Lost Direction will not likely not receive further updates, it is only a 'proof-of-concept' jam game. But that doesn't mean revisiting it in the future is out of the question
Got a funky key and access card, wandered til I have a consistent cough, listened to the cube til the room filled with water, and finally got to 25 but now it's ticking down from 2,147,478,300. Oh and I found out that the game does hove entities in it, so that was fun /s.
Hello, I'm a french Backrooms YouTuber and I play this game from time to time. A question always haunted me, is there actually something ? Whenever I want to conclude this game is empty and possess no entity a strange event happens. I concluded at random times some events can occur but what are they ?
Hey there! Lost Direction is a pure psychological horror game, meant to embody the original concept of the backrooms. I will not spoil the experience, but some things require obtuse methods to discover or are extremely rare.
If you want to find them here's some hints: - Investigate the radios, some are lures - Try accessing area 25/50 with different methods, in the current version the game will break, but with a specific method you can access the level as intended - Try to unlock the ACCESS DENIED structures
Sorry it took so long but as promised, I replayed this game for my massive backrooms horror games video! Lost Direction is the 4th game in the video if you're interested in watching!
No worries, glad you played it again! loved watching your video id like to de-mystify some things a bit
> I totally agree on the lighting, but there is something new to aid that which I'm surprised you never found given how long you played, there's equipment you can find, keys, better flashlights, and some other stuff. Could just be RNG but there's a lot of stuff that was added to tie it in with some other projects of mine, mainly Radio Disturbance.
> The "levels" are procedurally generated of course, but as of the latest update some aspects are baked into them, such as area locations, features, events that can spawn. So some content does get locked behind certain levels. There are also special levels that can appear if you trek real far down namely partial 25.
> The faces you saw are very rare, very glad to see someone run into them, I find it hilarious that you encountered it on the one area I was hoping no one would see them though, Normally you can just get glimpses of them behind doorways.
Thanks for playing! While I don't think lost direction will be getting any new updates your feedback in the vid was invaluable, I will definitely consider it with newer projects!
That's really funny, wouldn't be the first time I had terrible RNG in an indie game lol. I still hold my ground and say this is the most atmosphericly creepy backrooms game I've ever played. You've made something cool and unique!
Pretty wild and crazy game! I loved the backrooms vibe and oddly enough the movement in this game was very smooth. Much love and thanks for the work put into this
hey! its actually a bug that this occurs, theres supposed to be some special secret stuff that happens every 25 levels, atm it soft locks the game. If you want to progress further you'll need to find an elevator on the previous level to skip the softlock.
I like the fact that there are no creatures, so you can focus on exploration. The Backrooms seem crowded nowadays, it's almost a parody when you have capybaras and spongebob and stuff. Your game is far more elegant.
Amazing games. Played it til floor 26 but saw something would happen in 25 so I dropped back. However I was locked in the "thing" that would appear and had to close the game. But damn the atmosphere is amazing the small little secrets and the way horror is generated without any hostile entity or finding pages. Just exploring with a scary VHS filter. I love this game and will probably play it again because I saw people talking about things I have not witnessed yet. A big kiss from me to the Developer <3<3<3
Is there a "Win State" to this game? I've enjoyed wandering around and seeing the sights for a few hours now, but it's starting to feel like I've seen all to be seen.
technically there is no way to win, the game is endless and will generate new floors and anomalies to suit, the win state is discovering these hidden things. That being said, there is tons of hidden content to find and secrets to crack.
ok, i have been playing this or about a week and it seems that there are 2 ways to beat the game. unrelated to that i have a tendancy to stick to one floor, meaning that i found the blackbox several times and drowned almost as many times. I finally got to the blackbox and found enough info to enter a code, then got to a screen. it counted down and then the game closed with a loud roar. not sure what happened there but i will beat this game!!!!
thank you for making such a kickass game and putting so much effort into it.
ps i was just playing and was doubting if there was an entity or not, but i heard someone get murdered and am not sure what to make of it. the depth to this game is next level. : )
it may or may not be intentional... not exactly authorized to publicize "REDACTED" information 68 74 74 70 73 3A 2F 2F 79 6F 75 74 75 2E 62 65 2F 47 50 65 58 65 34 66 49 7A 31 77
So got to level 24, and touched a "plant" and the "floor" counter went to +2,000,000,000. Not sure if it's intended or not a bit confused but love the game over all. Thumbs up.
