The Fifth Ritual This Week by Jonathan Fischer

Alas, it has happened again. It is time to perform the ritual once more. Can you find the secret room and all of the items to summon the wretched beast?
Controls: (supports controller during gameplay)
WASD/Left Stick to move
Mouse/Right Stick to look
F/Left Face Button to interact
Esc to close the game
Please note that picking up an item will not prevent you from interacting with things that are needed to progress; you do not need to put an item down to open doors, etc.
There is an ending, so please stick around until the credits! Thanks for playing!

Made in under 72 hours for Ludum Dare 55, April 12th-15th, 2024

Ratings
| Overall | 409th | 3.72⭐ | 27🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 629th | 3.4⭐ | 27🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 928th | 2.98⭐ | 27🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 328th | 3.981⭐ | 28🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 274th | 4.167⭐ | 32🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 160th | 3.929⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 327th | 3.481⭐ | 28🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 172th | 4.038⭐ | 28🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 68🗳️ | 34🗨️ |
very atmospheric, very cosy lighting, cute cats, really enjoyed the game.ᓚᘏᗢ
I did get a bit stuck at the start not knowing what to do. I picked up the eyeball then it was impossible to do anything else. Figured out eventually I could put it back again, though that is one of the trickier items to drop.
The actual gameplay is a glorified fetch quest, you can get through it by spamming F on everything you see basically, could use a bit more direction I guess?
I didn't see the actual summoning instructional paper until I had already grabbed everything blindly, which should tell you the paper should be clearly visible somewhere obvious way sooner...
Also the mouse smoothing feels a bit off-putting and extreme, if you're smoothing out the mouse you should make the default setting fairly subtle I feel like.
@m0zrat
Thanks!
@kot9
Thank you!
@james-greenleaf
Thanks for commenting, I'm glad you liked it!
@fenix131113
Thanks! I had (ambitious) plans for some clues, puzzles, and decor around the room that would guide you towards the secret room but ran out of time towards the end.
@melissa-stodolnik
Thank you for the comment! I had some issues with the item system towards the end of the jam and wasn't able to get it working, but you shouldn't need to put anything down to open up the bookshelf. I'm glad you enjoyed it anyway, I had fun making it!
@alezjl
Thank you for the kind words!
@rowdy3
Thanks! I'm really glad you enjoyed it!
@ilbini
I really wish I could have had more time to add more clues to the game and polish up the item pickup system so it would be a more fluid experience, but the never-ending battle against scope creep is a tough one. :smiley: Thank you for playing, I'm glad you had fun!
@someone
Thanks for the comment!
@shadowbrain
Thank you for the feedback, it's greatly appreciated! I agree, it definitely is more of a fetch quest than I would have liked. I did most of this on my own (with some much-appreciated help from my wife) and had hoped to do a lot more with it, but really wanted to focus on improving my modeling/animation skills, so admittedly the majority of my time went towards that. :slight_smile: I'm always looking to improve, so I'm grateful for your thoughts!
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Again, thanks to all of you for taking the time to leave a comment, it really means a lot!
Thank you!
@amunonra
Thanks, I'm glad you liked it!
other than lack of direction I enjoyed the game a lot, nice work!