Descendant

Overall★★★★★★★★★★4.18
Fun★★★★★★★★★★4.00
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.48
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.71
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.00
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.94
Humor★★★★★★★★★★3.17
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.99
Descendant is a sokoban-style cryptic puzzle dungeon crawler inspired by Void Stranger (mainly). Travel into the depths and explore all 30 floors of the dungeon. A single run won't be enough to solve all the riddles. In a 20 year cycle your descendants down the family line take on the mantle with the knowledge passed on by ancestral call. Can you break the loop and find the ultimate secret treasure? If you're stuck (or just curious), I've linked a walkthrough below.

Controls

WASD: Move

Space: Interact

Q and E: Toggle Items

Enter: Use Item.

Edit: I forgot the move the intro text back to the beginning of the game so I re-added it for some story context.
Genres: puzzle
Tools: GameMaker

Comments33

levi kingma
levi kingma8 Apr 2025, 08:32
Very nice gamefeel, the UI also makes me think of gameboy games 🙏
xlu8 Apr 2025, 13:25
Interesting and well thought puzzles, and some cool mechanics. Graphics are simple, but animations feel great. I like the souls like nature of the game through descendants. Cool concept. And music is cool :)
paulhocker
paulhocker10 Apr 2025, 02:56
really nice twist on sobokan type game -- thanks for making it
GoBigRedFan10 Apr 2025, 16:04
Cool Sokoban with a great vibe.
Onhore
Onhore10 Apr 2025, 16:50
Fun retro game, quite enjoyable and interesting to solve small puzzles.
LDJam user 385997
LDJam user 38599710 Apr 2025, 18:31
Really cool graphics and sound design - nicely done!
swordguy4710 Apr 2025, 18:49
This is incredible. Feels really polished and tight; I can't believe how many good puzzles you managed to fit in during this short timespan (I think I had fun with all of them except one of the "crush your enemies" rooms near the end, which felt a bit tedious xD)

Also really enjoyed the music; that moment where you use the candle and the BGM speeds up is awesome. Loved the game!
Zzzkvidi410 Apr 2025, 19:20
I really liked the puzzles)
silkworm_sweatshop
silkworm_sweatshopauthor10 Apr 2025, 19:26
@swordguy47 Awesome! Really happy someone got to the end. Did you manage to solve everything on your own?
Patrykgazing10 Apr 2025, 19:38
Pretty nice and absorbing puzzle game. I like the element of breaking the loop
swordguy4710 Apr 2025, 20:10
@silkworm-sweatshop I had to consult the walkthrough once because I couldn't figure out what was meant by "base of the serpent's neck". Kept getting to this room without the dagger lol

I think that's the only clue I had trouble with - everything else clicked into place!
woe
woe10 Apr 2025, 20:52
Whoa, this game is huge... Very cool!
sbeif11 Apr 2025, 10:10
Lots of content and very polished, well done! Beutiful music too, I feel like this could almost be released as it is. The only bad thing I can say about this game is that maybe it's a bit weak on the theme but everything else is top notch. Impressive level design too, great work!
Myezko
Myezko11 Apr 2025, 10:24
My favorite so far, I would even buy the game if it was on steam (please consider making more games like this).
ShadyShade
ShadyShade11 Apr 2025, 18:02
Excellent puzzle game!
Really liked the art style, audio and level design of game.

