DAGGER

A man cursed with immortality makes a deal with demons...

He ventures into the temple in search of the eternal rest he desires...


Life
Features
  • Metroidvania mini!
  • A large map to explore!
  • 18 shrines to discover!
  • Puzzling n' Platforming!
  • Blood for the blood god!
Death
Controls
  • Move: Arrow Keys, WASD
  • Jump: Up, W, Z, P
  • Attack: X, O
  • Sacrifice: Attack + Down, Attack + S

This was a rough one!

Sorry if the music is really grating, my software crashed before I could crank out the newest version! Many features were cut since I lost a lot of hours to errands this time around. There's some questionable level design in there but I hope you can give it your best shot and see it through to the end.

Skoosh
Screenshots
1 2 3
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  • v01d0f5h4d0w5
    Lv. 1

    I thought this game was great!!! I had fun playing it, though some of the shrines were kind of hard to get to... I did manage to get all of them with some hard work though, so it was definitely worth all the work. I'm not very good at constructive criticism, so all I'm gonna say is maybe add a shrine counter, and some of the levels were a bit hard. Other than that, I thought everything was amazing... (I also loved the music)

    Anyways, I had fun playing your creation, and even though the ending was a bit underwhelming, it felt very nice to finally finish the game after all the hard work. So good job!!

  • Kwis
    Lv. 67
    • Sounds are kinda unbalanced, dissonant. The jumping sounds a bit too piercing for me
    • Coyote frames, please, I felt like I was falling from edges a bit too easily (especially when falling can force you to redo platforming you've already done to this point)
    • several platforming parts are tedious, like the purple platforming. Not my cup of tea, lost patience there, and this is where I stopped :<
    • Much content, that's cool!
    Trapped
    Submitted

    Trapped

  • Tero Hannula
    Patron

    This was better than I thought, and much larger :U The music was good and there were plenty of puzzles. The elevators were bit too slow as previously has been stated, sometimes it felt too much of punishment when you failed and fell down ^^" The game felt pretty good in technical integrity, didn't glitch or had buggy collisions. I didn't play it trough, but got that double jump and tried get things done in the space area. Somekind of shrine counter could have been good, like if you press enter etc. the numbers pop up for few seconds, so they don't need to be whole time. Well done :)

    Reload
    Submitted

    Reload

    • Seltzy
      Patron
      Seltzy Developer of DAGGER

      4yrs ago

      A counter will surely be added (if I make a post jam)! It's alright if you didn't finish, as you've probably seen all there is to see by the time you reach the sky area.

      Thanks for playing, Tero!

  • Fachewachewa
    Patron

    Really good game and a lot have been said already, so I'll focus on one thing, which follows what Baku said on everything slowing you down and that purple area:

    The platforms thing is really slow, but the worst part is that you need to do this (or backtrack a lot) multiple times because of the different shrines. Instead of having multiple shrines placed after different types of obstacles, you have to do the same thing multiple times then choose what shrine to activate. I didn't even try to reach that shrine in the air because I was so sick of that part, so it's a good thing you can still finish the game with less shrines.

    But since it's a relatively big game overall, that's not surprising to have a less interesting area. Same thing with the tiles which felt a bit bland, especially compared to the character.

    • Seltzy
      Patron
      Seltzy Developer of DAGGER

      4yrs ago

      A lot of the shrines are more tedious than others for sure. I threw them in kind of haphazardly because I wanted there to be a decent amount, but I didn't design for them enough.

      Thanks for playing!

  • baku
    Patron

    I'm impressed with how much content you managed to cram in here! Cool concept, it uses the theme very well.

    It felt like everything in the game was just designed to slow you down... Slow elevators, constant backtracking, etc. Even the enemies, they are never a danger at all - at worst they'll "kill" you, which just makes you run back and forth from screen to screen grinding the enemies so you can revive again - and at best they are completely irrelevant.

    The entire purple area was particularly annoying. I felt like I spent an eternity just in the top left part with the moving platforms, where you cannot escape due to the red blocks. Only way out is to kill enough enemies, which took ages :/

    But somehow I still ended up enjoying my time with the game?? I feel like everything's telling me I should hate this game, yet I don't? IDK man 🤷‍♀️

    • Seltzy
      Patron
      Seltzy Developer of DAGGER

      4yrs ago

      The enemies probably would have been better implemented if I found the time but by the time I added them the levels were largely assembled and I settled on just slapping em in a few places.

