Great game ! Some ideas in there (espescially with, for example the apple ) are amazing in themselves, but with the sounds, the visuals, and the atmosphere, makes for a really unique game * u * )
I'm not sure weither you made it all by yourself or with a very, very small team, but either way congrats, that's an impressive thing to make !
Hello Akuma! Please, can you contact me? I thought about helping you with ideas if you will do Spooky's Jump Scare Mansion new DLC/ mode. Please contact me: janek.heuer@interia.eu :)
I would love to try, but Wine is a wilful beast...can I get a refund in case it won't work? In turn, I promise to provide wrapper (if it's gonna work), so other users would have easier time running it on Mac :)
Also, what minimum DirectX version required for the game?
It's not possible to run the game using wrapper on macOS then :( The latest DirectX version supported is 9.0c due to Apple not updating macOS OpenGL drivers in favour of proprietary Metal API...
Hello, I have a problem with the game, I'm sorry if this question is stupid but i can't found the save's folder, I change my computer and i don't know how i can recover my old save (nothing in steamapps/common) and the cloud doesn't work Did you have a solution or i have to restart the game from the beginning ?
There is not controller plugged in, however, it seemed to be a driver problem. I disabled everything labeled game controller in device manager and that fixed the problem. It seems to be a common Unity problem.
P.S. Highly enjoyed the game, keep up the fantastic work.
Thanks for the feedback. I might do what I did with Spooky's and just disable all controller support by default so this doesn't happen and those who are using a controller can turn it on.
Following flipping the final switch, the train will pass by but stop just short of the pair of shoes at the edge. I was informed that the doors in front of the shoes are meant to open, but they simply wont </3. I'm stuck in the train station for now.
I have to comment, after getting the sale, having Pyrocynical's video randomly pop up talking about the game and making me interested.
I dunno why I did it, I guess I forgot I am really, really not good with horror video games, guess I thought I would handle it better. Thought absolutely wrong.
As a fan of SH2, 3 and somewhat 4, I wanted to at least play this title for it's style, and I have to say the style is absolutely excellent, the mix of low poly PS1 styles with few modern effects and some very stellar meshes of modern reflectivity with very low textures works. It all works very well to make visually unique and interesting game for 2018 and the sounds are spot on.
... Sadly, probably too much. I indeed forgot how badly horror games, specifically games hit me. It took me long time to be able to take on SH2 without breaks in between, SH1 being worst in making my mind so upset and immersed in the experience that I still have not gotten through SH1, just because it very quickly makes me want to shut the game.
By making a 1st person Spiritual Hill, you also made a game after 90 minutes I got extremely upset by, with a headache and still rushing blood pressure and I have to commend you, even if I am a customer who might have to leave playing the game here, and incomplete.
It is really good for what it is, for me probably TOO good.
Still, thank you for making this game. If you ever try to use these styles to make something different, I will be all ears for it. I say I hated the experience I had, but I hated it in the right way, if you know what bitch tears mean.
This game is seriously frightening! The sense of dread builds slowly up until the first enemy you encounter, then goes too 100% and stays there. I've never actually felt claustrophobic in a video game until I played this. This game will also deceive you and lull you into a false sense of security at times only to knock you on your butt when you least expect it. The use of 3D audio ties the whole experience together. 9.8/10
Love the game, but the UI does not scale correctly on 21:9 aspect ratio (3440x1440). UI and letters are cut off. Any chance this can be fixed for the next update?
Ok....this game....is hands down one of the most amazing experiences I had in a game in a long....long time. The amount this game messes with your head at certain parts is just pure delight. This game gives me a dread that no other horror game can replicate. It encloses all around you and gives you no escape. It's wonderful in all of it's aspects.
Please give this game a try. It's only 10 bucks. How can you say no!?
I've played through this game several times, and I still have no idea how exactly Sotiris is supposed to work, sometimes I can look away for semi-long periods of time, and other times I turn my back for a second, and I get caught immediately. It gets REALLY annoying in the room to the right where the boxes change position after you grab the eye (or get nothing) since I'm walking blindly around in a new layout (which I still don't know somehow).
Usually I try a stare at Sotiris for as long as I can and only turn around when necessary, but when I turn around, it moves, I have NO idea where it is. I know there's a light static that plays whenever you're near it, but it's really hard to hear and once you get a little bit away you can't really hear it anymore. How can I tell where Sotiris has moved? Am I doing something horribly horribly wrong? (probably)
When you look away for at least a second Sotiris will teleport within a closer radius to you. The entire time you are in the room with him that radius is slowly shrinking and it shrinks fast if you are not looking at him. He emits a 3D looping static sound that get's higher pitch when you're looking in his direction to let you know where he is.
It seems as though there's a range for him staying in a spot because I walked away staring at him and when I got far enough away he disappeared and moved somewhere else, is this supposed to happen?
I originally posted this review (and goofy video) on Steam, but I figured I'd share it here for anyone else interested.
Lost in Vivo is yet another 90s retro horror game in the current wave of similar titles - but I wouldn't group it in with all the rest. It doesn't have excessive VHS or noise filters just to obscure some poor low-poly graphics. Things actually look decent for the self-imposed graphical limitations. It's a strange mix of low-poly and some pixel art textures along with a few modern effects like Bloom.