So nice job! :heart:
Kamuniaft
Kamuniaft11 Apr 2025, 19:57
Just wow! That's insane how many content you've managed to create! Laughed a lot when I first left my wife and child just to die on a spikes 3 turns later :D Gates mechanic feels weird - the game in fact turnbased, but gates are open in realtime, blows my mind! Oh, and I was very bad in solving those puzzles + there are so many possibilities to softlock yourself so I wished many times there is a restart level option XD
bravelytyped11 Apr 2025, 23:30
this is the best game i've played so far from this jam, well done!
noagard
noagard12 Apr 2025, 12:00
Really impressive work, loved the puzzle design and how much content you packed into it!
isayneigh
isayneigh12 Apr 2025, 14:59
I honestly wish we had to skill to produce something so polished in such a short amount of time. Amazing! I had a lot of fun with this game and have absolutely no feedback. Takes me back to the LOLO days.
ln404
ln40412 Apr 2025, 19:10
wow that pretty impressive work. I love Void Stranger and love this game too!
superpokeunicorn
superpokeunicorn13 Apr 2025, 04:52
Really clever little game! I like how it's as much about solving each room's puzzle as it is about putting together the whole overarching puzzle. Good amount of mechanics thrown in there to keep it interesting as well, although maybe drags on a bit, I can imagine a good chunk of players quitting before they really get to the meat of the quest. Regardless, I thought it was fun to go back through with my new knowledge and blitz through the game. Didn't quite finish it, wound up missing the dagger. But had fun regardless. Gameboy aesthetic was also well realized, and the music had that perfect puzzle-dungeon feel to it. Nice work!.
yancharkin
yancharkin13 Apr 2025, 13:25
Awesome game! I didn’t really spot any flaws. It might be a bit too hard — but hey, maybe that’s a plus for genre lovers.
Adhvik
Adhvik15 Apr 2025, 03:23
Amazing mechanics and art
Texugo
Texugo15 Apr 2025, 19:35
Hey that's a great game! I couldn't figure out some of the chest puzzles but it was still a fun experience! Pretty art.
Amolker
Amolker16 Apr 2025, 15:00
A huge game with a lot of secrets and you made it all by yourself! Simply excellent work.
thegrottman16 Apr 2025, 19:49
Wow. I'mma be honest - one of the best games I've played so far. It's so different, it's so well-made. Audio? Amazing. Graphics? Amazing. Gameplay? Amazing. Kudos to you.
LangiT
LangiT16 Apr 2025, 22:51
I don't have much to say, I just simply had a lot of fun solving your puzzles, and finding secrets! Great work!
sinclairstrange
sinclairstrange17 Apr 2025, 19:24
Jeez this is the best jam game I've played so far, I ended up playing for ages trying to figure out the puzzles and dying a lot, but learning a lot while doing so. It's a fantastically well polished game and I'm coming back to finish this! Amazing stuff! Loved everything from the graphics, music, puzzles. Just amazing!
miroreflect18 Apr 2025, 17:41
While I was on my way to get the final secret I was thinking that the types of games that force you to go through the exact same levels multiple times in a row just to unravel all of the secrets are not really my jam. Then I found out what the final secret was and now I'm having mixed feelings 'cause its absurdity made me chuckle a little xD.

Putting personal feelings aside, the vibe when exploring the dungeon and discovering all there was to it was quite enjoyable. On the first playthrough I had accidentally figured out 3/4 of the secrets that were hinted towards on f-22 which made me feel really good about myself :D. I'm also a fan of the artstyle as well as the soundtracks and effects. It's honestly quite crazy how much you were able to add into game made in such a short period of time!
LLlarsO
LLlarsO21 Apr 2025, 16:08
Great entry! :)

You nailed the Gameboyesque visuals. Everything was very clear and UI was good to handle.
The game mechanics were nicely introduced by a clever level design.
The soundtrack and the sound effects are also good.
I actually have nothing to suggest to make this one better.
The difficulty curve was fine and I really appreciate the fact, that you could just use the easy route or take the "more-thinking-route", but if you were not able to solve the puzzle, you could still progess. :)
Rongo Matane
Rongo Matane24 Apr 2025, 19:46
Lovely game! I like the concept a lot and it felt really clever, with the hints being well written in being clear enough but also a little bit mystic. Strong music too, and very impressive size of the game, as well as how complete it feels. Great job as usual :)
Ava Skoog
Ava Skoog24 Apr 2025, 20:54
Wow!! I'm just floored. It's so good. I think I finished it‽ I got *the ultimate treasure* but I'm not sure it does anything. I'll leave the tab open until I know so I don't have to redo everything if so 👀

One of my favs of any LD ever to be honest. As soon as I saw the second symbol I got pen and paper out and started noting them down as I came across them. I still wasn't sure how excited I was to redo stuff to find secrets until I got to the very end of the first run and saw all those clues and then I really did get hyped up! Figured them all out and *gave up everything*. Lost a bit of time on my third run because I forgot to pick up the candle. Good thing I had the dagger!

It's just really slick and well done in every aspect. Looks nice, plays nice, sounds nice, and having to think beyond the sokoban puzzles themselves was so much fun. I honestly can't add much more, I don't really have criticisms. Super good!
silkworm_sweatshop
silkworm_sweatshopauthor24 Apr 2025, 21:37
@ava-skoog You can select the ultimate treasure and use it like any other item. That's it, you did it :sweat_smile:

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