59 Reviews:
0000
in my opinion this is the best atmospheric needle ever, the vibes it gives is just magic. there is some bad saves but like, im here for the experience rather than the needle, i think dopamine thought it the same way, thats why the game doesnt have death count and time, it makes the game more immersive and it focuses in the atmosphere <3 love the music choices btw. idk if dopamine is still making games, but i wish he make more games like this <3 im bad at needles, but i managed to beat this, i like the dopamine style, these awkward and tiny jumps <3
[3] Likes
Rating: 10.0 100
Difficulty: 60 60
Sep 27, 2021
shign
I still can' tbelieve the very high rating. Extremely generic and unfun gameplay, terrible sound design and sometimes unpleasant visuals, there is nothing I liked in this game. I honestly didn't finish it, i dropped it at the no save stage, which was too much for me to support.
Would recommend to avoid.
If you want more explanations, here a copy paste from a conversation on discord :
basically, I disliked the needle to the fulllest. I felt that every jump was annoying and filled with uncreative shits that made it a super unpleasant experience. For the visuals, while I can agree that some areas looks neat, a lot are really ugly. For the sound design, I just can't agree on anything, for me weird noises to make creepy atmosphere is not good at all. To finish, the theme bothered me : this is supposed to be yume nikki inspired but this is seriouly far away from yume nikki atmosphere. I feel it tried to recreate it but really failed. You can relate everything I told before to this to the last point.
[3] Likes
Would recommend to avoid.
If you want more explanations, here a copy paste from a conversation on discord :
basically, I disliked the needle to the fulllest. I felt that every jump was annoying and filled with uncreative shits that made it a super unpleasant experience. For the visuals, while I can agree that some areas looks neat, a lot are really ugly. For the sound design, I just can't agree on anything, for me weird noises to make creepy atmosphere is not good at all. To finish, the theme bothered me : this is supposed to be yume nikki inspired but this is seriouly far away from yume nikki atmosphere. I feel it tried to recreate it but really failed. You can relate everything I told before to this to the last point.
Rating: 0.5 5
Difficulty: 62 62
Feb 18, 2020
xva
Abducted has nothing short of the most fantastic and immersive atmosphere of any fangame ever created. this is a massive achievement in my eyes, as fangames don’t really ever have atmospheres like this one. similarly, it’s very hard to make something with a consistent but vague enough theme like what’s seen in this game
is the theme hell? or purgatory of some sort? it could be if the maker’s previous game (Neurosis) is taken into consideration. there’s some sort of overarching idea behind the theming of this game and I couldn’t really figure out what it is while playing. as I’ve previously said in my Neurosis review, the maker has to be just the right amount of insane to make stuff like he does. it’s very entertaining and interesting to see how dopamine innovates: filling his games with intricate details, secrets, and most of all bizarre but charming design decisions
the gameplay is pretty fun as well. it’s structured as a collectathon of sorts. there’s a bunch of areas (~12), all with a few items that are well-hidden enough to be appreciated. every area is unique and no two areas truly play the same. the needle, despite being at times basic, is very good. it doesn’t have pretty much any substantial gimmicks other than some water, a few vines, some triggers and one cherry section. there are also traps but they’re rare and hardly count as traps. there isn’t much else to it, it’s also at a nice difficulty that isn’t overbearing so you won’t find yourself getting stuck at any save. there is a lot of exploring to do, though, so be prepared for at least an hour (or more) of gameplay. this isn’t a bad thing, as replaying sections of the game isn’t anywhere near as boring as it sounds. I’d go as far as to say it greatly adds to the game
unexpectedly, after playing this game I’d now consider dopamine to be one of my favorite makers. I’d love to see more games in this style, even if they’re half as good or well-themed
blind play is highly recommended
[2] Likes
is the theme hell? or purgatory of some sort? it could be if the maker’s previous game (Neurosis) is taken into consideration. there’s some sort of overarching idea behind the theming of this game and I couldn’t really figure out what it is while playing. as I’ve previously said in my Neurosis review, the maker has to be just the right amount of insane to make stuff like he does. it’s very entertaining and interesting to see how dopamine innovates: filling his games with intricate details, secrets, and most of all bizarre but charming design decisions
the gameplay is pretty fun as well. it’s structured as a collectathon of sorts. there’s a bunch of areas (~12), all with a few items that are well-hidden enough to be appreciated. every area is unique and no two areas truly play the same. the needle, despite being at times basic, is very good. it doesn’t have pretty much any substantial gimmicks other than some water, a few vines, some triggers and one cherry section. there are also traps but they’re rare and hardly count as traps. there isn’t much else to it, it’s also at a nice difficulty that isn’t overbearing so you won’t find yourself getting stuck at any save. there is a lot of exploring to do, though, so be prepared for at least an hour (or more) of gameplay. this isn’t a bad thing, as replaying sections of the game isn’t anywhere near as boring as it sounds. I’d go as far as to say it greatly adds to the game
unexpectedly, after playing this game I’d now consider dopamine to be one of my favorite makers. I’d love to see more games in this style, even if they’re half as good or well-themed
blind play is highly recommended
Rating: 9.3 93
Difficulty: 59 59
Feb 21, 2025
Unkko
I don't normally care about games having a lot of diverse content and am under the impression that focusing too much on it when creating a game only hurts the overall product by sacrificing the quality of individual stages and areas. As such, I was skeptical going into this game. Luckily for me, dopamine is one of the few fangame creators capable of pulling this off.