Absolutely solid game, only recommendation is some way to easily change the sensitivity of the game as it moved extremely fast with my mouse, even on lower dpis
I think this game looks very cool, but unfortunately it is unplayable for me. Maxes out my graphics card (which is not a potato) and the mouse sensitivity is way too high.
From the couple minutes I played before I had to shut it down, it looked pretty fun!
I would greatly appreciate the addition of an options menu that included graphics settings, mouse sensitivity options, and a way to switch between windowed/borderless/fullscreen modes.
thanks for your feedback! try booting it up a second time, there's a menu there where you can change the settings, I've deliberately removed the main menu on your first play so that it throws you right in.
OK, I just got around to starting the game again and turning shadow quality to low was just what I needed! Went from 10fps to feeling like 144+. Problem is, it still maxes out my graphics card. Can you please add an FPS limiter option? I don't want to stress my cooling system :P
Hey, so, first of all: Excellent game. This held my attention for quite awhile, I really only stopped after my arm started to hurt too much (tendon problems, cant use mouse for long, gonna have to rig up a controller scheme, will try that later).
The different "biomes" are really well done, and the exploration never stopped being tense and exciting, even though I tended not to move very fast.
Seriously I think you're onto a real winning formula here. This is a game I'll probably be coming back to a lot... exactly my sort of thing. I'm a huge fan of the Backrooms concept (particularly after Kane's excellent new series) and this captures it well. I'm really hoping that you'll keep expanding it, there's so many cool concepts that could appear here.
There are a couple of frustrations that I ran into though:
The biggest one is the flashlight... I quickly developed a loathing for that thing. I also learned to never touch the A or D keys, because that made the wobbly thing go all over the place.
But also, the dark areas: There's just too much of that. I dont know how many would agree with me, but I find that the freaky/uncanny factor drops quite a bit when in dark areas, because I cant see the stuff that normally would be generating that atmosphere. When in that type of area, it often just felt like exploring a mundane hallway... definitely something lost there.
That, I guess, would be my biggest suggestion: Way more lit up areas, way less dark areas. The dark zones would probably be that much more freaky if they were only encountered every now and then. Particularly if the player had been in a lit up area for a good while, and then POP, the lights flicker and go out.
Also the glass walls: I got stuck on those OFTEN. Dont get me wrong, they absolutely work in terms of atmosphere and such, but combined with too many dark areas and... yeah, I spent A LOT of time smacking into things on floor 3.
There seemed to be a couple of bugs, typically textures acting odd or doors that seemed to get eaten by the walls after a moment, but nothing that actually interfered with the gameplay or experience.
Oh, and the fuzzy video effect is really well done. Seriously, that's impressive. Excellent job on that. The sound design is also excellent.
The one thing I couldnt quite grasp though was the rising water event that would happen every now and then... did I do something to trigger that? Is there a way to stop it?
As it is, I got to about floor 9 before I had to stop for the day. It was great the whole way through. Oh, and is there a proper way to exit the game? I couldnt find one, had to alt-tab and close it that way.
One last thing, I know the idea of having some hostile things in the game has probably been brought up, and I do think it could certainly be done well, though if it were up to me, the player would only encounter said creatures every now and then... too many encounters and the game loses that empty aspect. Besides, monsters are going to be so much more effective when you just arent expecting them at all because you havent been seeing any for awhile. Not that the game NEEDS monsters, of course. But I bet you could do it quite well if you should decide to.
Anyway, so that's everything I wanted to say! Very much enjoying it so far! Cant wait to see what else you might do with it.
Thank you for such a thorough review! if I decide to update the game again I will definitely keep these points in mind, especially controller support! Glad you're enjoying the game! Oh and you brought up [EXPUNGED], there's something in one of the devlog post images, don't know which levels they appear on though.
This game reminds me a ton of the incident where the man got lost in the Paris catacombs with only his camera, which the man was never found. REALLY captures that feel. That would be a neat game! Anyways, loved this game as well. Had a chair fly in my face while walking around which was cool lol.
