Njuma
Orshtaberi · 2024 · Pixel Graphics, 2D, Dark, Choices Matter, Singleplayer
Screenshots
About Njuma
What is Njuma?
Njuma is a narrative driven pixel art game with an offbeat interpretation of the Game Jam’s theme: Take a Deep Breath.
Draw your last breath and become the family's Spirit-Guide and Guardian of the Ancestral Tree. Help your descendents in their final moments by bringing them comfort and serenity as they transition to the afterlife.
The Ancestral Tree withers, generational trauma lurking in its shadow. You must piece together a tragedy and soothe a soul-scar which refuses to heal. The Fate of the family is in your hands.
What you can expect
A short walking simulator game, where you interact and get help from items and NPC's in the environment to interpret the story.
The NPC's interact with you as you walk close to objects, giving you clues of what they are seeking.
Pick up items, and place them to make a choice. Your choice matters!
About development
This game was developed as a submission for the Lv. 99 Game Jam in 2023. It was developed in the span of 10 days, and worked on further for 3 days for an update including bugfixes and a dialogue system unlocked by completing the game.
What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
Njuma is a brief pixel art narrative game about death and the afterlife that players appreciate for its cute aesthetic and mysterious atmosphere, though opinions vary sharply on its execution. Some find it a charming, short experience that becomes more meaningful through its hidden modes, while others criticize it as hastily assembled game jam work lacking polish and sincerity. The game's experimental approach to heavy themes divides players between those who respect its emotional intent and those who see it as amateur and underdeveloped.
⠀9 found this helpful
"Njuma" is a very badly made 2D retro pixel "narrative adventure" where you move a pixel blob around a JRPG looking game with themes of death and the afterlife. It wasn't sincerely made, it's game jam drivel, slapped together quickly in a weekend. Just like you can drive a car using only your feet, you can slap together a game in the space of a weekend at a game jam... and it's going to end in disaster. Yes, game jams do make amateur developers who can't get a job as real game developers feel good about themselves. But they don't produce professionally made games of high quality... we have to remember the gaming industry must be about the gamers, not amateur developers. It doesn't help the industry at all for all these low quality products to be published in places where sincerely made, full, high quality games are. But amateur developers almost never consider what's good for you, the gamer. This features really godawful, lazy pixelcrap "art" instead of real graphics. It's hard to say if this was because the developer didn't have the skill to do the job of creating 3D visuals, or couldn't afford to hire someone who does, but it also doesn't matter. What matters is that t…2 found this helpful
very short and sweet game! only made sense to me in the secret modes though!
Interesting but short, and cute graphics. I liked the two modes revealed at the end scene :)
Well, that's one way to process a child dying in a car accident...
Short, neat, and mysterious
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