Depth Above (Demo)
A downloadable game for Windows and Linux
William, a 19-year-old student, finds himself searching a nearby beach for Lynn, a woman he met some time ago. They had been leaving notes for each other whenever one was absent, but a few days ago, the notes from Lynn suddenly stopped. This made William increasingly paranoid, eventually driving him to explore all kinds of places just to find her. His search takes him through various locations that seem to relate to Lynn, or even William somehow.
Depth Above is an atmospheric retro horror game inspired by games like Silent Hill 3, Cry of Fear, Fatal Frame, and other games which use a mid 2000s graphical style.
Since this is just a demo for now, the game should take around 30 minutes to beat, and it includes exploration, combat, and a lot of horror sections.
If you wish to support the development, you can donate me on Ko-fi or itch.io directly.
I really hope you enjoy the Demo of Depth Above, I can't wait to see you all play it ^^
Controls:
| Movement | WASD |
| Attack | LMB |
| Block | RMB |
| Run | Shift |
| Jump | Space |
| Inventory | TAB |
| Pause / Exit Menu | ESC |
| Interact | E |
| Use health item (select in the inventory and use in-game) | B |
| Use mask | V |
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Devlog #10 - Plans for the full game, first improvements6 days ago
- MAJOR UPDATE 1.0.042 days ago
- Major Update Coming Soon48 days ago
- Patch 0.07 Changelog62 days ago
- Patch 0.0.6 Changelog63 days ago
- Patch 0.0.5 Changelog65 days ago
- Patch 0.0.4 Changelog70 days ago
Comments
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Game may have been bugged for me, after the first monster encounter and going through some linear hallways I came across two doors, one red door was locked and the other blueish door would play the transition fade to black animation but I would just be left standing in the same spot when it faded back in and I found myself unable to progress after looking around some more attempting to backtrack.
It really nails the visual design though having it so you can only have a flashlight or weapon equipped at any time kinda makes monster encounters predictable. Since you can't really fight off something you can't see and the first two show up in well lit hallways, one can guess a dev wouldn't put a threat in the same place a flashlight is needed but I could admit to being wrong if this is done well, but having to potentially dance around a single light bulb in the dark sounds like a nightmare, the bad annoying kind if done wrong.
Keep up the good work this has some serious potential!
If you mean these two doors:
The blue-ish one (the door on the left) should lead you to the next scene, so it's very likely that it bugged for some reason, sorry for that. The problem should be fixed by reloading the scene or playing again from where you left off (Select scene in the menu).
It's probably one of those one-time bugs, so (probably) it won't happen again.
I'll take into account what you said about the monster placement tho. I get what you're saying, and while one encounter from the last scene does try to improve this, I think I can add some more dynamics to some combat sections.
Thanks for the comment, I hope you enjoy the rest of the game ^^
Love the game so far, you really nailed the aesthetics of the games you are taking inspiration from, the story and puzzles are very interesting, and the tension you bring to the player is very well done.
The only complain i have about the game, is the enemies or more like, how they appear thought the game, i was so paranoid about enemies appearing anywhere, through the ceiling, holes on the wall, vents, closets or even just at the end of the hallway i wasn't looking, but whenever they did appear, it was a little anti-climactic since i felt they always appear the same way and in moments were the tension made it feel encountering the monster was too casual.
Aside from that, i feel the monsters need more Sound effects or at least more unique one's, and the animations on the baton could be improved since visually it appears like William is not even trying to hit the monsters lol.
But these small flaws doesn't ruin the game at all, it's just stuff that needs to be tweaked and that's all, nothing too major, good luck on the game btw, you got something very promising here!.
This game has a lot of potential and it has brilliant atmosphere.
However…
Once I got the Nightstick (and had a taste of combat) the tension kinda lift off.
What is the point of having a block button if enemy doesn’t get stunned and blocking negates jack-shit of a damage? The stick doesn’t have a swing SFX which makes me feel like my own weapon is ignoring me.
You said in the desription that the game is inspired by Cry of Fear and Silent Hill 3 and i REALLY felt that. I love both games. But time and time again I convince myself that…
TEDIUM MAKES NO TENSION, ONLY FRUSTRATION.
You can create a great horror game that makes you shit your pants without tedious mechanics. Like Cry of Fear, F.E.A.R, Amnesia The Bunker, Silent Hill 2 Remake etc.
My suggetions:
You are on the right track and I believe in the project.
Thanks for the comment, I really appreciate the serious feedback. I'm currently working on a major update, so I'll fix the issues you mentioned and add some new stuff as well. I'm aware the combat is not the best, so I'll try to improve it as much as possible for both this major update and the final game.
Loved the aesthetics and ambiance - great use of sound design especially
Really buggy experience for me, though. I think the monster's death animation didn't trigger, because I hit them a few times and then they just stood there and I could keep hitting them but they never died or did anything, until I realized I could just walk right through them. I also was unable to use the medkits in my inventory, the only selectable option was 'examine' despite me having low health. I also had huge stutters every time the game seemed to be loading something, though it could be my machine being a bit of a potato. (64bit build 0.0.6)
Thanks for playing! Regarding the medkit, clicking on it already sets it as "current health item", which you can see at the bottom of the inventory. Once the current health item is set to medkit, you can go back to the game and press B to use it. I guess it isn't that clear, I'll try to fix that on the next update.
When it comes to the monster, it's the first time I've heard that happening. Did the monster play any sound before standing still? It could be that the monster died, but the death animation didn't play
I hope you enjoyed the game regardless ^^
Ight quick update on the monster thing, the bug only happens on the newest build, and it's caused by something I did for one specific monster at the end, I'll publish a new patch as soon as I can
Really cool demo, smooth all around except for that elevator that takes you out of bounds somewhere at the end of the game. The visuals and sound really create a solid atmosphere though, keep it up!
Thanks a lot, though it's weird that you mention the out of bounds thing, did the collisions on the elevator work fine for you?
It was right before the long corridor to the end. The collisions were just not present on the elevator. Should've phrased it better but that's what I meant.
Thanks for mentioning that, I'll fix it as soon as I can ^^
After I obtained the flashlight...what should I do?Is that the end of the demo?
You need to solve the puzzle with the drain buttons
Also,There's an enemy...I can't pass it...When I took out the mask..I die instanly from the gas..or I can't take out the weapon to fight it.And I've faced some glitches..
Well..I finished the demo...I've faced some glitches...near the end I went to elevator and I was out of the map,Some stuff...I recommend...for example when there's gas to the room to be more noticeable..Overall..I like the demo,the atmosphere,the graphics!
Thanks for playing it! The bug you just mentioned and some other bugs have already been fixed in patch 0.0.2
Another thing I would like to mention is about brightness..even in gamma settings...I increased it..still is too dark..