Right, so, my experience within the four hours ive played it. =Potential spoilers below= >
>
>
>
>
>
Have to say Solid fucking game, captures the essence very nicely. Like the variety of room "biomes" (if you can call it that.) Learnt the mechanics quickly, up is good- down, not so much. Took the stairs to outrun the water and dodged loud noises. Took the elevators to reshuffle the floor and reset the water levels. Took the glowey shrubs to go higher. Stayed away from the gunk on the walls when I learned that you could die from it, those Geiger counter noises were not for flare. There were some bits that I avoided, long corridors because they chewed up time only for the end to be blocked most times. I avoided crop fields of cubicles because that usually got me drowned and set me back. there were these massive empty expanses with a few walls strewn through out the place, freaked me out when all the lights went out. The key was a cool idea, though it felt like a handicap, because before I had picked it up, all the doors would open. And then after, when I ran into doors I got stuck on them. guess it adds to the urgency, fumbling for a key while being pursued. I would say changing the looks of the doors if it was a locked variant, but I like the panic of running into a locked door, slows you down while you try finding the key in the dark.
Made it to about floor 112 before calling it quits. there were some loading bugs that kind of added to the experience. doors would disappear/ load, opening new avenues to escape, some walls had glitchy texture, reminding me of the-backrooms-game on itch.io, then moved to steam. came across a zone with a floor made of glass, and ceiling that was see though, showing the rooms above. The blood water worried me a bit, guess it was a biome thing.
The Hostile that follows you (if there is one) wasn't too hostile as id' hoped. though the suspense is unsettling, but maybe as you progress higher in floors the hostility gauge is cranked a couple of notches. more noises, bumps, scratches along the walls. perhaps a chase event with music. Around floor 99 it got intense. wasn't finding any shrubs for a while, and I hadn't seen any glowey doors in a long ass while, perhaps there was an actual exit. however it was a bit anticlimactic after jumping past 100. I guess the suspense was seeing how high you could go before something grabbed you. Though I did enjoy the mellow atmosphere and the dread of something phasing though the wall, the imagination that fear creates. *chefs kiss
The BlackBox is an interesting addition, thought it was something to steer clear of once I got booted after touching it the first time. I looked around for a while, found this square thing on the ground. At first I though it was a missing button from the elevator, however on closer inspection after trying to find a good angle to look at it, (plz adjust the item holding) it was in fact a key card. I was compelled to find this special iron fire escape door with a push bar handle and a swipe scanner beside it, but then I remembered the BlackBox and "denied access". So I sought a red glow and found one, unlocking it. beeps and doots of morse code. I wrote it down, though I don't know what for. maybe that "[REDACTED]" option at the menu has a use...
but yes, dread was felt by all and pondering puzzles yet to uncover. I r8 69 flashlights out of 100 broken TVs
absolutely incredible review! Thank you so much for taking the time to play and write this! Many people have been asking for some kind of hostile entity or monsters and this might just make me add them. You are right in that there is no hostile enemy, i initially didnt want to add them as the idea was to get lost and discover things, but the idea of hiding them deeper down might be a good compromise! Keep an eye out for an update, ill make sure your venture down to level 112 was worth it.
Hell yeah man, looking forward to it. Liking the "Deeper secrets" approach, The monster acting as an incentive to force you through the maze, uncover the lost mysteries.
Perhaps there are codes to special doors written in invisible ink along the walls and you find an ultra violet flashlight to see them. or safes needing keys that are consumed on use with recourses or gear in them, or facility documents with story elements. Lures to attract the monster and pipe valves to keep back the water just so you can explore a little longer.
I feel the Elevator could be a rare tool that helps out run the monster and travel the floors individually. you can use it to skip a couple of floors, or to go back a few. It could have its own elevator jingle to let you know you are close.
There could be a Blackbox/locked safe with a floor number engraved on it, you need to head to that floor, retrieve the code and take the elevator back down. but the monster is more active up there, so you risk your run in order to uncover secrets.
i absolutely love these ideas, idk if ill be able to get lost direction to work with them, might be good if i create more projects themed around the backrooms though!
this game looks really interesting but i literally like. cannot go into a game if i dont know if there are jumpscares or not. to be clear im only talkin abt "big thing comes at the camera with a loud scream" types im fine with other stuff. ill play it either way i just like to know beforehand
I'm not sure what i was looking for but it was still fun to explore. I ran around for a while and didn't find much but I'll probably spend another hour with it this weekend.
First of all: great game! The atmosphere is tense, there seems to be mystery around every corner and it just keeps you drawn in.
