While I Wake

well that was one way to destroy my heart and stomp all over the bits.

(SPOILERS)

damn, this was a REALLY effective interpretation of the subject matter. tying everything to the main character's nightmares really made me feel lost and disoriented, which worked perfectly with the narrative. i loved how in each "level" technically has a path to take and a way to beat it, but instead of feeling like you're progressing, it just seems like you're sinking deeper and deeper into trying to find an answer, a way to turn things back, anything that will tell you that everything will be okay (and this is especially poignant with the narration)... it was incredibly powerful, and the contrast it had with how quiet and quaint the real world scenes are just drove the point home further.

all of this would've been great on its own, but when you pair it with the art? WOW this game looks incredible. the tileset is moody and richly textured, with amazing uses of color. the sprites are great too, their movement is really well done and i love the variety they have (normal humans, abstract squiggles, gray human shapes...). the icon expressions!! they were incredibly creative and fluid, and honestly made the main character really memorable (i LOVE that it's the only way we see her communicate until the end; it was a great way to show how strong her emotions are, but how hard it is for her to express them), the game wouldn't have felt the same without them. the character busts were amazing too, i love their style so much and how expressive they are, they really left a big impact (the picture at the end?? GOD i'm gonna cry-). and there's so many small details; the gray circle that surrounds the screen in the nightmares, the way the font perfectly captures its child-made charm, the screen being less saturated at some points, the abstract backgrounds, the flower cursor!!! such a neat little touch haha. the presentation is amazing on all fronts, and it made everything in the nightmare sequences FEEL wrong and disturbing. gave me yume nikki/omori vibes at some points :D

and the MUSIC oh man, so so great. it feels chaotic and disturbing, like the tracks themselves don't know what's going on. it gave the presentation even more of a punch, and perfectly emphasized how twisted the nightmares are, and how much poppy is struggling to process anything at all. at some points it did feel a little too chaotic and annoying, and i think i would've liked it more if it was a little softer (even if i understand it's a tight rope to walk on haha), but it does the job really well (and the calmer tracks are amazing too!).

the gameplay was super creative as well!! maybe i got the game completely wrong but it's interesting to see a story focused on loss that doesn't explicitly use the five stages of grief as blueprints for its levels (not saying that it's wrong to do so, or that this story doesn't use the stages of grief at all; just thought it was neat to see how these levels took a more subtle and original approach with it). the part where you try to make everyone quiet down and every tile you step on gets destroyed was really cool. the tag game with the squiggles was great too and the way it makes you feel tiny with the zoom and every room being extremely big? sooo awesome. the first and second levels were a bit frustrating cuz of how you had to repeat areas and walk in circles (maybe there was a better way to do it and i didn't notice lol), but! the sprite turning around and then moving opposite so your inputs! so so so cool. the levels are really original and they tie into the story extremely well (nothing in the house feeling "right", trying to find a way to make everything okay if you walk down the hallway, wanting everything and everyone to be quiet, playing childhood games to try to cope with everything...), amazing stuff.

in terms of stuff i didn't love... i'm not sure if was a technical issue with me or not, but the opening sequence was... kind of weird? the combination of the music, the car crash audio and the extremely quiet voiceover was a bit too much to process, and poppy moving on her own all over the house with animations that i hadn't registered were the emotion icons yet (that's my only real issue with them tbh; it's not clear at the start that they're supposed to be emotion animations) felt kind of disorienting. maybe it's just a me thing but the opening scene being confusing made it a bit hard to get gripped by the story (tbf on a replay that sequence is much easier to follow, it might be just a first impression thing). and i found two random glitches; the first time you can walk in the backyard the fences can be walked through, and in the tag level if you pause the zoom goes back to default (honestly that's an issue with the engine itself lmao, but i thought i'd mention it).

man... i'm still thinking about that ending haha. what a gripping and emotionally resonant experience. it's easy to tell that you gave it your all to make this as respectful and effective as it could be, and i really admire that. fantastic stuff!!

(when i started writing this i thought "okay this game is about a pretty heavy topic that i'm not super knowledgeable about so i won't write much" and welp... never doubt the random swings of inspiration the writing muse will give you XD)

I love how you presented the theme of loss! I’ve never even considered a child’s perspective for that, but the sad reality is that a lot of kids do experience loss very early in their lives. The art is amazing and the narrative is on point. I just have a few complaints about the gameplay, but nothing too harsh. This exceeded my expectations for this jam. Great job!

How could I not love a game with so many poppies? :D Still, I haven't anticipated such an emotionally intelligent game in a horror game jam. Much love.

its not sad and i'm not crying😢