A Mindful Descent by Srolfe657
A Mindful Descent is a first-person psychological horror game where you play as a test subject who volunteered for a dream monitoring experiment conducted by the biopharma-neurotech titan Nyxcorp. After being inserted into a dream-like state, things go wrong and you find yourself descending into a nightmarish forest where your core memories are scattered in fragments. You need to re-assemble your shattered memories and keep your sanity intact, or suffer the consequences of being stuck in your perennial nightmare.

| Itch.io | https://sacrosanct-entertainment.itch.io/a-mindful-decent |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/a-mindful-descent |
Ratings
| Overall | 591th | 3.333⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 570th | 3.176⭐ | 19🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 485th | 3.167⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 478th | 3.632⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 395th | 3.306⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 576th | 2.441⭐ | 19🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 166th | 4⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 9🗳️ | 19🗨️ |
What parts of the game would you like to see expanded on in a potential Steam release?
I usually like games that don't lead you by the hand, but here I would've preferred a bit more instructions.
What are the angry memories for ? I tried to throw them on the ground or at enemies, but they didn't seem to do anything. So, I basically ignored them all game.
I was kind of disappointed by the ending, but hey we know how it is when you only have 72h =)
All in all, it was a very interesting take on the theme and the path building was kind of innovative.
Suggestions for future dev:
- Increase respawn rate of happy memories (if they even respawn?). Or maybe find a way to generate them. As they're consumables (unlike sad memories that provide something permanent), you really need to be able to find new ones.
- Maybe use the angry memories to be able to fight enemies ? By the way, the enemies seem a bit passive, but I won't complain as I wouldn't have been able to finish the game otherwise.
- Slightly increase lighting. It was really hard to see anything and it was kind of painful to navigate. For example, you can't really tell if orbs are hidden by terrain or if you've reached the edge of the map.
It's so dark out in the woods, it's very easy to get desoriented.
I didn't really understand the usage of the memory balls, I got that the yellow one is to recharge your energy, and the blue one for the posts, but what are the red ones for? Are they just to hit the monster?
I liked the atmosphere, it feels like you are very deep in a forest, but I can't find the connection between the forest and the dreams the game is representing.
I would've liked having the monsters follow you from the darkness, getting on your nerves with some creepy noises. Red balls could have been used to fight the monsters! Maybe it was the idea you had in mind!
Thanks for the entry! 😉
Is it possible I just didn’t recognize them and missed them completely?