I think I have encountered a bug tho. I was walking around exploring the place when suddenly I got enclosed by walls. Tried to wait for maybe water to rise but that did not happen. So I just had to quit the game?
SPOILER
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
One question to other people playing this game: Has anybody figured out what the cube is "saying"? I'm really bad at translating.
i havent figured out yet but it seems like there is a possible end to this , i have found a bigger flashlight , a key and an access card which lets me go near the red cube(previously does acces denied and quits the game without the access card) and does what sounds like a morse code ? i went til 30 and gave up i need to know if im going the correct way and continue onwards til i find the end to this , and thanks again for this master piece i love it
Thanks for playing! while technically there's no end, there are secret puzzles, and it looks like your close to completing one of them. might have to push yet another update afterall...
Hmmm now my curiosity is at peak , i need to complete this puzzle for sure , ill get back to you once i find the solution to it , i hope in the future more players get to try this awesome game of yours ! also im not sure if its a bug or its intended or just from my part but sometimes ( rarely happens ) things load way too slow like it looks like a clear path you walk into it and now walls around you start appearing etc etc kinda like an invisible wall appearing instantly and blocking your path
This is amazing. Super unsettling atmosphere, confusing layouts, and mysterious location changes. Can't help but feel like there's a lot that I'm missing here, and some secrets to uncover. I may hop back into this sometime soon to figure things out a little better. Great work!
This game is a masterpiece. I have never been more close to shitting my pants from absolutely nothing. I have never jumped so high from seeing a damn chair. I think I'm deathly afraid of chairs now. I swear to god there's something in this game coming for me but there is nothing
This really proves a point on how Canadian people make furniture.
This was intense. Holy moley. I didn't know if it was procedurally generated because I went in blind, but damn...I played a few 15 min sessions and I had a different experience every time opening the program fresh.
Hi there, I am DragonExplosion and I am a Youtuber. If you like my videos, please leave a like and subscribe at my channel.
This was an interesting horror game that appears to be inspired by the Backrooms where I played the game. The static and idea of making the vision of the main character blurry, definitely made the game much scarier than it would have been. Moreover, the way the camera wobbles as the main character runs also made it more horrifying and scary as a whole. Even though the game is inspired by backrooms, the game makes use of modern office designs, bathroom tiles and other interesting additions like chairs, television and flooding into the game to make the game more interesting as the player progresses.
My playthrough for the game ended when I fell through the world. I don't know if the game is supposed to end the way I played it or if there is even an ending to the game but I did enjoy the random events and sound effects that occurred as I ran around the world. One issue that I have with the game is the brightness and the way the torchlight moves as it is actually quite disrupting at times when the flashlight is unable to adjust to the centre of the screen or it gets too bright from time to time. However, this game was an interesting retake on the idea of the backrooms and I enjoyed playing the game.
Thank you for reading my comment and I wish you good luck in your future endeavours.
Thank you so much for your feedback! glad you enjoyed it, ill be sure to check out the video as well.
I did forget to disable unreal's out of bounds system, so if you go to deep/fall and there's nothing to reset you like [EXPUNGED] then the game deletes your character.
Oops its a bug! sometimes the generation creates deadends, but when those are created right after a sudden drop they can cause problems. might update the game after the jam ends and fix this.
← Return to game
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
is the game dead?
Lost Direction will not likely not receive further updates, it is only a 'proof-of-concept' jam game. But that doesn't mean revisiting it in the future is out of the question
Got a funky key and access card, wandered til I have a consistent cough, listened to the cube til the room filled with water, and finally got to 25 but now it's ticking down from 2,147,478,300. Oh and I found out that the game does hove entities in it, so that was fun /s.
Hello, I'm a french Backrooms YouTuber and I play this game from time to time. A question always haunted me, is there actually something ? Whenever I want to conclude this game is empty and possess no entity a strange event happens. I concluded at random times some events can occur but what are they ?
Hey there! Lost Direction is a pure psychological horror game, meant to embody the original concept of the backrooms. I will not spoil the experience, but some things require obtuse methods to discover or are extremely rare.
If you want to find them here's some hints:
- Investigate the radios, some are lures
- Try accessing area 25/50 with different methods, in the current version the game will break, but with a specific method you can access the level as intended
- Try to unlock the ACCESS DENIED structures
Thank you very much for those information ! This give me some indications and objectives for my future videos !
i think you should adda graphics settings because my screen "breaks" because of the fps :( still a very good game :D
never actually got further than 4 but is there like level 1000?
it would be great
also got scared at hell when touching the red light cube
There's way more than 1000! The game is entirely procedurally generated, environments, curiosities, [REDACTED], all different on every level!
