Pactbound

rolly 2025-10-06 12:02

Nice game!

I really like the visuals, you got a nice mood there, and it works very well with the ambiant sounds and sound effects. The "arms" are very weird and got me wondering what kind of creature I'm supposed to be :D. The only downside of the visuals is that the in-game cards are way too blurry and barely visible. I thought it made the game unplayable and was ready to quit, before I noticed that hovering over them showed the same text in the UI.

Regarding the gameplay, I tried to understand at first, but it's a bit hard when there is no way to track what cards I already have. Reading descriptions, I didn't find it clear how much I would earn. Also I don't think I understood the difference between "Earn $2 per 1 turn" and "Earn $2"; I thought some cards would be removed as I go, but it didn't seem like it.

Maybe I was lucky, but around turn 3, I saw that I was earning enough to purchase everything, which I did every single time without reading anymore until round 13, where I got over $1000.

Good job overall!

siluetsalat 2025-10-06 13:29

Прошёл игру скупая всё всподрят. Очень не хватает возможности смотреть купленное для более осознанной игры.

cardsnapper 2025-10-06 14:43

Seconding all of what @rolly said lol.

The game is fun, it's not anything complex and it doesn't have to be. I like it...But, this does also become completely mindless when you realize that purchasing every card in the shop every round will always increase earnings go up faster than the quota you need to reach. I think if you wanted to make the game engage the player, have the quota keep rising rapidly like it does in the beginning of the game. Make it increase insanely quickly, but make a reroll mechanic where you can reroll the shop by spending the cash you have over. That or make my insanely large sum of money I have sitting around after buying everything in the shop serve the games mechanics in some other way.

bereg 2025-10-06 14:55

I’m not entirely sure about the tactics and combinatorics - after a certain point, you can just buy everything in sight and watch the money pile up. But the visuals! The sounds! All those satisfying tactile animations! Great game!

derly 2025-10-06 14:58

Thanks everyone for your feedback. Yes, balance in this game is its weak point. I will soon release a new version on itch.io, where the game will be truly exciting

kantona 2025-10-06 20:09

Nice game! I really enjoyed the atmosphere you've created with the visuals/audio/animations, I felt quite relaxed playing it.

For the gameplay loop I had trouble understanding what the drawbacks where, every card that i can afford seems to be an investment and always met the quota. I'm curious how it would work with the balancing, it would also been nice to see what you have purchased/invested into before if there will be any deeper strategy.

Thanks for sharing!

beansecrurityrat 2025-10-06 22:39

nice tentacles, bro

mr-mesmer 2025-10-06 22:56

No questions about athmosphere and visual, works like I estimate.

For now core loop feels more like incremental game. To make it more strategic, I see some proposal (if it needs for you):

Limit cards. For example, make them limited used. Or, for this game, count and synergy only visible (top layer) cards. Because I like the feel when a lot of cards drops on table and save it.

And a method to destroy cards. For example, after couple of rounds random split cards by 3 piles and get player to choose which pile to burn.

ljol3 2025-10-07 02:58

I liked the style and wish the text were just a bit more legible.

As far as the balance, I have the same to say as the other comments and see you are already planning for that.

linus-lindberg 2025-10-07 11:44

Very "Daniel Mullins"-esque and I mean that as high praise! Wonderfully atmospheric, great art and sound. Very impressive for a jam entry!

I agree with the others in that I wish it was balanced a bit differently. Maybe some anti-synergy between some cards or other downside to buying too much so you can't just pick everything. With better balancing and maybe some extended world-building around it it would make a fantastic post-jam game!

melomaner 2025-10-07 13:55

The game’s about “buy everything that can be bought.” I like the vibe overall, though it’s a bit sad that the cards are unreadable. It’s also hard to tell what we already have and what else we can collect. Does the game even have an ending? My quota is 200, but I’m collecting 400 :)

dullai 2025-10-08 19:34

the animations and sound design was really good, I just wish there was a bit more to the mechanics than just buying every card every shop

eugenik 2025-10-09 03:03

Really dig the artwork

ranejeb 2025-10-09 08:59

Appreciate the scene angle direction :smile: But please, don't forget about tutorial!

d-demetori 2025-10-09 17:49

I feel like it has potential, but too much text, i just bought every cards without reading :D

pikario 2025-10-10 13:37

[Played LD version] - I like the visuals, very cool, and the fact the tentacle follow the button we hover!

I see that is the point of the game (managing money wisely), but it lacks some balancing, I just ended up buying everything every time in the shop and the game keep going without difficulties

But well done for a compo!