The game plays much like the old Silent Hill/Resident Evil titles where you have linear sections, semi-open puzzle sections, and plenty of weird cutscenes and creepy stuff happening in-between. This game also adds quite a bit of fourth-wall breaking and "alternative" gameplay styles at certain points. Not to spoil anything: some of these work well and add a unique touch, while others are predictable, having been done many times before.
The bulk of the game you'll be walking down slightly-too-long corridor sections, exploring some minor branching paths, fighting numerous creepy enemies, and generally just experiencing some spooky ambiance. The music and sounds work quite well, setting a foreboding tone. There could definitely be more sound effects to add more life to the world, but for what it is, the current audio does the job well. The combat, like many other reviewers stated, somewhat devolves in to an action experience after a while. Although I don't think it ruins the gameplay like some might suggest. The enemy AI is a little boring in general, mainly just walking directly in to you and clipping your body, but the weapons all feel nice to use. Acquiring different tools and collecting ammo was a nice addition. However, since there are no healing items, you either need to die or stand around (possibly for minutes at a time) to regain health. I always opted for a quick death in those situations, which does detract from the horror.
All that aside, the game is quite buggy. Just off the top of my head: pressing the attack button while running does nothing but stop you from running, switching weapons with the number keys doesn't work about 50% of the time, reloads glitch out with the other animations giving you instant or non-reloads occasionally, almost every enemy clips in to your body, you can get stuck in the geometry (thankfully I was always able to get out), and enemies can also get stuck in the geometry. Worst of all: there are major sequence/save breaks that I see a few others have experienced. Thankfully I never ran in to those, as I wouldn't have the heart to start the entire ~3-4 hour game from scratch.
Overall it's definitely a weird and creepy experience, which is why I'm recommending it. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at least once or twice with some novel sections. That and the monster/audio design is actually very unique. It's a game to play once and be happy you experienced it.
I think I ran into another problem, I'm at the first point with a retina scan, and I've triggered what should have opened the door. I ended up playing a tape and saving, then everything went back to normal and the door was shut. I've gone through the rooms a number of times, and restarted the game, but i can't seem to progress. This is all after I picked up the item that should trigger the door, I'm wondering if i spent too much time walking around, or if walking back ended the event.
Ok, I picked up the eyeless body, the "fog" and monster showed up, played the third tape and saved, then it went back to normal, the door is shut, and the only thing to interact with are the notes and doors, as well as the two blind monsters in that one room.
I'm pretty sure when you get into Dr.Brundles office and pick up the eyeless corpse, the red eye'd monster show up. It gets darker and foggy, and the door with the retina scan should open on it's own. At this point I hadn't played the tape or saved so instead of going to the door I went back, and after I went back into the Lab it was no longer darker. The monsters were gone, the office was already picked open, I have the body, and the door is shut.
Also I doubt it would matter but it was past 12 when I was playing, and when I tried restarting I played midnight mode instead.
To sum it up I have the body, but the door is shut.
?????????????? Sounds like some serious sequence breaking. I'll look into it and try to figure out what happened. Normally it should be, find the doll head, break it and retrieve the picklock, get into the office, the body doesn't matter, the door should be open. I'm guessing you somehow got the area to progress further than it should have and that's why the retina door is locked. There must be a trigger somewhere that doesn't get deactivated properly so it's firing twice. If you want to fix it manually you can use regedit.msc, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Software, Lag Studios, Lost in Vivo, and change SAVED_LAB_02G to 3. And then start the game. If it is higher than 3 please let me know.
I got the weird eyeless body item and it glitched my game the heck out. Later in the game i didn't have the inventory space for a picklock and it dropped the dead body on the ground. Weird glitch, at first I thought it was a part of the game.
EDIT: I just got farther in the game and the body got up and walked away. Now I know it's a part of the game. Very authentic, nice job Kira. Also I just wanted to say keep making games Kira I love them. Spooky's JM was great and this game is amazing. I remember playing the demo a while ago and being sad because there was no full game.
I'm thoroughly enjoying the game so far, but I'm stuck.
I'm at the part with the brain(?) on the table talking to me in a British accent. Nothing happens after I talk to him and I can walk around the table, through the fence and right up to the giant eyeball at the end of the tunnel. Is the eyeball supposed to be chasing me? Confused on what is supposed to be happening.
Hey there, I've been having some technical difficulties. For some reason the escape key doesn't work, and I can't pause or quit the game without resorting to Alt+F4ing.
And more in a general question, does this game have a v-sync option somewhere, because it tears a lot in fullscreen.
I've been looking and I can't find the first lost tape for the life of me, I've found 2, 3, and 4, but I've looked everywhere in the initial sewer part and the train station before riding the first train. Should I look elsewhere? Or is it a sort of fakeout where it doesn't appear until later in the game
There is a small sequence in between the sewer and subway that uses the same graphics as the tapes. This is tape 1. I did intend for people to speculate what tape 1 was, but I don't what to cause too much confusion so I've just started telling people anyway.