No worries, glad you played it again! loved watching your video
id like to de-mystify some things a bit
> I totally agree on the lighting, but there is something new to aid that which I'm surprised you never found given how long you played, there's equipment you can find, keys, better flashlights, and some other stuff. Could just be RNG but there's a lot of stuff that was added to tie it in with some other projects of mine, mainly Radio Disturbance.
> The "levels" are procedurally generated of course, but as of the latest update some aspects are baked into them, such as area locations, features, events that can spawn. So some content does get locked behind certain levels. There are also special levels that can appear if you trek real far down namely partial 25.
> The faces you saw are very rare, very glad to see someone run into them, I find it hilarious that you encountered it on the one area I was hoping no one would see them though, Normally you can just get glimpses of them behind doorways.
Thanks for playing! While I don't think lost direction will be getting any new updates your feedback in the vid was invaluable, I will definitely consider it with newer projects!
That's really funny, wouldn't be the first time I had terrible RNG in an indie game lol. I still hold my ground and say this is the most atmosphericly creepy backrooms game I've ever played. You've made something cool and unique!
thanks, glad you still like it!
Pretty wild and crazy game! I loved the backrooms vibe and oddly enough the movement in this game was very smooth. Much love and thanks for the work put into this
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it, double thanks for creating a video on it!
SPOILER:
I reached Level 50, now a countdown is running down from 2,147,475,... Can I end the game finally ?! PLEASE answer...I am waiting!
hey! its actually a bug that this occurs, theres supposed to be some special secret stuff that happens every 25 levels, atm it soft locks the game. If you want to progress further you'll need to find an elevator on the previous level to skip the softlock.
and PS, there is no end, it is truly infinite
Ah, thanks. So I have to exit the game and replay to reach level 24 again and then look out for an elevator. Ok, I may try this.
love the game
I like the fact that there are no creatures, so you can focus on exploration. The Backrooms seem crowded nowadays, it's almost a parody when you have capybaras and spongebob and stuff. Your game is far more elegant.
Amazing games. Played it til floor 26 but saw something would happen in 25 so I dropped back. However I was locked in the "thing" that would appear and had to close the game. But damn the atmosphere is amazing the small little secrets and the way horror is generated without any hostile entity or finding pages. Just exploring with a scary VHS filter. I love this game and will probably play it again because I saw people talking about things I have not witnessed yet. A big kiss from me to the Developer <3<3<3
Thank you! I really appreciate the support!
Is there a "Win State" to this game? I've enjoyed wandering around and seeing the sights for a few hours now, but it's starting to feel like I've seen all to be seen.
technically there is no way to win, the game is endless and will generate new floors and anomalies to suit, the win state is discovering these hidden things.
That being said, there is tons of hidden content to find and secrets to crack.
Okay, thank you!
SPoilers ahead --
ok, i have been playing this or about a week and it seems that there are 2 ways to beat the game. unrelated to that i have a tendancy to stick to one floor, meaning that i found the blackbox several times and drowned almost as many times. I finally got to the blackbox and found enough info to enter a code, then got to a screen. it counted down and then the game closed with a loud roar. not sure what happened there but i will beat this game!!!!
thank you for making such a kickass game and putting so much effort into it.
ps i was just playing and was doubting if there was an entity or not, but i heard someone get murdered and am not sure what to make of it. the depth to this game is next level. : )
thank you! Glad you're enjoying it.
hey whenever i click [redacted] in the menu now, it gets to a certain number then crashes is this intentional? also yw!
it may or may not be intentional... not exactly authorized to publicize "REDACTED" information
68 74 74 70 73 3A 2F 2F 79 6F 75 74 75 2E 62 65 2F 47 50 65 58 65 34 66 49 7A 31 77
So got to level 24, and touched a "plant" and the "floor" counter went to +2,000,000,000. Not sure if it's intended or not a bit confused but love the game over all. Thumbs up.
