Great mood! Cool idea for the theme to be stuck in an elevator. Puzzles are overall nice and it's fun to play. I found the 6 dot vector one to be a bit confusing, given that even with the hint I struggled to see the shape (kind of tried different things with little confidence). At one floor I found the solution and cleared the floor before even having a look outside, which is a bit of a shame given how nice it looks. Having more puzzle elements being in the outside environment would probably prevent things like this from happening. Congrats on the very nice game!
braktheman
10. Apr 2025 · 17:43 UTC
Thank you so much for giving me the heads up there was no jump scares and yet I still felt on edge the whole time. Fantastic atmosphere and really liked the audio most of all!

The puzzles were really hard for me and I had to use some of the hints but I kind of prefer that to easy puzzles I can just blow through quickly.
milq
10. Apr 2025 · 17:55 UTC
Wow! I absolutely loved the game; amazing graphics, fantastic music, and brilliantly designed puzzles! I have to admit I did check a hint or two, haha. It might sound silly, but I struggled quite a bit at first with calibrating my mouse sensitivity; when I adjusted it, I couldn't immediately see how the changes affected the gameplay, which meant I had to try several values blindly. Also, since the menu is accessed with ESC, pressing it would exit fullscreen mode, which made things a bit more cumbersome. Despite this minor inconvenience, my heartfelt congratulations to the team, this entry is truly wonderful. By the way, will there be a desktop version? I use Debian GNU/Linux and would love to experience the game at full performance. Impressive music, graphics, and puzzle design... what a spectacular game!
neowhoru
10. Apr 2025 · 18:28 UTC
i am normally no fan of this kind of puzzle games but this one hooked me directly. and really great graphics! mood is fantastic. love it.
recursor
10. Apr 2025 · 21:10 UTC
This is really great all around. I've been messing with it for longer than I care to admit and just stopped long enough to write this review. It's so cool to see a game use minimal (but well-done) assets and a small setting like this but make a really cool experience. Great job!
Amolker
10. Apr 2025 · 23:58 UTC
Really great atmosphere and great puzzles. Although I had to look at the hints :)
A bit awkward mouse control, but it's ok for a web build.
A great and well-polished game. Good job!
NickNickolas
11. Apr 2025 · 07:35 UTC
Overall it's a great game, with good graphics, sound and an overall atmosphere of mystery. I liked the theme and I think it's a great game.
LyaMgtt
11. Apr 2025 · 09:30 UTC
OMG it looks and sounds amazing, the ambiance is so on point, loved it !!
Rubel_NMB
11. Apr 2025 · 12:05 UTC
Love this atmosphere so much! Got a lot of fun
LDJam user 202408
11. Apr 2025 · 14:51 UTC
Honestly one of the best entries so far, it amazes me how you managed to do 3d modeling, animations and design of all levels in only 3 days while keeping the game well polished. The atmosphere is really good and the puzzles are smart without being too complicated (I was often the one complicating solutions in my head).

The music is also amazing, there is an acapella at some point that I thought was really beautiful :smile:

Hints are also something I appreciate about this game, I feel like more games should have optional hints for players that get stuck and end up quitting before experimenting the whole game, I only needed to look up a hint once and liked how it didn't show me the answer outright, instead providing a small hint. Although I feel like it would've been better if you didn't tell me that there are no jumpscares, though I understand that some people don't like them.

Overall, this was a really nice experience, I'd love to see this game expanded further, you obviously have a talented team and good coordination!
MatthewDrake
11. Apr 2025 · 18:58 UTC
So cool! Really creative puzzles, creepy as heck atmosphere and best of all, no jumpscares! Expertly done horror, well done! Hope you get far in the rankings because you deserve it!
LDJam user 55657
12. Apr 2025 · 10:09 UTC
Great atmosphere, small game of the highest quality. Very cool!
jscommander
14. Apr 2025 · 18:39 UTC
Great atmospheric game. Puzzles are very interesting, I was able to solve most of it by myself.
Tobius
20. Apr 2025 · 01:59 UTC
Excellent entry! Really well-done atmosphere, I loved the implied story as well, very cleverly done. The music and sounds were awesome as well, great voice-work!

One thing that would improve this entry would be some sort of built in hint-system. Maybe some way to interact with the intercom or an internal dialog you could optionally progress to get hints would basically "finish" this game in my mind. Great entry.
Ammonit
21. Apr 2025 · 05:40 UTC
Yeah, I also felt there weren’t enough hints — they would’ve helped! I literally got stuck for ages sometimes))))) The game is awesome, everything is well-balanced and works smoothly, the visuals, music, and puzzles create just the right atmosphere.
jtap
24. Apr 2025 · 16:49 UTC
Great game, very well made. Deep atmosphere, which was created by excellent sound and high-quality graphics. I felt like I was right there. The puzzles seemed difficult to me, if it weren't for the hints - I probably wouldn't have passed. Perhaps it's worth adding random events, because while I was thinking - nothing happened, and the light flickered and the elevator shook only during movement. Thanks for this experience!
fraanns
24. Apr 2025 · 20:20 UTC
For me, this already feelt like a complete game.
Molpe
03. May 2025 · 21:39 UTC
This was awesome, love the puzzles. And love there are hints for all floors! Great job!

https://youtu.be/nf3qh8a2Rvs