      The purple sky area was the last area I made and it shows.

      Thanks for playing! I'll take a love/hate any day of the week.

  • Yosi
    Lv. 46

    This was a well made game, but unfortunately I didn't find it too enjoyable to play for a few reasons.

    • Altars don't activate unless you are right on top of them. I messed this up once and it forced me to redo the sequence.
    • Transport elevators are too slow. I spent more time on elevators than I would have liked. Part of it was definitely that I missed some jumps.
    • The enemies were only really there to be an alternative to the health shrines. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I personally didn't like the combat so it made the game feel more dragged out.
    • The healthbar was the same color as the background so I couldn't really tell when it was full
    • The ending was underwhelming

    There were a lot of strong parts of the game though. The sound effects and music fit pretty well together and the puzzles were good. Getting the block breaker was a great feeling since I immediately recognized what to do with it. Exploring and keeping a map of the world in mind was also fun.

    Overall I think it was a really great game but a few parts felt unfinished.

    Leviatron
    Submitted

    Leviatron

    • Seltzy
      Patron
      Seltzy Developer of DAGGER

      4yrs ago

      All fair points! I’m happy to hear that you played through to the end despite the issues you had. Calling it unfinished is not too far from the truth, as there is a lot that I would have liked to improve if I had the time. To be honest I’m surprised that this is the first complaint I’ve gotten about the elevators!

      Thanks for playing!

  • singleshot
    Lv. 43

    Honestly That was fun, even when you say your game bad, It's still enjoyably to play.

    the layout of each room was different enough, that I never really got lost. and I like how you teased shrines, by placing them in unreachable locations at first. only for the player to be above it later and need to remember it.

    while the alive, undead mechanic was fun to puzzle solve with. I only saw you really use it creatively in a few time. like in the space where you right the platform up. only to find no way to cross, until you decide to kill yourself (In a good way) to find the path open up. That was a fun moment for me.

    My only really issue with it, come to the lack of a map, and or means to keep progress.

    after getting the 16, shine I thought I was done. I didn't keep track in my head, and I had no way to really know how much more I had to look for.

    also I had to rate low on theme because you character dies at the end :P (not really.)

    GooVity
    Submitted

    GooVity

    • Seltzy
      Patron
      Seltzy Developer of DAGGER

      4yrs ago

      Level design probably suffered the most from me designing the game on the fly. I felt super pressed for time and was constructing levels before I had even completed the main mechanic or knew how I was going to use it.

      Glad you enjoyed! Thanks for playing!

  • Allison James
    Patron

    This is a superb entry, one of the most "complete" and engaging I've played. Great, unique idea that fits the theme wonderfully, clean and pleasing graphics, smooth and satisfying controls, and a big, enjoyable game world to explore with a lot of clever puzzle design.

    It took me a little while to realise I could sacrifice myself at any point, rather than only when standing on an altar, so I did think I was stuck for a minute or two - but that's more user error than game error.

    Excellent work!

    Rev%lver
    Submitted

    Rev%lver

  • Loates
    Lv. 10

    I really enjoyed the art and music of this game, the gameplay was quite interesting as well! Although, a couple of complaints are that there is no counter for the amount of shrines I have gotten, so I can't tell If i've got them all unless I backtrack through the whole level.

    Also, why does R restart the entire game? I accidentally pressed it mid-game, but there had been no indication anywhere in the game that it would restart me from square one :c.

    • Seltzy
      Patron
      Seltzy Developer of DAGGER

      4yrs ago

      The lack of a counter for the shrines is mostly an oversight. It crossed my mind but never got around to doing it because I was deathly tired and I wasn’t sure if I should add that or reward thorough exploration.

      I left R to restart in the event of an unseen softlock since I barely play tested. Sorry for the accidental restart :(

      Anyhow, thanks for playing, Loates!

  • Eva
    Lv. 13

    I really enjoyed this game! The world was much more expansive than I expected, which was a pleasant surprise. I actually liked the music a lot. The sound effects and art made the game feel polished, and the mechanic leant itself to the many puzzles well. I managed to get all but one shrine (it was one in the air that I would've had to drop down to get) and it was super fun.

    Leviatron
    Submitted

    Leviatron

    • Seltzy
      Patron
      Seltzy Developer of DAGGER

      4yrs ago

      My main goal was a decent sized, interconnected world! I’m impressed that you were able to get nearly every shrine!

      Glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for playing!