Thank you! while technically there is supposed to be something special on level 25, you can continue the game by walking forward
Absolutely solid game, only recommendation is some way to easily change the sensitivity of the game as it moved extremely fast with my mouse, even on lower dpis
solid job though hipposcripter, you did well
I think this game looks very cool, but unfortunately it is unplayable for me. Maxes out my graphics card (which is not a potato) and the mouse sensitivity is way too high.
From the couple minutes I played before I had to shut it down, it looked pretty fun!
I would greatly appreciate the addition of an options menu that included graphics settings, mouse sensitivity options, and a way to switch between windowed/borderless/fullscreen modes.
thanks for your feedback! try booting it up a second time, there's a menu there where you can change the settings, I've deliberately removed the main menu on your first play so that it throws you right in.
Oh, I didn't know that. Thank you!
OK, I just got around to starting the game again and turning shadow quality to low was just what I needed! Went from 10fps to feeling like 144+. Problem is, it still maxes out my graphics card. Can you please add an FPS limiter option? I don't want to stress my cooling system :P
i might be able to add such an option for ya, but its unlikely that lost direction will get another update due to... secrets...
however in the game files there should be some config files which you can edit manually, if i remember correctly you can find them under "saved"
Unfortunate but understandable. Though you've intrigued me with mention of this config file... I couldn't find it.
Try searching "default" in the folder, i believe its default.ini
Hey, so, first of all: Excellent game. This held my attention for quite awhile, I really only stopped after my arm started to hurt too much (tendon problems, cant use mouse for long, gonna have to rig up a controller scheme, will try that later).
The different "biomes" are really well done, and the exploration never stopped being tense and exciting, even though I tended not to move very fast.
Seriously I think you're onto a real winning formula here. This is a game I'll probably be coming back to a lot... exactly my sort of thing. I'm a huge fan of the Backrooms concept (particularly after Kane's excellent new series) and this captures it well. I'm really hoping that you'll keep expanding it, there's so many cool concepts that could appear here.
There are a couple of frustrations that I ran into though:
The biggest one is the flashlight... I quickly developed a loathing for that thing. I also learned to never touch the A or D keys, because that made the wobbly thing go all over the place.
But also, the dark areas: There's just too much of that. I dont know how many would agree with me, but I find that the freaky/uncanny factor drops quite a bit when in dark areas, because I cant see the stuff that normally would be generating that atmosphere. When in that type of area, it often just felt like exploring a mundane hallway... definitely something lost there.
That, I guess, would be my biggest suggestion: Way more lit up areas, way less dark areas. The dark zones would probably be that much more freaky if they were only encountered every now and then. Particularly if the player had been in a lit up area for a good while, and then POP, the lights flicker and go out.
Also the glass walls: I got stuck on those OFTEN. Dont get me wrong, they absolutely work in terms of atmosphere and such, but combined with too many dark areas and... yeah, I spent A LOT of time smacking into things on floor 3.
There seemed to be a couple of bugs, typically textures acting odd or doors that seemed to get eaten by the walls after a moment, but nothing that actually interfered with the gameplay or experience.
Oh, and the fuzzy video effect is really well done. Seriously, that's impressive. Excellent job on that. The sound design is also excellent.
The one thing I couldnt quite grasp though was the rising water event that would happen every now and then... did I do something to trigger that? Is there a way to stop it?
As it is, I got to about floor 9 before I had to stop for the day. It was great the whole way through. Oh, and is there a proper way to exit the game? I couldnt find one, had to alt-tab and close it that way.
One last thing, I know the idea of having some hostile things in the game has probably been brought up, and I do think it could certainly be done well, though if it were up to me, the player would only encounter said creatures every now and then... too many encounters and the game loses that empty aspect. Besides, monsters are going to be so much more effective when you just arent expecting them at all because you havent been seeing any for awhile. Not that the game NEEDS monsters, of course. But I bet you could do it quite well if you should decide to.
Anyway, so that's everything I wanted to say! Very much enjoying it so far! Cant wait to see what else you might do with it.
Thank you for such a thorough review! if I decide to update the game again I will definitely keep these points in mind, especially controller support! Glad you're enjoying the game!
Oh and you brought up [EXPUNGED], there's something in one of the devlog post images, don't know which levels they appear on though.
This game reminds me a ton of the incident where the man got lost in the Paris catacombs with only his camera, which the man was never found. REALLY captures that feel. That would be a neat game! Anyways, loved this game as well. Had a chair fly in my face while walking around which was cool lol.
