The Beckoning by Rionisse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8zxXVs0Wkg
Well, here I am. This place feels otherworldly. The lighthouse… What is it about it that beckons so powerfully? I cannot break free from its spell, I cannot tear my gaze from it. Yet, regardless, I must escape.

The Beckoning is a 3D platformer where your goal is to reach the lighthouse (or maybe something else?) Along the way, you’ll face a variety of obstacles, all while being irresistibly drawn toward eerie, otherworldly lights that you cannot look away from.

Controls:
- WASD — Move
- Space — Jump
- Shift after jumping — Air Dash
- E — Respawn at a checkpoint
- P — Pause
- 0 — Skip Cutscene
Our team:
- Gamedesign and Leveldesign: Dmitrii Obukhov
- Game Systems and Logic: Ivan Ivanov, Igor Vorobjev-Nikitin
- 3D Art: Alex Shustov, Lerka Dverka
- 2D Art: Polina Zhuchkova
- Music and Sound Design: Stepan Masychev
- Team Management and Cutscenes: Vitaly Bezmennikov
| Link | https://rionisse.itch.io/the-beckoning |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/59/the-beckoning |
Ratings
| Given | 0🗳️ | 0🗨️ |
I found the physics of the jumping to be too floaty, and also it's a very unforgiving game. I couldn't get past the beginning area. I went to the left and used the lamp post to get to the top and cross the wooden bridge with falling platforms, but the jump is too painful to do over and over and you have to restart from the bottom and wait for the signal to arrive again and get back up. I think it's too unforgiving. And also I went to the area on the right to the other lamp post, I jumped through the arch but died on the other side.
I think the level design is a bit confusing too. I think the lamp post lifting you up physics is a bit weird. You have to wobble at just the right spot to be able to air dash correctly. Hopefully you can iron out these issues, I'd love to beat this game.
Anyway, there's another ending in the game that is easier to achieve (it's a shorter route and there's no jumping), but it's trickier to find. I’ll give a small hint: at some point, you need to run in the opposite direction of the lighthouse.
Controls are wacky for me. Jumping is questionable. Sometimes it is hard to control character mid-air. Platforming is also strange for me. Mostly cause of camera. Because it is 3d you cant really see where the platform ends with this camera angle and it is VERY easy to miss it.
But overall, game is very cool and viby. I like it a lot.
It's definitely a neat concept that can be made into a good standalone game. Good luck!
At the beginning, the text changes too quickly. It would be good to add a button so the next line appears only after pressing it. I don’t know English well, so I didn’t have enough time to translate or understand it.
I ran into the thorns right at the start :) Maybe they should have red spikes as a danger sign.
The camera perspective is very uncomfortable. It immediately shows where the goal is, which is good, but it also makes some segments harder to complete, which is bad. The game has really beautiful graphics. But still, there are some issues.
At the beginning, the text changes too quickly. It would be good to add a button so the next line appears only after pressing it. I don’t know English well, so I didn’t have enough time to translate or understand it.
I ran into the thorns right at the start :) Maybe they should have red spikes as a danger sign.
The camera perspective is very uncomfortable. It immediately shows where the goal is, which is good, but it also makes some segments harder to complete, which is bad. Sometimes the camera is too close, and sometimes it is just… still too close.
I split my other comments into 3 parts:
Big thorns
They should probably be made absurdly large, so the player is not tempted to try jumping over them. Also, the hole near the lantern should be placed lower.
Platforms near the wall
The camera is too close in this section, and because you can’t rotate it, jumping is very uncomfortable. Also, when I finally managed to do it, the lantern just pulled me off the last platform, lol. That felt unpleasant. If someone hadn’t recommended the game to me, I would have simply dropped it. I fell about 20 times, and then the game just threw me back down once I finally made it.
Platforms above the thorns
Here, it is simply hard to stand in line with the platforms because of the camera. The spawn also places the player a bit awkwardly, so you have to align yourself again. Also, most likely the trigger is not based on touch, but on a zone above the platform. Because of this, the first platform may fall faster than you can jump off it.
I'll have to be honest that I felt a bit disappointed with how there's a mood disconnect between the intro and the game itself (gloomy intro vs brightly-lit game) but its crazy that this was achieved in 3 days at all so good job, I enjoyed it either way!
The cutscenes were wonderfully done. The gameplay parts were gorgeous too.
It was a bit difficult to know where to go and I'm not sure if I did the jumps correctly at the first lantern, but I jumped straight over the thorns and then up from there. The next jump puzzle was also pretty unclear and I ended up finally jumpin from one roof to another instead of the steps you put in there.
The falling platforms were bugged, at least the first one, and it would fall all the time and not let me jump off it when it was falling. I had to dash to the next one. That seemed to work correctly as did the third one.
Despite the level design and bug, the movement felt good. Camera angle was little difficult, but it was still okay.
Music and soundscape were great and fit the atmosphere perfectly. The mood was the strongest point of the game and carried me to the end even if the platforming caused a little frustration.
Good job!