1000 Cuts: Jomaku

About

"1000 Cuts: Jomaku" is a demo experience for the full game, offering 60-90 minutes of gameplay with instant-death combat, unique abilities, and environmental hazards. Explore, unlock upgrades, battle bosses, and choose from multiple endings based on your moral choices. With hidden cats, bonus lore, and multiple video modes, this game delivers a preview of the final product.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

86%

Audience ScoreBased on 144 reviews

story18 positive mentions

stability2 negative mentions

The game features beautiful pixel art and a rich, immersive story with well-developed characters.
It offers challenging gameplay that rewards patience and skill, making victories feel earned.
The ability to make choices that affect the story adds depth and replayability to the experience.

Controls are often unresponsive and the gameplay can feel sluggish, leading to frustration during combat.
The game suffers from excessive exposition and dialogue, which can detract from the overall pacing and engagement.
Limited checkpoints and one-hit-kill mechanics can make the game feel overly punishing and tedious.

story
40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
45%
40%
15%
The game's story is praised for its immersive writing and rich character backstories, enhancing the dark fantasy setting of Kurogawa, Japan. However, some players find the dialogue overly verbose and the pacing slow, leading to a lack of engagement. Overall, while the narrative depth and branching choices are appreciated, the execution may not resonate with all players, resulting in mixed feelings about its effectiveness.
- “The choices you make have far-reaching consequences, adding depth to the rich, immersive story set in the dark fantasy world of Kurogawa, Japan.”
- “Story is also very nice; it is simple, but the game has this fun feature of giving little details of every enemy you defeat. You don't have to check every body, but it offers tons of story for the main character and gives the story a ton more personality that it already has.”
- “While the game is a little dialogue-heavy, it gives a backstory to many of the characters, which helps to flesh out the world and will hopefully give the world life once the game is further along.”
- “- The story is annoying with overly verbose characters; it could have cut 75% of the dialogues.”
- “Silent and badly animated trash, making it so boring that the story becomes completely unengaging.”
- “Which I find sad because I like stories and the developer went to a lot of trouble to make this story, but in the end, it's just boring.”
gameplay
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
50%
12%
Gameplay reviews are mixed, highlighting both challenging mechanics and frustrating inconsistencies. While some players appreciate the simplicity and variety of enemy patterns, others criticize issues like unresponsive controls and hitbox inaccuracies. Overall, the game offers a unique experience that could benefit from more precise mechanics to enhance enjoyment.
- “The game’s mechanics are challenging, which is exactly what we’re looking for.”
- “The mechanics are simple; the devs have done a lot with very little.”
- “Definitely a challenge—the game mechanics aren't like any I've come across before, but are remarkably intuitive once you learn them.”
- “Bad gameplay; you have to chain two dozen one-hit-kill combats without mistakes between checkpoints.”
- “Your sword sometimes refuses to draw even as you release it, the turning mechanics are inconsistent, and the hitboxes sometimes feel unreliable.”
- “If the gameplay was sharper, more precise, and more fine-tuned, this game could be an easy 8.5/10.”
graphics
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
42%
25%
The graphics of the game are highly praised for their retro pixel-art aesthetic, evoking nostalgia for old-school 2D action platformers. Reviewers appreciate the gorgeous visuals and the artistic style, which enhances the overall experience and complements the game's challenging gameplay. The involvement of the developers in creating a visually appealing title has also garnered positive attention.
- “Gorgeous visuals and super promising title, considering how involved the devs are.”
- “Big fan of the artwork and loved petting all the cats.”
- “The iajustu quickdraw simulator we've all been waiting for; delivered in a sleek retro pixel-art aesthetic.”
- “I loved the vibe of an old school 2D action platformer, the art style, and the hardness and challenge of this game.”
- “---{ ☑graphics☑ }---”
music
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The music in the game is highly praised, featuring great background tracks and sound effects that enhance the overall experience. Reviewers appreciate the excellent composition, which complements the game's engaging lore and charming pixel art.
- “Great background music and sound effects.”
- “Interesting lore, gorgeous pixel art, excellent music, challenging, satisfying combat, and adorable, collectible cats!”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviews indicate that the game's stability is marked by frequent glitches, which some players view as charming quirks rather than significant issues. Overall, while stability may be inconsistent, it adds a unique character to the gaming experience.
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Reviews highlight a strong resistance to the game's monetization model, particularly criticizing the prevalence of microtransactions and loot boxes, which some players feel contribute to a pay-to-win environment. Many users express a desire for a more balanced approach that prioritizes fair play over profit.
- “Together, we shall weather the storm of microtransactions and loot boxes, standing tall against the tide of pay-to-win villains like noble knights in a digital crusade.”
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is enjoyable but lacks the high replayability factor found in titles like Sekiro, suggesting that while it offers fun experiences, it may not keep players returning for extended periods.
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Players express that the grinding in the game is excessively time-consuming, often requiring a significant investment of effort akin to having a second life to fully engage with it.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is highlighted by the amusing feature of petting cats, which allows players to create a whimsical "army" of cats that follow them around, adding a lighthearted and entertaining element to the gameplay.
- “Petting cats is such a funny feature, especially since you can create an army of cats that will potentially follow you after you save.”
- “Petting cats is such a funny feature, especially since you can create an army of cats that will potentially follow you after you save.”