Cultist Exorcist
(Collaboration)

A side scrolling puzzle game made for GameDev.TV Game Jam 2023. Now playable on Mac!

Play as Joseph, a veteran exorcist, on one of his visits to a haunted house. But dark secrets are no stranger to Joseph, as he harbours a trick up his sleeve.

• Left click on the destination to move
• Left click on an object to interact
• Press E to open the inventory
• Press Space to switch to spirit mode
• Move your mouse to navigate the house in the spirit mode
• Press Space while next to the player body to switch out of spirit mode

Life isn't easy, let alone living in two dimensions.

Growing up in an eccentric family and home-schooled, a sheltered and reclusive life is all Joseph knows. Everything seems wonderful and cheery, until Joseph realises he has been living in a cult all his life. Joseph was born a cultist and since birth was groomed to be the next in line to step atop the alter in sacrifice in order to propagate the cults ritualistic façade.

In a split of a second, Joseph decides he wants more from life than what the cult has in mind. Running away mid-ritual, permanent damage to his soul is inflicted. This tearing and separation of his body and his soul allows him to move freely as a spirit. No longer bound to his body, all Joseph needs to do is put a knife across his palm, to remind him of the pain during the ritual.

Upon escape to the metropolis, he soon discovers that the world outside his bubble isn't as utopic as he imagined. Having left the cult, he finds himself living in a gloomy city with rain and fog all year round, with poverty and hunger permeating it’s every inch. As a newcomer with few practical life skills, Joseph struggles to make ends meet. He concludes the entire city is cursed, and with this epiphany, Joseph’s journey takes a unexpected turn. Finding a sense of purpose and belonging through one of the few talents his cultist upbringing left him with, Joseph finds his knack for performing exorcisms to be highly beneficial within his new surroundings. In order to prosper, Joseph is hired to deal with cult rituals in the city, the very thing he ran away from. Being able to navigate the spiritual realm, combined with his knowledge of the dark arts, exorcism becomes his new life. Joseph won't admit it, but he enjoys his newfound responsibility.

Life in 2 Dimensions

There is many way to execute the theme 2 dimensions, and there are already a lot listed on the suggested ideas from the Game Jam, but we strive to make something different.

We are inspired by the idea of the first suggestion whereby upon death, the player enters another dimension, but we feel that conflicts with the idea of "Life", as we feel that “the afterlife” isn't really life. Anything the player does in the death realm would have little significance in day-to-day life as we know it. There could be a godly and devilish imbalance that could affect the living realm, but we’d rather stick to something that is much closer to life, and therefore the idea of a spiritual realm that inhabits the same time and space, but on a slightly different level. The player can control Joseph’s soul to navigate the spiritual realm, and the effect of any action in this realm will be instantly recognised in the physical realm.

Much effort went into delivering the theme of "life" in the story. We endeavour to make the entire game a fragment of the character's life that is a representation of the whole, something that the player does or experiences day-to-day. We’ve achieved this by giving our protagonist an occupation that fits the mechanic, to justify it as something he does five days a week, and that we can all relate to or associate with work as something that has taken up most of our life. Joseph, our protagonist, is an exorcist, and this is just one of many haunted houses he visits throughout his life.

Game Design

As a game jam entry, the design was kept simple - a puzzle with buttons, keys, and passwords. The team leader wanted a game about astral projection, so everything was designed around that.

A flow chart of the player's verb in the game were created on Miro.

Inspiration

Ghost Trick - Phantom Detective - CAPCOM Co., Ltd.