Rather than trying to ham-fist in whatever gimmicks come to mind or trying to copy content from random commercial 2D games, he didn't try to reinvent the tried and true gameplay mechanics we've come to know and love, and focused instead on the main aspect that sets him apart from other creators: his ability to create dark and unique atmospheres through fairly simple effects and spot-on choices in music.
Aesthetics alone will never be able to carry a 30+ minute needle game and it isn't uncommon for this fast to be painfully apparent in a lot of games that come out of the community, but fortunately for the player, Dopamine doesn't skimp on his level design. Sure you can say its jumps are unique "unique," design is "non-generic," or whatever other elements are whatever other buzz-words people throw around for community-approved needle games, but what draws me to Dopamine's games is that rather than stringing together several screens worth of individual jumps, it always feels like his room layouts are focused primarily on how you move through them and he isn't afraid of using named or "boring" spike arrangements where they get the job done and make the segment flow well (I particularly liked how he used a certain screen taken almost directly from I wanna give the cat some acid).
On release, the water had the same bug as meltdown, where your jumps are delayed a frame, but that was since patched. Also, the vines were implemented in a way that makes them feel slightly different from most games, but they aren't too hard to get used to. There are a couple other bugs that haven't been fixed, but they don't have a big enough effect on the game to bring down my opinion.
This game is by far my favorite product of the English-speaking fangame community. It completely avoided the mistakes many makers make when trying too hard to fit their games to the tastes and design philosophies of armchair fangame critics, and wasn't afraid to let every stage become what it wanted to be. I'm already looking forward to whatever else this creator has in store for the future.
Rather than trying to ham-fist in whatever gimmicks come to mind or trying to copy content from random commercial 2D games, he didn't try to reinvent the tried and true gameplay mechanics we've come to know and love, and focused instead on the main aspect that sets him apart from other creators: his ability to create dark and unique atmospheres through fairly simple effects and spot-on choices in music.
Aesthetics alone will never be able to carry a 30+ minute needle game and it isn't uncommon for this fast to be painfully apparent in a lot of games that come out of the community, but fortunately for the player, Dopamine doesn't skimp on his level design. Sure you can say its jumps are unique "unique," design is "non-generic," or whatever other elements are whatever other buzz-words people throw around for community-approved needle games, but what draws me to Dopamine's games is that rather than stringing together several screens worth of individual jumps, it always feels like his room layouts are focused primarily on how you move through them and he isn't afraid of using named or "boring" spike arrangements where they get the job done and make the segment flow well (I particularly liked how he used a certain screen taken almost directly from I wanna give the cat some acid).
On release, the water had the same bug as meltdown, where your jumps are delayed a frame, but that was since patched. Also, the vines were implemented in a way that makes them feel slightly different from most games, but they aren't too hard to get used to. There are a couple other bugs that haven't been fixed, but they don't have a big enough effect on the game to bring down my opinion.
This game is by far my favorite product of the English-speaking fangame community. It completely avoided the mistakes many makers make when trying too hard to fit their games to the tastes and design philosophies of armchair fangame critics, and wasn't afraid to let every stage become what it wanted to be. I'm already looking forward to whatever else this creator has in store for the future.
Tagged as: Needle
[2] Likes
Rating: 9.5 95
Difficulty: 50 50
May 30, 2016
Paragus
This is a fantastic needle adventure game with a dark theme to it. The player basically has to explore a series of interconnected dark needle rooms looking for 24 eggs hidden through the various areas. All of the various rooms have creative visuals, music, and platforming. Some of the eggs are hidden in secret places through fake walls, most of which are obvious. Overall its a unique and well made game that I highly recommend.
[2] Likes
Rating: 9.0 90
Difficulty: 55 55
May 28, 2016
Delicious Fruit
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