Lodestone

"Why do I attach myself to things that hurt me? Is it because I held onto them for so long that I can't imagine a life without them?"

Lodestone is a dark puzzle platformer about pain and feeling stuck. You play as a dog chained to a giant ball of spikes. You have to avoid the spiked ball that is often hurtling at you due to your movements, while progressing through a series of challenging levels. 

Of course, having a giant ball of spikes does have some benefits. It can easily kill the dark shadows stalking you. But as you die over and over from your chained up ball, you start to wonder if those shadows are the least harmful thing you can find compared to your own chained up horror. 

Made for the 2021 GMTK Game Jam, with the theme "Joined Together". This is the post-jam version, with some additional tutorial notes for movement, better sound mixing, and some minor physics alterations.