Stray Flare

by the-spinning-sofa

co-authored: @matimay, @pado, @tryam, @uniowl, @k-metz

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.57

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.10

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.07

Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.04

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.19

Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.62

Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.46

Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.94

💫 So, you've decided to become a ranger! Your first mission is to restore lost signals from our science equipment. Sounds easy, right?

How to play

You need to find all outposts in the forest. Your flare gun will help to send different signals to the dispatcher.

🟢 Green flare is fired to signal that outpost is found and fixed.

🟡 Yellow flare is used when you get lost.

⚪ White flare is used when you need to bright up the sky and scare shadows off. 👻

🔴 Red flare is… I hope you won’t ever need to use it.

🧭 Compass shows where your target is relative to the player's view.

Credits

Made by these cool guys:

- @uniowl
- @pado-pado
- @tryam
- @matimay
- @k-metz
- @terminator2345

Also these assets were used:
- https://freesound.org/s/274832/
- https://freesound.org/s/637768/
- https://freesound.org/s/687223/
- https://freesound.org/s/170515/
- https://freesound.org/s/646928/
- https://freesound.org/s/184519/
- https://freesound.org/s/590129/

Tags: #atmospheric, #hand-drawn, #horror, #ludum-dare-59, #mystery, #narrative, #no ai, #short

Genres: adventure

Tools: Unity

Comments44

alexey_bobrovskiy22 Apr 2026, 09:29

The atmosphere was cool, but an invisible wall prevented me from getting to the second sensor.

Do3naut22 Apr 2026, 09:34

I really liked the visuals of this game, the mix of 3D and 2D assets worked well with the navigation mechanic of the game - made it a lot harder to just see the next objective. I also enjoyed the story.

OddballDave22 Apr 2026, 09:35

I liked it. Very atmospheric and it looks great. I found the shadows a little hard to see when there were a few bushes around, but that only meant I took a more cautious approach which help with the spooky mood. All round a great entry. Good stuff 🎱

Hmeo22 Apr 2026, 09:58

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the protagonist is set as a forest ranger! My dad used to be a very dedicated forest ranger. The game’s art style and perspective are also very unique and memorable. I hope the author can add some gameplay guides and a running feature—I've been struggling to find things, which is really frustrating

UniOwl22 Apr 2026, 11:43

@oddballdave thanks for the feedback! It would be nice to have more clear vision of the shadows, but unfortunately we didn't have much time to polish them well

UniOwl22 Apr 2026, 11:46

@hmeo thank you! Nice to hear that you liked main character being forest ranger!

We tried to add gameplay hints via Dispatcher (or game page at least). Probably these hints are not very clear, we'll try to improve on this side next time!

Itero Proto22 Apr 2026, 17:52

The graphics are great, but the boring walking (Death Stranding) is not great 😁

Pavlo0422 Apr 2026, 18:07

The game is beautiful, I really enjoyed it. The atmosphere is so vibey! I did find it a bit hard to navigate, though, so I couldn't figure out what to do next after sending the signal. But overall, I loved it!

vydra22 Apr 2026, 18:40

Sorry but i didn't get what to do and how to reach red transmitter on shadowed part of area.

JamieOK22 Apr 2026, 18:53

I like the mood of this a lot. The audio, character models, and drawn cutscene at the end all work nicely to make me wonder what's going on in this area. The mechanics/gameplay felt a little flat, I think because the white flare didn't feel super necessary for avoiding the red hands, it might've felt better if it lasted longer and the animation for firing it was shorter? The only time the red hands ever caught me was when they were mostly hidden behind the 2d sprite bushes and I walked into them without even knowing they were there. Other than that, a very nice submission for the jam. Great job!

Hideyzzz22 Apr 2026, 19:27

I'm absolutely thrilled with the art style and the music. The guitar turned out to be really rocking. And I love how they worked with the rising tension. The final segment is a blast!

Stormdrill22 Apr 2026, 19:56

I really liked the environmental art. The flare gun idea is super interesting and definitely has potential for further development. My hand instinctively kept trying to move the mouse and hit Shift! haha

Pacelin22 Apr 2026, 21:43

The game is short and a bit frustrating. It's a beautiful and musical, atmospheric narrative game :)

HerzogVonWiesel22 Apr 2026, 22:19

Awesome atmosphere throughout, really really wanted to continue after the last segment!

UniOwl22 Apr 2026, 22:22

@itero-proto thanks for the feedback! this walking simulator could have a bit more gameplay indeed

UniOwl22 Apr 2026, 22:26

@alexey-bobrovskiy @vydra thanks for the feedback. Probably you accidentally stumbled upon third (or second) outpost too early in the game. Certain areas of the map unlock only after you find needed outpost. Yellow flares ([1] on keyboard) will show you where your current objective is. On our side, we'll think how to make level boundaries more visibly clear

UniOwl22 Apr 2026, 22:27

@stormdrill thanks! maybe we could make run button just for fun in the future...

