HAYWIRE

by hirqshi
co-authored: @aashen, @torukaii
Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.97
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.72
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★4.33
Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.21
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.86
Audio★★★★★★★★★★4.00
Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.63
Mood★★★★★★★★★★4.33
Essentially a Fight Club

!!!!FOR THOSE WHO SKIP THE TUTORIAL!!!!

BrainRush is your main tool in the fight, to use it, press E

To defend- press E and drag the line right from your brain to the UPPER body part (THIGH/SHOULDER/TORSO) of the main character

To attack - press E and drag the line to the LOWER body parts, like fists or heels

PANIC is a state that prevents you from using BrainRush
To get rid of panic, click on the body parts MARKED by the pink lines

WARNING! Do not Alt+Tab during rounds
.
A 3rd-person fighting game where every strike is driven by signals sent directly from your brain to your body.

Each attack triggers a “Brain Rush”, a quick reaction check you must pass to land the hit. Take too many hits, and your brain overloads, sending false signals that disrupt your attacks.

Set in a biopunk world, you fight to stay in control as your own mind becomes your greatest challenge.

Comments42

MicleFirst21 Apr 2026, 03:12
Unfortunately, for some reason I couldn’t attack the enemy, but I like your graphics and mood
Kenoshka21 Apr 2026, 03:22
same thing, couldn't attack anyone, but looks great and idea is intriguing.
maximevincent
maximevincent21 Apr 2026, 03:24
This concept is super dope. Took me a second to figure out the controls but it's incredibly unique. The art, music, effects, are all amazing. Well done!
Tamerlan_Akhmadov21 Apr 2026, 11:25
Graphics looks great! Ashen and ilya made good 3D art
ivban421 Apr 2026, 13:45
Все поймут и все оценят
steinhks
steinhks21 Apr 2026, 15:34
The style is just gorgeous, and the concept is interesting
Tanjou
Tanjou21 Apr 2026, 16:03
This looks insanely good, sad there's no HTML/Mac build :(
hirqshi
hirqshiauthor21 Apr 2026, 17:22
@kenoshka @miclefist

Sorry for poor gameplay introduction lads, when you press e you should click on the brain and drag to the part of the body of your choice and release. Upper parts of limbs correspond to blocks and lower (shins and fists to attacks) Hope my explanation made some difference
xotraz21 Apr 2026, 17:52
It was hard to drag to the right body part, but the idea has potential, not to mention graphics!
el_psy_congroo
el_psy_congroo21 Apr 2026, 19:47
Awesome style! I really like the color scheme
el_psy_congroo
el_psy_congroo21 Apr 2026, 19:47
Awesome style! I really like the color scheme
MaruMari21 Apr 2026, 21:09
The game looks really sick, but I ran into some bugs. It became extremely slow at some point, like it was running at 10% speed, even during the round countdown. Really unfortunate.
kayrum
kayrum21 Apr 2026, 21:18
Such a fun way to do combat. Great atmosphere.
pidifussel21 Apr 2026, 21:19
crazy good game, good job
hirqshi
hirqshiauthor21 Apr 2026, 21:32
@marumari Im really sorry! Hope that bugs didn't ruin the game for you this much
RomanRadiy21 Apr 2026, 21:56
Interesting gameplay and visuals, I liked it!
nosoy21 Apr 2026, 22:03
good visual and idea but problems with understanding how do something, and second enimy hit in very long distance, its feel strange.
turotomo
turotomo21 Apr 2026, 22:12
Incredible work- the sound design, visuals, and gameplay are all outstanding. The concept is very engaging, and you’ve executed it 100%! The only thing is that at first it wasn’t very clear how to drag the signal from the brain to the limbs, but after watching the guide, everything clicked into place. I really hope you continue working on this project and bring it to other platforms. This is amazing work, guys!
fabelay21 Apr 2026, 22:23
Insane artwork and style! The gameplay was not super intuitive, but its a unique combat idea and the vibe is immaculate. Once the brain drag mech clicks it feels actualy great. Well done!
MayChils
MayChils22 Apr 2026, 11:21
it's clear that a lot of work has been done, but for some reason the attack didn't work on the first attempt. However, the visuals and everything else are top-notch.
D_Indie
D_Indie22 Apr 2026, 11:49
Хороший минималистичный геймплей.
Стилек на высоте.
Понравилась механика атаки, только момент с тем что во время брейн раша нельзя двигать камеру и трудно дотянуться до левых конечностей.

Возможно поймал багулину с тем что персонаж движется как в слоумоушен хотя я не в состоянии атаки/защиты и не борюсь с красными линиями, получил по лицу пару раз из-за этого, потому что не смог отойти и не было стамины. Может так и задумано, но ивент с красными линиями прокал по постоянно просто так, когда входил в брейнраш.

Ну и по классике мастер волюмэ не работает.

