Nervous Breakdown by Cinnamon18

made by Cinnamon18 for Ludum Dare 59 (JAM)

Play: cinnamon18.itch.io/nervousbreakdown

Nervous Breakdown is a game about possession, the plight of mortal flesh, and platforming a worm to victory. Play as a parasite living in the worm’s brain and transmit nerve signals to wriggle your way to the finish line. Overcome epic obstacles like small hills and cardboard boxes. Wriggle your little heart out.

Controls: Click the worm’s brain to send nerve signals

Art: Sarah

Code and Level Design: Nate and Cinnamon18

Sound: Matt

*The developers have confirmed that it is possible to complete the game 🙂

Link	https://cinnamon18.itch.io/nervousbreakdown
Original URL	https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/59/nervous-breakdown

Ratings

Given

7🗳️

3🗨️

Feedback

Bober

Apr 21st · 11:18 UTC

Somehow I did a 180! :D To be honest it was quite hard to get the ball ehhh worm rolling. But after a while when I got the hang of it, it was quite fun to get further in the level. Interesting concept and also nice visuals, music and sound effects. It really came together nicely. Cool game!

![Screenshot 2026-04-21 131629.png](///raw/e9a/86/z/71eac.png)

Nadan

Apr 24th · 20:57 UTC

The art is super nice, I would love to see more of the environment, but I couldn't get over the first obstacle. I tried clicking in many different ways, but I couldn't get the worm to move in any meaningful way :laughing: Let me please know if there is a trick I'm missing, I'd like to play this game in full :wink:

beats

Apr 25th · 12:45 UTC

Very interesting control scheme feels like the flash games from back in the day. Did the same as the first commenter, couldn't get past the first hill but innovative take on the theme and everything feels polished.

LDJam user 424632

Apr 25th · 12:47 UTC

Great idea and nice music, but I didn't understand how to move the worm properly, I can't figure out the logic of clicking on the brain to move it in the right direction :)

Archaeognathus

Apr 25th · 13:00 UTC

Wow, that is a very cool idea. I wriggled my way to the second spike pad, after somehow managing to fly over the previous one on my first try. Unfortunately, that's where my travel ended after about 15 min :O It's a very well-designed game, but some checkpoints would have helped me stay motivated.
Knowing how I did before, just seeing your last screenshot broke me xD
But nicely done :)

DJTequila

Apr 25th · 13:08 UTC

Nicely done! The art is very cute, and the music definitely fits the vibe. I love a unique take on the theme. Once I figured out the neurons, it was still hard to actually move where I wanted, but I guess that's how worms feel. I'm interested to see what pro (developer) gameplay looks like

Prakkus

May 08th · 05:03 UTC

Very cute! It took me a little while but I did figure out which parts of the brain made the worm do what and it was really satisfying. The era of Worm QWOP begins!