Escape The Depths by Jag
Navigate claustrophobia inducing caverns in a fighter jet in 'Escape The Depths'


Fly through hoops to gain speed

Getting hit will slow you down and allow 'Evil' to catch up to you

Can you make it through all 9 levels of Hell?
Keyboard is supported, but Gamepad is recommended.
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Credits:
Jag - Game & Programming
Rob - Art & Audio
| Link | https://bismarck-zero.itch.io/escape-the-depths |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/escape-the-depths-1 |
Ratings
| Overall | 197th | 3.851⭐ | 39🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 174th | 3.784⭐ | 39🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 433th | 3.257⭐ | 39🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 415th | 3.718⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 317th | 3.897⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 293th | 3.541⭐ | 39🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 572th | 2.448⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 290th | 3.811⭐ | 39🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 31🗳️ | 56🗨️ |
@jon-wake Wow thank you so much! Thank you for playing the game, I'll definitely be using the flight controller again. If you don't mind, could you let me know what you feel is wrong with the camera, I can make improvements to it to help
@katastudios Thanks for playing the game! I've gone and reduced the sensitivity of the ship in V1.01, I think it was a bit too sensitive before, it's one of those things you don't notice playing your own game a thousand times, so you need someone to point it out to you. If you find the time, please try v1.01, I hope the controls are less frustrating now
@ace17 I'm sorry! This game is made in Unreal Engine 5, so there is no web version :(
@hollowheartedcabbage thank you!
The Y-Axis inversion option was a much-appreciated touch. As someone used to Star Fox, holding down to rise is burned into my memory.
I'd say the only bit I struggled with a bit were turns - I found the camera rotation would consistently throw me off & disorient me. I also noticed that smashing into a ceiling above you can sometimes get your camera stuck - though this was inconsistent.
Awesome job overall dude. Glad I got the chance to play!
Once the max speed increase happens, it's more fun, but the difficulty ramps way up. I found it impossible to get past level 6 or so, the turns were just too tight to take at the speed necessary to get away. But maybe I was trying too hard to get all the rings even when I knew I didn't need them.
And for anyone interested, if you turn around to look at the evil, it's a red light effect that shines on the walls. You didn't stop me from turning around, so I had to do it.
Honestly, when I played through the first level, I thought the main mechanic felt kind of like Sonic — like, the rings are your HP. Actually, it even felt like the gameplay would fit perfectly as a mini-game in a new Sonic title, maybe something where you get to fly Tails’ plane.
The visuals are awesome, and the music really sets the right mood.
On the downside, I didn’t quite understand what the rings actually do — I didn’t really notice any change in speed. Also, the game felt a bit stretched out. I think it would be better if the repetitive parts were shortened, and all the unique sections were combined into a single level with checkpoints.
The controls felt smooth and polished, flying around was genuinely satisfying. I also liked the minimalistic art style; it’s clean, readable, and works really well with the fast-paced gameplay. The music and sound effects added a lot to the experience too. Great audio choices!
One thing that threw me off a bit was the camera being centered right behind the jet. It made it a bit harder to see upcoming obstacles or plan ahead, especially when navigating tight spots or those floating rings. Speaking of the rings, I wasn’t totally sure what their purpose was. Maybe I missed something, but they felt a bit arbitrary during my run.
I also found myself wanting more control over acceleration. I get that it’s probably automated so players don't just hold the button the whole time, but still -- being able to manually manage speed would add a nice sense of agency, especially when you’re trying to outrun the Evil. Right now, it sometimes feels like it catches you without much you can do to fight it off, which can be frustrating even when the rest of the game is solid.
I had a good time playing it overall. Great job!
For lack of a better word, I love the "elasticity" of these controls. :sweat_smile: The way the ship accelerates from point to point when I move it around with the analog stick makes it feel super responsive and fun to mess around with.
Nice job!
I made it to level 7, where I started feeling a bit tired. Beting level 5 was really exciting and challenging for me!
I really liked the flickering effect. It's genuinely scary — you never know what obstacle will pop up next, and you have to react fast. I think it adds a lot to the gameplay. On the other hand, it can sometimes lead to unfair situations.
I like the use of light in general — the rings not only boost your speed, but also help you find your way in the dark, and that’s really cool.
Overall, a really solid entry!
- I think some particles at the wings or engine would give a better illusion of speed since the ship feels quite slow at first, also making the rings red parts shine in the dark would be nice.
- I liked that if you missed the ring there was still an alternative path around the pillars (the small space)
- I feel like level 2 was harder than 3 and 4, I had to retry it several times.
- Cool enemy effect but it seems to turn on a bit too fast, if you get all the rings on level 2 evil still shows up on your tail
- level 3 small space ship cover almost all of it and it's hard to see what is in front, but there is barely anything so it's quite easy.
Reminds me the star wars trench run! I had to crack out the controller for this one. Controls play so much better on gamepad! I had a lot of fun with this one but I couldn't get past the 4th level lol. Definitely a skill issue :sweat_smile:
I think the controls could still use some tweaking, The turning was very sudden, too fast for most of the course, but then still not enough for some of the tighter corners. I think it would feel a lot better if you spaced things out a bit more and then had the turn towards the desired direction by every tick by a small amount. Increase that amount depending on how far the user is pressing the stick. That way the user can make smaller adjustments because I found myself just tapping the stick to turn rather than holding it down.
That being said, really awesome job guys! :thumbsup:
Also, you have to let me know how you did your tunnels. Was it procedural, or did you manually lay it out using a tile set? Similar kind of environment to my game so I'm curious :laughing:
https://www.youtube.com/live/kSaTrhFTAjQ?si=sc40lLqeQNVZaZ3w&t=7042
I like the responsiveness of the controller and would recommend a smooth damp when turning so you can feel a bit of tension. I like how you were adding concepts and mechanics the futher you went into the levels. I would like to have a barrell roll option to increase juice on it, or have it happen once you reach the total rings you need.
Overall really fun, responsive, and with nice background music! Well done!