Is there a reason my save file got actually deleted? I assumed it was a fake out, and was right when I started a "new game" and the opening text was different... but I had to quit during the "Left or Right" segment and now I can only start a new game and it plops me right at the beginning of the game.
Is this a long-con or does the game actually delete your save? Why would it do that?
So, um...how do you get the best ending? What triggers it? I am going to replay the whole thing and I want to make sure that this time I get it right. I know it's a very spoilerific question, but I just thought I'd ask. XD
You have to get to your dog in the end. In the last section there are two branching paths. If you go left (the scary path) you can find your dog or if you go right, you should hear a whimper coming from the tunnel and then you have a last chance to save her. Sorry there's only 1 good ending and there are 3 bad.
I just finished the game and gotta say it was awesome! I really didn't want it to end and even started crying during the elevator credits :D
I encountered a weird thing and wanted to ask if it was intentional. In the lab section with the mouse monsters on the corridor, I rushed to the save room and all of a sudden I had the sword from the midnight mode in my hands :O. I thought maybe the game is helping me when I got too much damage or something :D but the sword was not doing much damage to the enemies. I lost it when I died trying to beat the enemies with it. I can't tell if the time was midnight at that moment though it was close, maybe that trigerred it and caused a bug :/ Just wanted to report anyways.
I have v1.0.4 and I didn't get any game breaking bugs. Only other time I thought it was a glitchy situation is that when I got first killed by the eyeless neck breaker, where mice started to eat me. The death scene was very prolonged for some reason, I waited 30+ secs with the bloodstain on the screen and nothing else happening. There still might be issues with the timers I suspect.
Nevertheless, it was a great experience. Thank you Kira for letting us feel the Silent Hill vibes again :)
I'd like to mention that new game plus in this game is probablly the best I've ever seen. It's glorious to say the least! New enemies? Enemies in spots I didn't expect? THIS is how you do new game plus! Great work, Kira! <3
Ok, please help. I reached the damn big worm boss part where the game messes with you by not letting you continue. Well, I did get into the new discussion with the shrink or whatever that is, but I thought I can kill the boss, so I F4ed out of the game and wanted to try it again. Now I cannot continue, and New Game actually...starts a new game. I really don't want to play it all over. Any suggestions?
Ok, I replayed it and finished the game even though I didn't really want to. Got the ending where I climb a bunch of ladders and leave the dog behind. Before that, I was trying the other route and died, I just wanted to see where this would lead me. Shame. So what is New Game+?
Sorry for the confusion. That boss is un-killable in the main mode and you have to click new game or continue at the gameover screen to progress with a different text opening. This is just a fake out, where the game is intentionally hard and then makes you think it's deleted your save.
No, it's a cool tactic, but by forcefully leaving the game, I got myself stuck, unable to load the game. But I replayed it all, so it's all good. :)
The game is really awesome when it comes to making you feel claustrophobic, confined, and constantly in danger. The music, the audio, and the ambiance are brilliant. It's a rare game that managed to scare the crap out of me, which is something that I haven't experienced in a long time. I just wish I could like...reload certain save games and try out different endings instead of having to replay every time.
Amazing environments. Great enemy design. Fantastic sound design (and atmosphere all around). Fun little fourth wall breaking moments. Really actually gut wrenching, scream inducing scares. Combat was a bit stiff, but it felt appropriate for a survival/psychological horror, though at the same time ammunition might've been -too- plentiful.
The design of the shotgun was VERY interesting and subverting.
The apple puzzle was.. Kind of ridiculous. I don't know if I did something wrong or not, but the solution was completely nonsensical and took me the better part of half an hour to solve.
I really enjoyed the way the story was going.. until the end. I really feel like a lot of the loose ends were left COMPLETELY resolved, whether I was missing notes or not reading into things enough (I admittably didn't find tapes 1 or 3). And more importantly, I found the ending to be just.. Unsatisfying and boring.
When presented with what I figured was a morality choice at the end (though I'm not sure about whether or not this was a decision that would affect the ending), I chose what I figured was the good ending. And after a little bit more atmospheric tension, the game just ended. Kind of lamely at that, without any real gratification.
Again, I'm not sure if I missed anything that would've contributed to a more satisfying ending. But in the end, after all the pretty good game.. I just feel a little unfulfilled. :/
Nonetheless, great great game. The experience that lead me to the end was more than enough to make up for the ending, in my opinion. Had me really scared a LOT of times, although, frustrated a few times too. Amazingly made game.
Thanks! Can I ask which ending you got? Because some are a little more fufilling than others but I also agree they just kinda show up and end the game.
OK, so, spoilers here so don't read if you.. aren't the developer or haven't finished.
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OK. I reached the room with the ladder leading to light, and the hole in the wall with Dina(?) barking. So of course I went in the hole and fought all the giant roaches, then ended up in the disturbing Hell tunnels with the floating chest-hole and swollen head boys. After navigating this I finally reached a new room that seemed normal enough. A door leading one way, a ladder leading to the surface. I climbed up and the dog was just waiting for me. It was sunny and bright and I pet it.. and the screen faded to white. The ending text was something like, "I escaped that hell" so on and so forth.. To be honest, I was kinda pissed off and skimmed it.
