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Five Loops in Hell's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Devlog | #1 | n/a | n/a |
| Audio/Sound Design | #18 | 2.673 | 2.857 |
| Art Style/Visuals | #20 | 2.762 | 2.952 |
| Theme | #21 | 2.628 | 2.810 |
| Overall | #24 | 2.530 | 2.705 |
| Innovation | #32 | 2.272 | 2.429 |
| Gameplay/Fun | #34 | 2.316 | 2.476 |
Ranked from 21 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Game Engine / Tools
Game Maker / Aseprite
How does your game fit the theme?
The game fits the theme because we are trapped in a cursed five-day loop, where we must complete various tasks to survive each night, hoping that the next day will finally be the last
Devlog link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1foDcltaJV_ZEf-aH7RGmL_MHCLGhSg--/view?usp=sharing
Self-made & used stuff
Graphics / Art (e.g. models or textures)
Not applicable
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Comments
This was a really enjoyable narrative game experience :-)
I was constantly curious to see how the story would unfold and what would happen the next day. The art was well done, and it’s definitely a big plus that it was also self-made. It fitted well together. The game had an eerie atmosphere and ambiance, which I believe was exactly what you were going for. The creepy music and SFX supported this mood perfectly.
The controls worked well (simple and good), and I found the journal with hints—especially when you didn’t succeed on a day—very helpful to guide players on what to do next. I followed the story with great anticipation and enjoyed reading the dialogue.
If I had to mention a minor point, it would be that it maybe leaned a bit more towards an interactive story than a game. Giving the player a bit more to explore or discover might add an extra layer of engagement. That being said, for a game jam, this approach works well since players typically don’t spend hours on jam entries, and this format ensured they could reach the ending while experiencing a strong narrative. Plus in 10 days you can not do everything. I had fun playing and watching the story unfold and that is the most important part of course.
The theme was present—check!
All in all, this was a great story and a solid jam entry. Well done! 🎮
Thank you so much for playing, and I'm glad you enjoyed the experience!
My original intention was to have more interactions with the environment, but unfortunately, I couldn’t implement everything I wanted due to the extensive issues I had with the lists (the devlog captures this chaos perfectly haha).
One interesting detail I unfortunately couldn’t add was an easter egg. On the fourth day, I planned to create a way to visit the neighbor’s house and see the state the environment had been left in, just as the letters described. There, there would be the initial letter that was never sent to us, showing how happy their life was and making their end even more tragic and morbid.
Another possibility was to add a boss, but that will have to wait for a potential game expansion.
I can understand that you can do only so much in a 10 day jam and indeed read the devlog :-)!
A boss would be cool in a possible future expansion and that letter too. If you do, please let us know of it in the gamedev-showcase channel of our Discord so we can check it out :-)!
Well done, very moody and spooky. I especially liked how you integrated the guide into the player experience. Easy to learn and to follow. I did fail twice, once on the dog level, and once on the rug level. Both times I thought I had completed the task but then failed anyways. It felt like my progress carried over from the previous day. Not sure if that was intended.
Overall, a well-placed edition to the jam.
Thank you so much for playing and for the feedback!
The information transfer between days was intentional; I did this to make the player's progress smoother.
Regarding the feedback about completing our goal, the clock speeds up much faster than usual, but I assume it wasn’t clear enough. I apologize for that.
So far one of my favorite games I've played on here. Love the small story elements you added especially with the neighbor , I played till the end and can say that it was a fulfilling experience
I'm really glad with your feedback and that you enjoyed the game so much! It's rewarding to know I was able to deliver a satisfying experience.
I like the atmosphere, great game
Thank you so much for playing and for the feedback! I'm glad the atmosphere impressed you so much.
Nice loopy loop
Thank you so much for playing and for the feedback!
Nice! I can admit I played this game much longer than most others before coming here to review. Part of what made it so engaging was the mysteriousness of it, I wanted to learn more about it and that is what got me hooked. The graphics and sound effects are also really awesome, and contribute to the spooky and ominous vibe. I got stuck on Day 2, but from what I've seen, this is a really unique game that integrates the theme masterfully. Amazing!
Thank you so much for playing and for your feedback! I'm really happy that you enjoyed the atmosphere this much, I tried to make it as unsettling as possible while keeping a subtle sense of sanity.
About Day 02, I apologize for the lack of indication, I simply ran out of time at the end. Well, if you don’t mind, here are a few hints (spoilers ahead):
1. There are four statues, one of them is in a place that was previously inaccessible (outside the house)
2. Near the house, there are two cloths not too far apart
I really smiled when you stretched the 'a…gaii…n'—nice touch! I like the graphics a lot. The intro might benefit from some music to enhance the mystic atmosphere. The player’s movement feels a bit too fast, making it harder to control. At first, I was confused about what to do but eventually figured it out, well, somehow. However, it’s a bit strange that they start talking about moths if you speak to the neighbor too early. I got stuck when feeding the dog - I used the traps near a hole and put whatever I caught in the bowl, but it didn’t seem to work. Not sure what else I could try here!
Thank you so much for playing and for the feedback! I believe the character feels a bit too fast because I didn’t have much time for playtesting. My computer is nearly dying and runs slower than usual during tests, so for me, the speed felt fine. Well, until the executable version is out… haha, but I hope it didn’t affect the experience too much
Regarding the dog, you’re absolutely right about catching the animals in the holes and giving them to him. However, you can’t give the other animals running around, and there are three traps scattered across the map. You need to place them in the holes and then collect the three animals to move on to the next day
Ahh, I see. I did not notice that I need to give the dog all three animals. Graphical feedback (like a not fully filled bowl) would help here I guess.
I actually thought about something like that at the beginning to make the player’s life easier. Along with the graphic addition, I also planned to add small red lights to the objects you can interact with using "R." Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I wasn’t able to implement it, and I apologize for that
It would be nice to see this in the future and I hope you keep going with this one! :)
Very nice, i wanted to keep playing to know what happened next, only the last level the red overlay was a bit to red for my feeling, but i guess its the haze of madness you wanted to convey
Thank you so much for playing and for the feedback! I’m glad you enjoyed the experience. Which red overlay are you referring to in the last level specifically? Is it the blood from the enemies on the ground?
No, for me the whole screen was red tinted like a transparant red overlay was on top. In the context it felt like an artistic choice as he started to burn every thing down. But sounds like it was a weird bug then?
That's strange, I didn’t actually implement anything like that. I believe it was a bug with the surfaces in the HTML version since the blood is drawn on them. That’s the version you played, right?
Exporting to the browser always gives me some issues haha. At the beginning, when I was testing the export, the sprites turned into black squares, and it was just a bug with the browser itself
I checked again for you and this time i got it right away. However it seems is not a bug in your game. Somehow i selected the game with the mouse (as in select to copy/paste) that adds the overlay. Its weird because that is what i expected as wel yesterday but when i clicked away from the game to deselect nothing changed. Now i kept trying and it actually deselected it.
Wow, I really had no idea this was possible. I’m glad it wasn’t a bug in the game, I was worried it might have been something with the surface. Honestly, I have no clue why this happens, but I’ll try to figure it out and make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else in the future. Thanks so much for your time and explanation!
Very good.