i've promulgated the clandestine needle

Creator: egg

Average Rating
7.9 / 10
Average Difficulty
58.5 / 100
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Tags:

Needle (12) Atmosphere (1) Radio (1) Head (1)

Screenshots

  • by Chrisay
  • by Chrisay
  • by Chrisay

Creator's Comments:

egg [Creator]
Game heavily inspired by dopamine's games. I made this in a short amount of time, and kinda got tired of working on it, so that's why the ending is a bit strange. I like this game on reflection, which is not common for me, but time will tell if I truly like it or not.

A couple of random tid-bits (basically developer commentary, feel free to skip if this kind of stuff doesn't intrigue you at all):
There is a scrapped hard mode of this game that is probably accessible if you manage to save edit, though a few screens will be unchanged since it wasn't finished.

This game does have lore which I may talk about eventually. But I'm interested to see what people think of it first (though I'll probably never hear anything about that.)

Finding music for this game was really difficult. I really wanted to nail the dopamine aesthetic, especially in regards to the music. But I honestly don't know much stuff that sounds like something they would use. So I kind of relied on Spotify's song radio feature for the first song. The rest are just songs I like that have a somewhat dark atmosphere.

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Tagged as: Needle
[1] Like
Rating: N/A       Difficulty: 64 64
Mar 30, 2019

37 Reviews:

YaBoiMarcAntony
Before I set off on my typical attempt at reaching for the inner meanings of this game, I'll say these words: the gameplay is very good, even great. This is by far the best Dopamine-like (Tethys-like in particular) that I've ever played, bar none. This is thanks both to the gameplay and the "lore" as Egg puts it. That's all, I didn't want to put this at the end and ruin the mood.

Anyways...

I've Promulgated the Clandestine Needle tells a tragic and abstract look into the mind of a depressed and anxious person. It does so succinctly and vaguely, but in a concrete enough fashion to be understandable.

There are three stages, though the final stage is quite short. The first sees the beginning of the day: static. This is the way you're welcomed into this cruel little world, with a twisted and dark song as well as an emotionless, noisy background to drown out anything else you could possibly feel. The saves are buried in the ground and make no noise when used, so there's this loss of triumph with the passing of each save. As such, there's a sickness prevalent with every stage, one in which there is no feeling of progress nor any feelings of success. Every change in scenery is merely that and nothing more. The final cherry on top is the text that greets you on death: "get well soon!"

This phrase, dripping in sarcasm and bile, is the world's jest. On death, all it can muster for me is a throwaway line you could say to anyone. There's no real meaning to it, it is the bare minimum that has long since become an empty set of words parroted by people who don't really care, people that don't know what you're going through or how painful every day feels; they don't feel the weight of every day, every week, every month, every year, every single second of the life you live, and somehow they believe a "get well soon" is just what the doctor ordered.

Nonetheless, there's a sort of guilt associated with that feeling. Perhaps you will get well soon, perhaps you can do something to make that faraway "soon" come closer than it ever has, and so the second stage comes in. The background has changed to that of a church; yet, the picture wobbles and moves to and fro, as if you're a drunkard just wandering into some warm place to hide away from the rain. You're trying to be better, but the picture never becomes clear, you never find yourself feeling as if this is right. You sit in the pews and listen to senseless words that you refuse to attribute meaning to, you try to become better but your mind won't let it happen, you won't change and will never change.

And so, the final stage comes in. It's shrouded in darkness, but you can clearly make out a broken and messy room, like someone tore through it looking for any shred of happiness they could find: the aftermath of a drunk night. This is the great mistake, that ineffable wrong spoken of in the final screen, that thing which you can never make right. You'll never see the full picture because your mind refutes it, trying to hide it away as best you can, but you see it nonetheless. You see your wrong, and in spite of everything, you can not make up for it.

AND THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT

YOU CAN'T CHANGE THE PAST

STOP TRYING

These words are what await you at the end of your journey, not some false platitude telling you "good job," or "what an incredible journey, look how you've changed and what your life has led to!" No, it is merely what you knew before you set out on this path to begin with.

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Tagged as: Needle
[3] Likes
Rating: 8.5 85       Difficulty: 62 62
Oct 18, 2020
kurath
Interesting shortish needle game with a weird aesthetic. Visual changeups and effects in-game definitely lend itself towards a consistent theme, adding some nice ambiance without detracting from gameplay.

The needle was well-executed, lots of weird jumps and really nailed the 'jumps that look harder than they are' aspect. Definitely recommended if you're looking for a not too extensive moderate needle game.

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Tagged as: Needle
[2] Likes
Rating: 8.0 80       Difficulty: 60 60
Apr 2, 2019
Chrisay
Okay needle game. Features some fun and interesting needle. It's not too bad, but I really dislike platform jumping, it's too unreliant. Every single save room could really do with another save, they were way harder than the two save rooms.
Made using the newer fangame engine, so you can change settings, configuration and go fullscreen. Always a plus.

It also has a nice atmosphere. I really liked that. Wish there were more variety in each screen in that regard.

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Tagged as: Needle
[2] Likes
Rating: 6.0 60       Difficulty: 65 65
Mar 30, 2019
Kilgour22
This is what you get when Dopamine style is paired with competent platforming—a great game.

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[1] Like
Rating: 7.8 78       Difficulty: 55 55
Sep 17, 2022
CanusAntonius
From the very beginning, it is clear this is meant to not only be a simple needle game, but to contain a sense of twisted artistic vision. From the text on the save select to the death screen, everything truly feels like you are completely lost in some dark nightmare. The final save has one of the most chilling audio clips I have ever listened to, something that could inspire the darkest forms of literature imaginable, and makes you consider the nightmare is actually reality.

Atmosphere clear, Needle being good clear.

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Tagged as: Needle Atmosphere
[1] Like
Rating: 8.0 80       Difficulty: 60 60
Jun 26, 2021