I know it's in survival horror nature, but I don't really want to replay the game to seek out more endings.
Yes well that is the good ending. I'm sorry it's kind of un-fulfilling. The bad ending and 1 other don't include that last chest-hole bois, so that's what I thought you had gotten. I'm not the best at making endings.
So, is the bit where your data is erased actually intentional, because i cannot continue and new game actually booted a new game. And a video i watched had the game continue as normal after they pressed new game.
If the intent was to erase save data in order to make something more harrowing, the only thing this did for me was be annoying and waste a lot of time.
That's the thing, for some reason I had the same text and i started with the dog again. This was the situation:
The game crashed on the game over screen, then i changed the graphics to "stylized" from "low", then I couldn't continue, and my new game actually started a new game. And this happened after that save point, so i thought it'd have something to do with it, my bad.
One of the users, Deviantel seemed to have a similar issue, where he F4'ed out of the game after that save point and either corrupted or erased his save. And I crashed out of the game at that point and had the same thing happen to my save data.
I think the games great , plenty of spooks, i was just salty when i thought the game was making me replay the whole thing over.
Hopefully it doesn't happen again though, and i can finish it, thanks for reading comments and making an otherwise awesome game.
This sequence definitely needs some precautions to prevent cases where save data is actually lost. It seems,
Force quitting/crashing the game before going to game over screen doesn't trigger modified new game sequence
Also you really need to save after clicking new game and game spawns you in the save room. If you forget and die, you cant hit continue and new game will actually start a new game.
I'll have to make sure it saves automatically there. I'm fairly sure I disabled the quit button on the main menu during this sequence but I didn't think people would force quit.
I lost my save to this very bug. I'm so fucking pissed right now. Can I get a save file file for the save point after the giant leech part? Otherwise, I'm going to request for a refund. Just did a "hate speedrun" to get back to that point. How frustrating. The 2nd time I noticed the "save deleted" message on the screen. I suggest that after this part and people quit, make the title screen slightly different to indicate that some kind of mind-fuckery is afoot.
Hey uh so I finished the game, and I've got to say it was pretty amazing. The enviroments are incredibly expressive, with each level having its own brand of spooky and the enemy designs are fucking terrible (in a good way). I had a hard time dealing the with the rat bois. The story, while light, had a good punch to it. Overall, this game was pretty spectacular, and I would definately reccomend it fam. Great job Kira! <3
hey am suck at a part where I grab the baby and teleport to railway and a train head towards me and disappear and am suck at the railway. I wait and nothing happen , is it glitch?
I'm having the same problem too. I have no idea why it's like this. Was there supposed to be a hint in the note before the looping path? Well, I tried everything and I end up trying to fight the giant worm creature, in the "ugly" path, only to die every time. Then get locked at the game over screen.
What i do is alt-tab out of the game and close it when it soft locks. This is a bit ridiculous. I'm not sure if this is intentional or a bug. It's possible that we are both just missing a vital hint in the note... but it doesn't really seem to go in any particular order. Maybe I'll try again and follow the note more closely.
Darn it, I couldn't figure it out still. It's very confusing. Those two pictures next to the two pathways actually do sort of match what's going on in the note. But after a certain point I get confused. I ended up fighting the big creature and dying, getting soft locked at the game over screen. I was able to glitch it out and I hit it so many times. It can't die. So it's obvious you're not supposed to encounter that thing. You are probablly supposed to do something once you reach the creepy baby thing. But I tried all 3 options with it and I still got soft locked in the subway tunnel.
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Great game ! Some ideas in there (espescially with, for example the apple ) are amazing in themselves, but with the sounds, the visuals, and the atmosphere, makes for a really unique game * u * )
I'm not sure weither you made it all by yourself or with a very, very small team, but either way congrats, that's an impressive thing to make !
wow!
2.0 drawbacks:
Fog is glitched with potato graphics, makes the level unplayable:
Hello Akuma! Please, can you contact me? I thought about helping you with ideas if you will do Spooky's Jump Scare Mansion new DLC/ mode. Please contact me: janek.heuer@interia.eu :)
it's like they were made to be sent down sewers
Hi,
do you have plans to port the game to macOS/Linux?
No, but you can use a wrapper program to play it on mac.
I would love to try, but Wine is a wilful beast...can I get a refund in case it won't work? In turn, I promise to provide wrapper (if it's gonna work), so other users would have easier time running it on Mac :)
Also, what minimum DirectX version required for the game?
I think DirectX 10, I think you have to go through Itch.io's sytem to refund the game I'm not sure how to do it on a personal basis.
It's not possible to run the game using wrapper on macOS then :( The latest DirectX version supported is 9.0c due to Apple not updating macOS OpenGL drivers in favour of proprietary Metal API...
Should be possible on Linux though.
If you change your mind down the road count me in for a purchase.
Hello, I have a problem with the game,
I'm sorry if this question is stupid but i can't found the save's folder, I change my computer and i don't know how i can recover my old save (nothing in steamapps/common) and the cloud doesn't work
Did you have a solution or i have to restart the game from the beginning ?
