The Crawling Forest by vrerabek
The Crawling Forest
A moody, slightly horror-themed game where you must perform a ritual to save your village!
Play
Controls
- Movement: WASD
- Jump: Space
- Action: Left Mouse Button, E, F
Playthrough video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ottvVNct7rk
Audio
I did not create the audio myself, so I am opting out of the category. The following audio was used:
- Horror Atmosphere
- 6 Monstrous Growls
- Mechanical Sounds
- Page Turning SFX
- Fantasy Sound Effects Library

Ratings
| Overall | 170th | 3.523⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 236th | 3.091⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 298th | 2.591⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 274th | 3⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 23th | 4.333⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 274th | 2.132⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 45th | 3.957⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 12🗳️ | 31🗨️ |
I did notice a few things that could be improved:
- The text can be difficult to read because of the pixelation. A pixel font might make it clearer.
- The character moves a bit slowly, and holding Shift is the only way to speed up. It could feel better if the default speed was faster, with stamina as an option.
- The monster is interesting, but it seems more helpful than dangerous since it just sends you back. Maybe there could be a bigger penalty for getting caught to make it more challenging.
Overall, it was a good experience. The atmosphere stands out, the gameplay is engaging, and everything works well.

The good:
- Loved the atmosphere. Perfect for spooky season
- Also really loved the pseudo ps1 style graphics. Really added to the horror aspect
- The bugs were a good combination of easy to spot once you were looking in the right direction, but difficult to notice from afar. I liked that the later the game got the further you had to venture out before you spotted them, lead to the spookiness
- The creatures were a good combo of distinct enough to see them from a distance, but vague enough that I still dont know what they actually look like
What could be improved:
- Moving slower than the creatures means that if they spot you then you are kinda screwed
- would have liked to see torpus at the end :(
- the lack of stamina management meant that it was beneficial to always run, which killed the mood a bit
Great job for a compo game. I could absolutely see this being a good foundation for a full horror game
- Graphics really sold the vibe
- The monster AI was good enough that you had to be careful
- The difficulty ramp was nice too
Great job managing this on your own in two days.
It reminds me the old game with Slender man.
On my big screen I had trouble read text but it was my only issue.
Great Audio: great for atmosphere and for talking to the player. I knew that crawler go after me even If i didnt see him..
I hate horror games but this was fun!