PODVAL The Game by Almaz
Tiny creatures aren’t always cute and harmless.
You wake up in a room you’ve never seen before. Cold, damp walls, the dim light from an old lamp, and the pervasive smell of mold and rot. Slowly, your mind starts to clear, and you realize — it’s a basement. The only way out is further down.
The stairs creak ominously beneath your weight, as if warning you to turn back. Yet, each step pulls you closer to the unknown, where the shadows seem to ripple with life. There’s something waiting down there — and it knows you’re coming.

Hello, world! This is our third game jam and our first 3D game. Our small team tried to create the feeling of a one-way journey — into a cold and sticky abyss of despair.
The development wasn’t perfect, but in the end, we had fun — we hope you’ll have fun too!
Your feedback is important to us! We read every comment and carefully consider all your suggestions. They inspire us to keep improving and refining our skills. We hope that your contributions will help us become even better as game developers :)
Don't worry if the game crashes after a red screen — that's intentional, we just haven't had time to create a proper death screen yet
CONTROLS:
WASD — Movement
F — Interact
RMB/Mouse2 — Toggle Flashlight
Update: 8/10/2024:
The size of some entities has been adjusted to the correct scale.
HTML5 build has been added.
Update: 13/10/2024
Fixed colliders to prevent rats from incorrect interaction.
Fixed a bug with rat sound.
Balanced rat mechanics.
Fixed the rats idle animation.
Adjusted trigger colliders for optimization.
Fixed the wooden door collider.
Added preloading of certain sounds into memory to avoid sound bugs.
Reduced the pursuit distance for rats.
Added an exit button to avoid the users feeling of the game crashing.
| GitHub | https://github.com/AlmazZakariev/LD56_Padval |
| Itch | https://almazzf.itch.io/podval-the-game |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/56/podval-the-game |
Ratings
| Overall | 1011th | 2.88⭐ | 52🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 1012th | 2.602⭐ | 51🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 1041th | 2.327⭐ | 51🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 947th | 2.949⭐ | 51🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 454th | 3.3⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 919th | 2.06⭐ | 44🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 453th | 3.61⭐ | 52🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 51🗳️ | 65🗨️ |
But in general it has a good atmosphere and nice sounds.
good job.
Still don't understand what happens to you at the end, do rats eat you?)
But... Did I miss something or you just discover a (creepy) statue and then die ? I wish there was a bit more to do. It's more an experience than a game.
But at least the scary mood is really well done !
I think there were some parts missing here in driving home the feeling of being scared. One part was just how the rats interacted with me. I think it would have been better if they were not running when I was walking down. Just loitering about, maybe looking at me. And then when they presumably turned on me, it would have been good to take the control away form the player to force me to see that they were a threat and coming for me. Perhaps also forcing the flashlight to turn off every now and then and force the player to look back over their shoulder. To see the danger.
Hello from Russia! To try yourself in 3D right at a jam is a very brave step and you guys are good for daring to do it. You managed to create an atmosphere and even some kind of plot, if I may say so. Keep trying your hand at something new! Good luck!
P.S. If you don't mind, check out our game too, you might like it.
### Русский:
Привет из России! Попробовать себя в 3D прямо на джеме - это очень смелый шаг и вы, ребята, молодцы, что решились на это. Вам удалось создать атмосферу и даже какой-то сюжет, если так можно сказать. Продолжайте пробовать cебя в чем-то новом! Удачи!
P.S. Если вам не трудно, посмотрите нашу игру тоже, вдруг понравится
Hello, gamers! We are grateful for your ratings and comments. We've released a new update that **fixes several bugs** and improves our game. We hope this update will enhance your experience!
We also added an **Audio category** that was mistakenly excluded. Don't forget to leave feedback and share your thoughts.
Thanks for playing!
The Development Team❤️
If yes, that's an ending I like ^^ Spooky and fun little game ^^
Is there a way to "win" this game, or death at the end is inevitable?
I had some problem with the mouse, as soon as I move the cursor in a direction it regularly switch violently in another.
Hope you had fun doing your game.
Absolutely loved the droning ambient music in the background, it worked perfectly to set the atmosphere. Sweetest little horror experience.
Audio and atmosphere are nice, and I liked how the cultist mice went after you when you saw their idol. Movement felt too slow (maybe a bigger location and faster movement?), while mouse sensitivity was too high though this did not interfere with the gameplay in this case.
While this review may sound all picky (because it is) and maybe negative, I liked the game in context of this jam.