(And i'm sorry if my english is bad)
Oh i'm sorry, someone answer me in the steam community, i have found my old save, my problem is solved !!!
Hello I just purchased and started the game. For some reason, as soon as I start my character is constantly turning left. Is there a way to fix this?
This happens if a controller is plugged in but isn't being used. You need to unplug it and restart the game.
There is not controller plugged in, however, it seemed to be a driver problem. I disabled everything labeled game controller in device manager and that fixed the problem. It seems to be a common Unity problem.
P.S. Highly enjoyed the game, keep up the fantastic work.
Thanks for the feedback. I might do what I did with Spooky's and just disable all controller support by default so this doesn't happen and those who are using a controller can turn it on.
Where can I buy the soundtrack ?
https://livteam.bandcamp.com/album/lost-in-vivo-original-soundtrack
thanks !
Im running into a bug in the train station
Following flipping the final switch, the train will pass by but stop just short of the pair of shoes at the edge. I was informed that the doors in front of the shoes are meant to open, but they simply wont </3. I'm stuck in the train station for now.
Any advice is greatly appreciated :)
You can leave the room and go back and it should fix the issue.
tysm!! :D
I have to comment, after getting the sale, having Pyrocynical's video randomly pop up talking about the game and making me interested.
I dunno why I did it, I guess I forgot I am really, really not good with horror video games, guess I thought I would handle it better. Thought absolutely wrong.
As a fan of SH2, 3 and somewhat 4, I wanted to at least play this title for it's style, and I have to say the style is absolutely excellent, the mix of low poly PS1 styles with few modern effects and some very stellar meshes of modern reflectivity with very low textures works. It all works very well to make visually unique and interesting game for 2018 and the sounds are spot on.
... Sadly, probably too much. I indeed forgot how badly horror games, specifically games hit me. It took me long time to be able to take on SH2 without breaks in between, SH1 being worst in making my mind so upset and immersed in the experience that I still have not gotten through SH1, just because it very quickly makes me want to shut the game.
By making a 1st person Spiritual Hill, you also made a game after 90 minutes I got extremely upset by, with a headache and still rushing blood pressure and I have to commend you, even if I am a customer who might have to leave playing the game here, and incomplete.
It is really good for what it is, for me probably TOO good.
Still, thank you for making this game. If you ever try to use these styles to make something different, I will be all ears for it. I say I hated the experience I had, but I hated it in the right way, if you know what bitch tears mean.
This game is seriously frightening! The sense of dread builds slowly up until the first enemy you encounter, then goes too 100% and stays there. I've never actually felt claustrophobic in a video game until I played this. This game will also deceive you and lull you into a false sense of security at times only to knock you on your butt when you least expect it. The use of 3D audio ties the whole experience together. 9.8/10
Love the game, but the UI does not scale correctly on 21:9 aspect ratio (3440x1440). UI and letters are cut off. Any chance this can be fixed for the next update?
Ok....this game....is hands down one of the most amazing experiences I had in a game in a long....long time. The amount this game messes with your head at certain parts is just pure delight. This game gives me a dread that no other horror game can replicate. It encloses all around you and gives you no escape. It's wonderful in all of it's aspects.
Please give this game a try. It's only 10 bucks. How can you say no!?
I've played through this game several times, and I still have no idea how exactly Sotiris is supposed to work, sometimes I can look away for semi-long periods of time, and other times I turn my back for a second, and I get caught immediately. It gets REALLY annoying in the room to the right where the boxes change position after you grab the eye (or get nothing) since I'm walking blindly around in a new layout (which I still don't know somehow).
Usually I try a stare at Sotiris for as long as I can and only turn around when necessary, but when I turn around, it moves, I have NO idea where it is. I know there's a light static that plays whenever you're near it, but it's really hard to hear and once you get a little bit away you can't really hear it anymore. How can I tell where Sotiris has moved? Am I doing something horribly horribly wrong? (probably)
When you look away for at least a second Sotiris will teleport within a closer radius to you. The entire time you are in the room with him that radius is slowly shrinking and it shrinks fast if you are not looking at him. He emits a 3D looping static sound that get's higher pitch when you're looking in his direction to let you know where he is.
Does he actually have to be on screen in order for it to count as looking at him, or is it okay if you can't see him behind the boxes?
As long as he's in front of you, the boxes won't technically block your sight of him because the programming is very simple.
It seems as though there's a range for him staying in a spot because I walked away staring at him and when I got far enough away he disappeared and moved somewhere else, is this supposed to happen?
Eventually you'll be far enough away (past the draw distance) where he know's you can't see him even if you're technically looking in his direction.
how can i change the flashlight key?
Sorry it's bound to F until a later update.
lol my f key is broken ...
You can use an Xbox controller if you've got one you can connect to the computer. The update will probably take a few more days to come out.
Press F for f key
I originally posted this review (and goofy video) on Steam, but I figured I'd share it here for anyone else interested.
Lost in Vivo is yet another 90s retro horror game in the current wave of similar titles - but I wouldn't group it in with all the rest. It doesn't have excessive VHS or noise filters just to obscure some poor low-poly graphics. Things actually look decent for the self-imposed graphical limitations. It's a strange mix of low-poly and some pixel art textures along with a few modern effects like Bloom.