Отличная игра парни!
DivacheLLo22 Apr 2026, 12:02
Nice game, I like the art style. Great job!
Markwer22 Apr 2026, 12:07
Very cool visuals and gameplay, there are no major sticking problems when skipping, but 10/10 are the best of the best, the fight is very pleasant. Good Gace
Maxwell_Eliseev2822 Apr 2026, 13:57
I also liked the comics that explained everything.
LDJam user 317693
LDJam user 31769322 Apr 2026, 13:59
The style and presentation is really cool, especially the intro comic which has insanely sick art. I really like the idea, but it is a little rough around the edges. At some point my brain stopped appearing and every time I tried to enter the "haywire mode" (I think it's called?) and after a few seconds I'd be thrown into a stun QTE. I also felt like the enemy was getting hits off me, even though I was a good distance away from the attack visually.

Either way, it'd be nice to see this get fixed up a bit after jam, it's a really cool idea
Fadex
Fadex22 Apr 2026, 15:24
plss mac build or html
LDJam user 388364
LDJam user 38836422 Apr 2026, 18:17
The game looks super intriguing and i think has a lot of potential but i feel a bit lost and took way too long to figure the panic thingy out also the 2nd enemy is very hard and has a lot of range. some more feedback would be appreciated.

Regardless the Game looks so fucking good ^^
Fleesku22 Apr 2026, 20:54
What a fantastic idea! I'm so impressed!!! The idea that we're sending signals to the brain, oh my god, that's really cool.
Aashen
Aashen22 Apr 2026, 23:43
@fadex Hey! You can check our Itch page for the mac build!
Tanjou
Tanjou23 Apr 2026, 08:56
Finally tried this! One of the most creative ideas in the jam. I played on Mac and it was pretty smooth. It was a bit hard to figure out how it works, and I felt the pacing a bit slow. But the idea is sincerely incredible, I would love to see a full game made out of this.
igsoL23 Apr 2026, 20:13
The implementation of the attack mechanics is very interesting. I couldn't figure it out at first, but then it all started clicking. It feels like there's more feedback missing in terms of attack tracking; it needs to be more responsive and user-friendly. I'd like to feel the momentum and impact, but for Ludums, it's just pure joy, you're awesome. And some kind of combat tutorial is needed.
hirqshi
hirqshiauthor23 Apr 2026, 21:56
@igsol Thank you for your honest feedback, and for not dropping the game because of our poor tutorial!
hirqshi
hirqshiauthor23 Apr 2026, 21:56
@tanjou So many ppl are tellin us to create a full game out of this concept and we too have many ideas, so theres a big chance it would happen :3
pres2300
pres230024 Apr 2026, 02:24
Really cool game and nice way to tie it into the theme! I really enjoyed the art style, music and SFX as well. There were a couple of times during the panic (I think? the part where you need to click the red spots) that it wasn't entirely clear what I needed to click on so I just clicked randomly until it cleared up. Also, my cursor just straight disappeared at one point. The game is really well done overall, though, and the unique gameplay was fun. Nice work!
Scottyartt24 Apr 2026, 11:06
Very nice game, love the style and very unique fighting mechanics! Overall look is solid and completed. Keep going, maybe this game could be a banger in case you do full release in steam =)
SHAKIROVICH
SHAKIROVICH25 Apr 2026, 06:23
Looks awesome and idea is cool, got me a minute to figure out combat, but then it was smooth, and the left hand was hard to use some times, because of camera angle. Продолжайте в том же духе
hirqshi
hirqshiauthor26 Apr 2026, 16:58
@shakirovich легенда поиграла в нашу игру!
Chaseplays
Chaseplays27 Apr 2026, 01:14
It's crazy just how much content you guys managed to fit in here. The art, the sound design, the atmosphere, you guys absolutely nailed it and did a phenomenal job. Presentation-wise, this is easily one of the most impressive jam games I've played, period.

I do think the core gameplay could've used more polish - even once I figured out how to attack/defend, it still didn't feel super intuitive, and it didn't quite feel like the punches and kicks connected as clearly or satisfyingly as I would've liked them to. The panic especially felt a little confusing to me every time it happened - sometimes it seemed random, but sometimes it didn't? I was never quite sure. I'm not sure I have super clear feedback here, but I do think a little more focus on making sure the core mechanics feel clean and satisfying might have gone a long way (which is obviously just hard to do when you're trying to make a 3D game full of content).

But none of that's to take away from the work you guys did - on every level this is such an impressive game, especially for one weekend. Would love to see what an expanded version of this would look like in the future :)
hirqshi
hirqshiauthor27 Apr 2026, 14:24
@chaseplays Thank you for honest and clear feedback. The core mechanic is rough around the edges, its more than true, and lack of tutorial didn't make it better. We are already began working on full game, and every word of feedback is greatly appreciated so we know what to do better. Thank you for taking your time and enjoying the game despite its bugs and problems!

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