Fading Souls by Erkberg
An atmospheric first person survival experience
https://erkberg.itch.io/fading-souls
Help these lost souls travel on by focusing on them. Be aware of the devourers though! They are not just out for the souls, but also for you... Are you willing to do what must be done to get them off your tail?
~ Controls ~
Move - WASD / Arrows / Left stick
Look - Mouse / Right stick
Run - Left mouse / Space / Left trigger / Left shoulder
Focus - Right mouse / Shift / Right trigger / Right shoulder
~ Special thanks to ~
Kathrin, Flo & Jule for testing (plus Flo for the name suggestion)
~ Let's play Ludum Dare 52 ~
The last few LDs I streamed my rating of LD games and it was a great ecperience. Unfortunately though, my schedule is pretty packed for the next weeks and I don't know yet if I'll get around to it. I'll try rating a game here and there off-stream whenever I have time for now, and if the stream should still be happening this time, I'll announce it on the socials and Discord.
~ While you're here... ~
Check out my indie game Recollection (coming out very soon and based on a Ludum Dare entry!), my game dev YouTube channel and more at https://linktr.ee/Erkberg
~ Mini video postmortem ~
https://youtube.com/shorts/jjOmo8p9qsQ or https://www.tiktok.com/@erkberg/video/7188119458362232070
Ratings
| Overall | 113th | 3.625⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 205th | 3.225⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 145th | 3.4⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 175th | 3.65⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 21th | 4.3⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 29th | 4⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 3th | 4.5⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 23🗳️ | 22🗨️ |
@fabian-denter: There is indeed a stamina system, and it is displayed very subtly, through the circle at the bottom of the screen. It's on my list to give a bit more player feedback about this, but there wasn't enough time, so at the moment it is almost hidden :)
As usual for you, the game was extremely atmospheric! I loved the setting of a dark scary forest, with lit up spirits. Gameplay wise it also meant that it was very clear where to go next, and that I did not spend a lot of time just roaming around. The music and sound effects fit super well, and really sold the atmosphere for me. The sensitivity slider was also a great help, because usually 3D games have way too high sensitivity for me (this one did as well on the 1.0 setting :P)
The gameplay got a little repetitive after I kept playing though. In the beginning the red spirits were very scary and I was on my toes all the time. However, after playing for a bit they lost their scariness a bit, as I could simply run away from them. Similar to Frogman I also could have continued playing after my 33:27 if I wanted to. Perhaps this could have been resolved by making the game have a finite duration? I.e., just save a finite amount of souls and then win? Or of course having a more rapid difficulty scaling, but that might require more work I guess :)
Anyway, great submission to the jam! Especially considering the short time you spent on it. I enjoyed it a lot :D
Totally agree with the other commenters - fantastic atmosphere/mood in the game. The music and audio was great too. It was very tense to play, and a learning experience figuring out what was going on. The sound of the devourers getting nearer to you was very tense, especially after you had already used up all of your sprint to save another soul.
Subtle choice, but I like the decision to not leave the score on the screen all of the time, and instead just pulse it - the subtle UI really added to the atmosphere. The controls also were very smooth.
Only thing I could find to suggest as an improvement is it would be nice if the edges of the level weren't just a box and were a bit more natural. But overall it's a fantastic entry - nice job!
Good job with this game! :D
Very good entry !