Teaser: Loss Of Asset
14789152
[Confidential Information]
Right, so, my experience within the four hours ive played it.
=Potential spoilers below=
>
>
>
>
>
>
Have to say Solid fucking game, captures the essence very nicely. Like the variety of room "biomes" (if you can call it that.) Learnt the mechanics quickly, up is good- down, not so much. Took the stairs to outrun the water and dodged loud noises. Took the elevators to reshuffle the floor and reset the water levels. Took the glowey shrubs to go higher. Stayed away from the gunk on the walls when I learned that you could die from it, those Geiger counter noises were not for flare. There were some bits that I avoided, long corridors because they chewed up time only for the end to be blocked most times. I avoided crop fields of cubicles because that usually got me drowned and set me back. there were these massive empty expanses with a few walls strewn through out the place, freaked me out when all the lights went out. The key was a cool idea, though it felt like a handicap, because before I had picked it up, all the doors would open. And then after, when I ran into doors I got stuck on them. guess it adds to the urgency, fumbling for a key while being pursued. I would say changing the looks of the doors if it was a locked variant, but I like the panic of running into a locked door, slows you down while you try finding the key in the dark.
Made it to about floor 112 before calling it quits.
there were some loading bugs that kind of added to the experience. doors would disappear/ load, opening new avenues to escape, some walls had glitchy texture, reminding me of the-backrooms-game on itch.io, then moved to steam. came across a zone with a floor made of glass, and ceiling that was see though, showing the rooms above. The blood water worried me a bit, guess it was a biome thing.
The Hostile that follows you (if there is one) wasn't too hostile as id' hoped. though the suspense is unsettling, but maybe as you progress higher in floors the hostility gauge is cranked a couple of notches. more noises, bumps, scratches along the walls. perhaps a chase event with music. Around floor 99 it got intense. wasn't finding any shrubs for a while, and I hadn't seen any glowey doors in a long ass while, perhaps there was an actual exit. however it was a bit anticlimactic after jumping past 100. I guess the suspense was seeing how high you could go before something grabbed you. Though I did enjoy the mellow atmosphere and the dread of something phasing though the wall, the imagination that fear creates. *chefs kiss
The BlackBox is an interesting addition, thought it was something to steer clear of once I got booted after touching it the first time. I looked around for a while, found this square thing on the ground. At first I though it was a missing button from the elevator, however on closer inspection after trying to find a good angle to look at it, (plz adjust the item holding) it was in fact a key card. I was compelled to find this special iron fire escape door with a push bar handle and a swipe scanner beside it, but then I remembered the BlackBox and "denied access". So I
sought a red glow and found one, unlocking it. beeps and doots of morse code. I wrote it down, though I don't know what for. maybe that "[REDACTED]" option at the menu has a use...but yes, dread was felt by all and pondering puzzles yet to uncover.
I r8 69 flashlights out of 100 broken TVs
iz gud.
absolutely incredible review! Thank you so much for taking the time to play and write this! Many people have been asking for some kind of hostile entity or monsters and this might just make me add them. You are right in that there is no hostile enemy, i initially didnt want to add them as the idea was to get lost and discover things, but the idea of hiding them deeper down might be a good compromise! Keep an eye out for an update, ill make sure your venture down to level 112 was worth it.
Hell yeah man, looking forward to it.
Liking the "Deeper secrets" approach, The monster acting as an incentive to force you through the maze, uncover the lost mysteries.
Perhaps there are codes to special doors written in invisible ink along the walls and you find an ultra violet flashlight to see them. or safes needing keys that are consumed on use with recourses or gear in them, or facility documents with story elements. Lures to attract the monster and pipe valves to keep back the water just so you can explore a little longer.
I feel the Elevator could be a rare tool that helps out run the monster and travel the floors individually. you can use it to skip a couple of floors, or to go back a few. It could have its own elevator jingle to let you know you are close.
There could be a Blackbox/locked safe with a floor number engraved on it, you need to head to that floor, retrieve the code and take the elevator back down. but the monster is more active up there, so you risk your run in order to uncover secrets.
(ignore me im gushing ideas)
i absolutely love these ideas, idk if ill be able to get lost direction to work with them, might be good if i create more projects themed around the backrooms though!
this game looks really interesting but i literally like. cannot go into a game if i dont know if there are jumpscares or not. to be clear im only talkin abt "big thing comes at the camera with a loud scream" types im fine with other stuff. ill play it either way i just like to know beforehand
there's absolutely no intentional jumpscares! just pure psych horror
alright thank you!