UniOwl22 Apr 2026, 22:28

@jamieok thank you! Red hands are super unpolished, we didn't have much time for their proper implementation. As for flat gameplay... I think yes, it could definitely be better. How exactly -- I'm not sure for now, but we'll think about that

Kamizenki23 Apr 2026, 03:27

I like that this is a 2D (side-scrolling) game, but it has depth when moving forward and backward as well. The concept and graphics are also very good, and the vibe of the ambience is chill, too. The landing animation is a bit strange, but overall it's fine. Nice work!

hammerfrenzy23 Apr 2026, 03:36

Good atmosphere. I think I expected the compass to work the opposite way and that got me lost several times before I figured it out lol.

peak_vinnie23 Apr 2026, 04:05

Gorgeous! Breath-taking scenery, great sound effects and music, awesome character design and beautifully painted cutscenes. Maybe too short.

Gecko6423 Apr 2026, 13:30

I enjoyed the graphics and the 2d/3d world, but the compass was hard to initially figure out. Good job :)

Nekuake23 Apr 2026, 13:33

Really liked the vibes and atmosphere. The compass was a bit confusing at the start but it's easy to get used to it. Ah! The story was pretty cool for a game jam entry :3

Good job!

kayrum23 Apr 2026, 13:35

Nice visuals, first i thought that the compass was a little hard to use but then i realized that was the point.

Lazarus Richardson23 Apr 2026, 13:35

Nice atmosphere!

Anatei23 Apr 2026, 13:38

A mix of Knock-Knock and DST with great art and music. It didn't have time to get boring because of the length, and the ending was a pleasant surprise.

IRKAR23 Apr 2026, 14:17

Great style and vibe like in risk of rain 2 also i like UI and mini story telling). Good work!

Belten23 Apr 2026, 18:40

I made it to the end. art was great, also liked the cutscene. Some kind of indicator for the hands would have been great, tho, you sometimes just run into them before seeing them.

korzhik23 Apr 2026, 18:52

Great work! Loved the atmosphere - you nailed that feeling where your gut tells you something is about to go wrong. Excellent music and sound design overall. The final twist was a pleasant surprise.

The one thing I'd change is locking the compass itself and rotating the player's arrow instead, based on where you're looking. Navigation felt a bit unintuitive as it is.

Caelestial23 Apr 2026, 23:11

Loved the bushes

UniOwl23 Apr 2026, 23:44

@kamizenki if you ment landing animation of the character, then yes, it's a little bit sharp on edges. Thanks for the feedback!

UniOwl23 Apr 2026, 23:51

@hammerfrenzy @gecko64 @nekuake @kayrum the compass was made that way to make navigation harder; but later we realised it is not very good way to make game more interesting, instead it became more frustrating. We won't be making mechanics harder for the sake of it anymore, only if it will make game more fun (which is not the case here, we'll try to improve on that)

UniOwl23 Apr 2026, 23:52

@anatei thanks for your kind words!

UniOwl23 Apr 2026, 23:52

@irkar thank you!

UniOwl23 Apr 2026, 23:56

@belten thanks for the feedback!

UniOwl23 Apr 2026, 23:57

@korzhik glad that you liked atmosphere and music, and as I said above, compass is definitely could be better

Mekuire24 Apr 2026, 14:56

The game has great graphics and sound, but the gameplay is too simplistic. Also, the compass is a bit confusing; at first, it wasn't clear how to use it. But overall, it's a good game.

Arnage24 Apr 2026, 15:56

Since most of my potential comments have been mentioned here already, I'll just mention that the shading on the 2D sprites was very nicely done :)

Constance26 Apr 2026, 08:26

Excellent game! I like the twist on regular 2D platformer by making it 3D so you can move in every direction instead of just left and right. The low-poly/hand-drawn graphics and audio design were very nice too, give me the feeling of games like Don't Starve and Outer Wilds. Also, the ending was surprising and caught me off-guard!

The only thing bothers me was the compass, I think it should rotate the middle arrow instead of the outer ring, took me a few minutes to figuring out the navigations. But other than that, this is a very solid entry for just 3 days, you guys cooked!

VenomousMouse28 Apr 2026, 13:26

Very good atmosphere and nice visuals.

Lev Ramburg29 Apr 2026, 19:48

Love the visual style and overall presentation. The theme feels pretty literal, but it still works really well))

Shram30 Apr 2026, 13:47

Классная ребята работа, постарались на славу. Приятно что есть русский язык. Очень интересный стиль и то что вы смогли добавить некую киношность за это отдельный респект. Одна только претензия, так это к компасу, было бы наверное приятно чтобы не направления крутились, а треугольник отвечающий за направление игрока, но это мелочь, так вы красавцы.

haskill1 May 2026, 23:32

Interesting mechanics with different flares

nexusasx108 May 2026, 21:18

Very interesting idea. This atmosphere of mystery feels really cool.

I didn't quite understand what are white flares for. Do they scare off monsters? I complete the game without using them. And I wish the game was a bit longer.

I also love your artstyle very much! It's like a mix of Don't Starve and Firewatch.

Other games by @the-spinning-sofa

★3.69

co-authored

★3.96

★4.01