Softlocked

You are Miles. You were playing a game. You are now in the game.

Unfortunately, nobody finished it.

SOFTLOCKED is a comedy bullet-hell RPG set inside an unfinished video game — missing textures, NPCs whose variables never got bound, a town with a population of [NULL_REF], and a boss that has been stuck at 99% since before you had a bedtime. It would love to finish loading. Three files are missing. It swears that's not its fault — and now finding them is somehow your job.

Everything in here is doing its best. Please be nice to it... You don't have to be nice to it.

Features (allegedly):

• Bullet-hell battles inside sad little OS windows
• Every fight can be talked down, fled from*, or clicked to death — your call (*exit not implemented in all cases)
• A village, a bog, a sound test, and other places the roadmap called "stretch goals"
• Bosses include a EULA, a metronome, and a memory leak
• A bridge that exists but never rendered
• Four weapons, four armors, one deeply discouraged DLC purchase
• Full controller support (the deadzone has feelings)
• More save points, by popular demand (the demand was one person)
• GOOD KARMA is tracked (unused)
• Secrets

CONTROLS: Z/A — confirm · X/B — back · C/Y — loadout · arrows/stick — move
Keyboard or gamepad. The tutorial sign in-game is broken. This is the only honest tutorial you will receive.

This is ACT 1: THE DEMO — about an hour of game that ends exactly where a game called SOFTLOCKED has to end. Sound on recommended: the music is procedurally generated, the bosses have theme songs now, and one of the loops is corrupted on purpose.

Enjoyed it? Leaving a rating increments GOOD KARMA. Unlike in the game, this stat is actually used.

NEWLY UPDATED

CONTROLLER COMPATIBLE