The game plays much like the old Silent Hill/Resident Evil titles where you have linear sections, semi-open puzzle sections, and plenty of weird cutscenes and creepy stuff happening in-between. This game also adds quite a bit of fourth-wall breaking and "alternative" gameplay styles at certain points. Not to spoil anything: some of these work well and add a unique touch, while others are predictable, having been done many times before.
The bulk of the game you'll be walking down slightly-too-long corridor sections, exploring some minor branching paths, fighting numerous creepy enemies, and generally just experiencing some spooky ambiance. The music and sounds work quite well, setting a foreboding tone. There could definitely be more sound effects to add more life to the world, but for what it is, the current audio does the job well.
The combat, like many other reviewers stated, somewhat devolves in to an action experience after a while. Although I don't think it ruins the gameplay like some might suggest. The enemy AI is a little boring in general, mainly just walking directly in to you and clipping your body, but the weapons all feel nice to use. Acquiring different tools and collecting ammo was a nice addition. However, since there are no healing items, you either need to die or stand around (possibly for minutes at a time) to regain health. I always opted for a quick death in those situations, which does detract from the horror.
All that aside, the game is quite buggy. Just off the top of my head: pressing the attack button while running does nothing but stop you from running, switching weapons with the number keys doesn't work about 50% of the time, reloads glitch out with the other animations giving you instant or non-reloads occasionally, almost every enemy clips in to your body, you can get stuck in the geometry (thankfully I was always able to get out), and enemies can also get stuck in the geometry. Worst of all: there are major sequence/save breaks that I see a few others have experienced. Thankfully I never ran in to those, as I wouldn't have the heart to start the entire ~3-4 hour game from scratch.
Overall it's definitely a weird and creepy experience, which is why I'm recommending it. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at least once or twice with some novel sections. That and the monster/audio design is actually very unique. It's a game to play once and be happy you experienced it.
I think I ran into another problem, I'm at the first point with a retina scan, and I've triggered what should have opened the door. I ended up playing a tape and saving, then everything went back to normal and the door was shut. I've gone through the rooms a number of times, and restarted the game, but i can't seem to progress. This is all after I picked up the item that should trigger the door, I'm wondering if i spent too much time walking around, or if walking back ended the event.
There is no item that triggers the door. You have to find the picklocks and go into Dr. Brundle's office.
Ok, I picked up the eyeless body, the "fog" and monster showed up, played the third tape and saved, then it went back to normal, the door is shut, and the only thing to interact with are the notes and doors, as well as the two blind monsters in that one room.
I'm pretty sure when you get into Dr.Brundles office and pick up the eyeless corpse, the red eye'd monster show up. It gets darker and foggy, and the door with the retina scan should open on it's own. At this point I hadn't played the tape or saved so instead of going to the door I went back, and after I went back into the Lab it was no longer darker. The monsters were gone, the office was already picked open, I have the body, and the door is shut.
Also I doubt it would matter but it was past 12 when I was playing, and when I tried restarting I played midnight mode instead.
To sum it up I have the body, but the door is shut.
?????????????? Sounds like some serious sequence breaking. I'll look into it and try to figure out what happened. Normally it should be, find the doll head, break it and retrieve the picklock, get into the office, the body doesn't matter, the door should be open. I'm guessing you somehow got the area to progress further than it should have and that's why the retina door is locked. There must be a trigger somewhere that doesn't get deactivated properly so it's firing twice. If you want to fix it manually you can use regedit.msc, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Software, Lag Studios, Lost in Vivo, and change SAVED_LAB_02G to 3. And then start the game. If it is higher than 3 please let me know.
I found SAVED_LAB_02G and it was at '4'
changing it to three worked, thanks for your time!
I got the weird eyeless body item and it glitched my game the heck out. Later in the game i didn't have the inventory space for a picklock and it dropped the dead body on the ground. Weird glitch, at first I thought it was a part of the game.
EDIT: I just got farther in the game and the body got up and walked away. Now I know it's a part of the game. Very authentic, nice job Kira. Also I just wanted to say keep making games Kira I love them. Spooky's JM was great and this game is amazing. I remember playing the demo a while ago and being sad because there was no full game.
I'm thoroughly enjoying the game so far, but I'm stuck.
I'm at the part with the brain(?) on the table talking to me in a British accent. Nothing happens after I talk to him and I can walk around the table, through the fence and right up to the giant eyeball at the end of the tunnel. Is the eyeball supposed to be chasing me? Confused on what is supposed to be happening.
You're supposed to shoot the brain.
Dang, I did that. Guess I didn't do it enough! Thanks.
Hey there, I've been having some technical difficulties. For some reason the escape key doesn't work, and I can't pause or quit the game without resorting to Alt+F4ing.
And more in a general question, does this game have a v-sync option somewhere, because it tears a lot in fullscreen.
I'm still trying to figure out why the pause screen doesn't work for some people, and Unity's forced V-sync is on but it doesn't appear to work.
Forcing through drivers seems to work just fine, though, and I see, the pause thing isn't just me. I'm still enjoying it really much!