I'm not sure what i was looking for but it was still fun to explore. I ran around for a while and didn't find much but I'll probably spend another hour with it this weekend.
First of all: great game! The atmosphere is tense, there seems to be mystery around every corner and it just keeps you drawn in.
I think I have encountered a bug tho. I was walking around exploring the place when suddenly I got enclosed by walls. Tried to wait for maybe water to rise but that did not happen. So I just had to quit the game?
SPOILER
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
One question to other people playing this game: Has anybody figured out what the cube is "saying"? I'm really bad at translating.
SPOILER
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
i havent figured out yet but it seems like there is a possible end to this , i have found a bigger flashlight , a key and an access card which lets me go near the red cube(previously does acces denied and quits the game without the access card) and does what sounds like a morse code ? i went til 30 and gave up i need to know if im going the correct way and continue onwards til i find the end to this , and thanks again for this master piece i love it
Thanks for playing! while technically there's no end, there are secret puzzles, and it looks like your close to completing one of them. might have to push yet another update afterall...
Hmmm now my curiosity is at peak , i need to complete this puzzle for sure , ill get back to you once i find the solution to it , i hope in the future more players get to try this awesome game of yours ! also im not sure if its a bug or its intended or just from my part but sometimes ( rarely happens ) things load way too slow like it looks like a clear path you walk into it and now walls around you start appearing etc etc kinda like an invisible wall appearing instantly and blocking your path
I think the bug is caused by you exiting the map somehow, thanks for letting me know! ill look into it.
NEW DEVELOPMENTS: https://hipposcripter.itch.io/lost-direction/devlog/354472/lost-direction-missing-persons-briefing
Thank you! Ive watched your video and Ive published an update based on some of you feedback, Glad you enjoyed the game!
I think I just witnessed the birth of a masterpiece.
This game captures the pure horror of being in an unfamiliar place absolutely perfectly. Every bit adds to the fear.
But whats best of all is how it pulls you in with the discovery of [EXPUNGED]
Cant wait until people figure out [X-SPONGED], that's where the real game begins
This game is a masterpiece.
I have never been more close to shitting my pants from absolutely nothing.
I have never jumped so high from seeing a damn chair. I think I'm deathly afraid of chairs now. I swear to god there's something in this game coming for me but there is nothing
This really proves a point on how Canadian people make furniture.
Maybe the monsters that are after us are the jumpchairs we made along the way
This was intense. Holy moley. I didn't know if it was procedurally generated because I went in blind, but damn...I played a few 15 min sessions and I had a different experience every time opening the program fresh.
This was an interesting horror game that appears to be inspired by the Backrooms where I played the game. The static and idea of making the vision of the main character blurry, definitely made the game much scarier than it would have been. Moreover, the way the camera wobbles as the main character runs also made it more horrifying and scary as a whole. Even though the game is inspired by backrooms, the game makes use of modern office designs, bathroom tiles and other interesting additions like chairs, television and flooding into the game to make the game more interesting as the player progresses.
My playthrough for the game ended when I fell through the world. I don't know if the game is supposed to end the way I played it or if there is even an ending to the game but I did enjoy the random events and sound effects that occurred as I ran around the world. One issue that I have with the game is the brightness and the way the torchlight moves as it is actually quite disrupting at times when the flashlight is unable to adjust to the centre of the screen or it gets too bright from time to time. However, this game was an interesting retake on the idea of the backrooms and I enjoyed playing the game.
Thank you for reading my comment and I wish you good luck in your future endeavours.
Thank you so much for your feedback! glad you enjoyed it, ill be sure to check out the video as well.
I did forget to disable unreal's out of bounds system, so if you go to deep/fall and there's nothing to reset you like [EXPUNGED] then the game deletes your character.
I just ran around for a while I couldn't finish it.
You may want to be careful when running through deep water, you don't know what's underneath it.
It's bug or just as planned?
spoiler alert
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
At certain moment i catched in fully closed space, doorway just disappear.
At flooded floor in something like abandoned bathroom with tiled walls.
Oops its a bug! sometimes the generation creates deadends, but when those are created right after a sudden drop they can cause problems. might update the game after the jam ends and fix this.