Yeah I found what was causing the pause issues and have it fixed now. A new build will be available soon.
Awesome!
Is there a good or preferable place to report bugs or give feedback, or is right here ok?
Here is okay or you can email me at AkumaKira164@gmail.com
cool, thanks! i’ll shoot you an email.
I've been looking and I can't find the first lost tape for the life of me, I've found 2, 3, and 4, but I've looked everywhere in the initial sewer part and the train station before riding the first train. Should I look elsewhere? Or is it a sort of fakeout where it doesn't appear until later in the game
There is a small sequence in between the sewer and subway that uses the same graphics as the tapes. This is tape 1. I did intend for people to speculate what tape 1 was, but I don't what to cause too much confusion so I've just started telling people anyway.
Is there a reason my save file got actually deleted? I assumed it was a fake out, and was right when I started a "new game" and the opening text was different... but I had to quit during the "Left or Right" segment and now I can only start a new game and it plops me right at the beginning of the game.
Is this a long-con or does the game actually delete your save? Why would it do that?
There is a bug it seems if players do not save after this part and quit the game. I'm going to add a onetime auto save to combat this.
I remember playing this before.. It was free on gamejolt I think
The demo was on Gamejolt 2 years ago.
Made a video
So, um...how do you get the best ending? What triggers it? I am going to replay the whole thing and I want to make sure that this time I get it right. I know it's a very spoilerific question, but I just thought I'd ask. XD
You have to get to your dog in the end. In the last section there are two branching paths. If you go left (the scary path) you can find your dog or if you go right, you should hear a whimper coming from the tunnel and then you have a last chance to save her. Sorry there's only 1 good ending and there are 3 bad.
Thanks. Damn, I went to the right, but I didn't hear the whimper, just followed the ladders. I'll try again. :)
I just finished the game and gotta say it was awesome! I really didn't want it to end and even started crying during the elevator credits :D
I encountered a weird thing and wanted to ask if it was intentional. In the lab section with the mouse monsters on the corridor, I rushed to the save room and all of a sudden I had the sword from the midnight mode in my hands :O. I thought maybe the game is helping me when I got too much damage or something :D but the sword was not doing much damage to the enemies. I lost it when I died trying to beat the enemies with it. I can't tell if the time was midnight at that moment though it was close, maybe that trigerred it and caused a bug :/ Just wanted to report anyways.
I have v1.0.4 and I didn't get any game breaking bugs. Only other time I thought it was a glitchy situation is that when I got first killed by the eyeless neck breaker, where mice started to eat me. The death scene was very prolonged for some reason, I waited 30+ secs with the bloodstain on the screen and nothing else happening. There still might be issues with the timers I suspect.
Nevertheless, it was a great experience. Thank you Kira for letting us feel the Silent Hill vibes again :)
That definitely sounds like a timer problem. I'll get that patched soon then. I don't know how the sword spawned. I'll look into that.
I'd like to mention that new game plus in this game is probablly the best I've ever seen. It's glorious to say the least! New enemies? Enemies in spots I didn't expect? THIS is how you do new game plus! Great work, Kira! <3
That sounds really cool. I'm gonna replay it sometime and get a better ending.
Ok, please help. I reached the damn big worm boss part where the game messes with you by not letting you continue. Well, I did get into the new discussion with the shrink or whatever that is, but I thought I can kill the boss, so I F4ed out of the game and wanted to try it again. Now I cannot continue, and New Game actually...starts a new game. I really don't want to play it all over. Any suggestions?
Where are even the save files?
Ok, I replayed it and finished the game even though I didn't really want to. Got the ending where I climb a bunch of ladders and leave the dog behind. Before that, I was trying the other route and died, I just wanted to see where this would lead me. Shame. So what is New Game+?
Sorry for the confusion. That boss is un-killable in the main mode and you have to click new game or continue at the gameover screen to progress with a different text opening. This is just a fake out, where the game is intentionally hard and then makes you think it's deleted your save.
No, it's a cool tactic, but by forcefully leaving the game, I got myself stuck, unable to load the game. But I replayed it all, so it's all good. :)
The game is really awesome when it comes to making you feel claustrophobic, confined, and constantly in danger. The music, the audio, and the ambiance are brilliant. It's a rare game that managed to scare the crap out of me, which is something that I haven't experienced in a long time. I just wish I could like...reload certain save games and try out different endings instead of having to replay every time.
Just finished.
Amazing environments. Great enemy design. Fantastic sound design (and atmosphere all around). Fun little fourth wall breaking moments. Really actually gut wrenching, scream inducing scares. Combat was a bit stiff, but it felt appropriate for a survival/psychological horror, though at the same time ammunition might've been -too- plentiful.
The design of the shotgun was VERY interesting and subverting.
The apple puzzle was.. Kind of ridiculous. I don't know if I did something wrong or not, but the solution was completely nonsensical and took me the better part of half an hour to solve.
I really enjoyed the way the story was going.. until the end. I really feel like a lot of the loose ends were left COMPLETELY resolved, whether I was missing notes or not reading into things enough (I admittably didn't find tapes 1 or 3). And more importantly, I found the ending to be just.. Unsatisfying and boring.
When presented with what I figured was a morality choice at the end (though I'm not sure about whether or not this was a decision that would affect the ending), I chose what I figured was the good ending. And after a little bit more atmospheric tension, the game just ended. Kind of lamely at that, without any real gratification.
Again, I'm not sure if I missed anything that would've contributed to a more satisfying ending. But in the end, after all the pretty good game.. I just feel a little unfulfilled. :/
Nonetheless, great great game. The experience that lead me to the end was more than enough to make up for the ending, in my opinion. Had me really scared a LOT of times, although, frustrated a few times too. Amazingly made game.
Good job, Kira. <3
Thanks! Can I ask which ending you got? Because some are a little more fufilling than others but I also agree they just kinda show up and end the game.
OK, so, spoilers here so don't read if you.. aren't the developer or haven't finished.
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OK. I reached the room with the ladder leading to light, and the hole in the wall with Dina(?) barking. So of course I went in the hole and fought all the giant roaches, then ended up in the disturbing Hell tunnels with the floating chest-hole and swollen head boys. After navigating this I finally reached a new room that seemed normal enough. A door leading one way, a ladder leading to the surface. I climbed up and the dog was just waiting for me. It was sunny and bright and I pet it.. and the screen faded to white. The ending text was something like, "I escaped that hell" so on and so forth.. To be honest, I was kinda pissed off and skimmed it.
I know it's in survival horror nature, but I don't really want to replay the game to seek out more endings.
Yes well that is the good ending. I'm sorry it's kind of un-fulfilling. The bad ending and 1 other don't include that last chest-hole bois, so that's what I thought you had gotten. I'm not the best at making endings.
So, is the bit where your data is erased actually intentional, because i cannot continue and new game actually booted a new game. And a video i watched had the game continue as normal after they pressed new game.
If the intent was to erase save data in order to make something more harrowing, the only thing this did for me was be annoying and waste a lot of time.
It doesn't actually erase any data. If you start a new game you'll notice the opening text is different and you will continue from where you let off.
That's the thing, for some reason I had the same text and i started with the dog again. This was the situation:
The game crashed on the game over screen, then i changed the graphics to "stylized" from "low", then I couldn't continue, and my new game actually started a new game. And this happened after that save point, so i thought it'd have something to do with it, my bad.
One of the users, Deviantel seemed to have a similar issue, where he F4'ed out of the game after that save point and either corrupted or erased his save. And I crashed out of the game at that point and had the same thing happen to my save data.
I think the games great , plenty of spooks, i was just salty when i thought the game was making me replay the whole thing over.
Hopefully it doesn't happen again though, and i can finish it, thanks for reading comments and making an otherwise awesome game.
This sequence definitely needs some precautions to prevent cases where save data is actually lost. It seems,
I'll have to make sure it saves automatically there. I'm fairly sure I disabled the quit button on the main menu during this sequence but I didn't think people would force quit.
I lost my save to this very bug. I'm so fucking pissed right now.
Can I get a save file file for the save point after the giant leech part? Otherwise, I'm going to request for a refund.Just did a "hate speedrun" to get back to that point. How frustrating. The 2nd time I noticed the "save deleted" message on the screen. I suggest that after this part and people quit, make the title screen slightly different to indicate that some kind of mind-fuckery is afoot.Hey uh so I finished the game, and I've got to say it was pretty amazing. The enviroments are incredibly expressive, with each level having its own brand of spooky and the enemy designs are fucking terrible (in a good way). I had a hard time dealing the with the rat bois. The story, while light, had a good punch to it. Overall, this game was pretty spectacular, and I would definately reccomend it fam. Great job Kira! <3
hey am suck at a part where I grab the baby and teleport to railway and a train head towards me and disappear and am suck at the railway. I wait and nothing happen , is it glitch?
I'm having the same problem too. I have no idea why it's like this. Was there supposed to be a hint in the note before the looping path? Well, I tried everything and I end up trying to fight the giant worm creature, in the "ugly" path, only to die every time. Then get locked at the game over screen.
every time I die or not go to the next level I have to restart my computer
What i do is alt-tab out of the game and close it when it soft locks. This is a bit ridiculous. I'm not sure if this is intentional or a bug. It's possible that we are both just missing a vital hint in the note... but it doesn't really seem to go in any particular order. Maybe I'll try again and follow the note more closely.
ok thank you. I try it again, tell me if you got out to the next level am lost
Darn it, I couldn't figure it out still. It's very confusing. Those two pictures next to the two pathways actually do sort of match what's going on in the note. But after a certain point I get confused. I ended up fighting the big creature and dying, getting soft locked at the game over screen. I was able to glitch it out and I hit it so many times. It can't die. So it's obvious you're not supposed to encounter that thing. You are probablly supposed to do something once you reach the creepy baby thing. But I tried all 3 options with it and I still got soft locked in the subway tunnel.
Got my backer code today and... woooooo, total freak-out so far. Well done, sir! Is there 2D art of the cover I can use in my review?
Awesome to see it release. When will it release on Steam?
It will be released on the 30th
Thank you for the reply.