A game by NPJarcade, made in two weeks for LowRezJam 2026

( downloadable version is recommended! )

- CONTROLS -

WASD Move around
LEFT CLICKAttack
LEFT CLICK (hold) Drag inventory items
drag to heal / use flint
RIGHT CLICK (hold)Lock-on
auto-blocks while locked on
EGrab items
defeated enemies will sometimes drop items
SHIFTSprint
consumes stamina
TABOpen inventory / status screen
the game is not paused while the status screen is open!


- ENTER THE ARENA -

Keep your spear sharp... and your wits sharper

  • Your goal is to gain victory in the arena by defeating all who oppose you
  • You must gain the favour of the overlords.  KILLS = FAVOUR! 
  • If you are chosen, enter the beam of light to ascend into the arena where the true battle begins with a high level foe
  • Victory in the arena allows you to choose a perk/reward
  • If you take too long, the purge will begin.  Survive the purge and keep fighting until you are able to enter the arena


- TIPS -

  • You'll auto-block incoming attacks while locked on to an enemy
  • Keep an eye on your stamina - you can't block or attack when it reaches zero
  • Your max health is also your max stamina, so focus on healing to maximise your stopping power and chances of survival
  • If you're injured, enter the status screen [TAB] to heal, but be careful... foes may use this as an opportunity to strike while you're unaware
  • Click and drag hearts onto your character to heal 
  • You choose when you enter the arena, so make sure you're ready for a tough fight! 
  • Use flint to temporarily sharpen your spear (used in the same way as hearts)
  • You can loot defeated foes for useful tools to help you survive
  • Make sure to choose a perk when you've beaten the arena! 
  • Defeated foes may sometimes drop items.  Loot them by pressing [E] when the crosshair changes colour
  • You can sprint by holding [SHIFT]


- ABOUT -

This game is my submission for LowRezJam 2026.  Of ten optional themes I chose to create a game around the themes of 'Obey The Game Master' and 'You're Not Allowed To Win'.

The browser version can be a bit sluggish and has some graphical issues that aren't present in the downloadable verison.  If you're enjoying the game, I'd recommend the downloadable windows version for the best experience. 

Thank you for playing! 


- CREDITS -

Follow me on Twitter/X @NPJarcade

Programming, art, music by NPJarcade, UK, 2026

Written in GameMaker Studio 2.3 - https://gamemaker.io/en

Audio edited with Audacity - http://www.audacityteam.org/

Music created using Beepbox - http://www.beepbox.co

Font created using BitFontMaker2 - https://www.pentacom.jp/pentacom/bitfontmaker2/

Updated 5 days ago
StatusReleased
PlatformsHTML5, Windows
Rating
Rated 4.6 out of 5 stars
(113 total ratings)
AuthorNPJarcade
GenreAction, Fighting, Survival
Made withGameMaker
Tags8-Bit, Low-poly, LOWREZJAM, No AI, Pixel Art, Retro, Roguelike, Souls-like
Average sessionAbout a half-hour
LanguagesEnglish
InputsKeyboard, Mouse
ContentNo generative AI was used

Download

Download
Sharpest Spear (Windows).zip 8.2 MB

Install instructions

- Download Sharpest Spear (Windows).zip  

- Extract your files to a preferred location on your PC

- Double-click the exe file and survive the arena!

Development log

Comments

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Viewing most recent comments 1 to 40 of 79 · Next page

I love jabbin' the homies.

(+1)

Such a surreal experience. This is cool

(+1)

pretty cool game

I like this game!

(+2)

Realy cool game! Returned few times to play again

(+1)

Pls mobile

(+1)

Nice Game Pixel! :D

(1 edit) (+1)

Very nice!!! Played it a few times and found it quite unnerving! I think the difficulty could get a bit spicier, though, especially in how the enemies feel in combat.

Maybe having enemies with different attack ranges and attack speeds could make encounters more interesting. For example, enemies with longer-range attacks could deal more damage but attack less frequently, while short-range enemies could deal less damage but attack in faster sequences with shorter intervals between attacks. That could make the player quickly adapt to different enemy types and approaches.

But I had a ton of fun either way, don't get me wrong!

(+1)

Hi, do you want to try LOSR, my troll game on itch.io? https://gameprompt.itch.io/losr

(+1)

KINDA HARD BUT I AMAZED FOR GRAPHICS

(+1)

The UI needs a bit of a touch-up when inventory stacks into double-digits. Also, the Asp doesn't show up in the menu even though I chose it.

(+1)

Original style! how did you make this Unity, Godot or something else?
I guess the environment is 3D with a pixel fileter, but are the charcters 2D sprites?
Thanks for sharing!

(+1)

Thank you for playing! 

It's made in GameMaker, and you're right it's a 3D environment with 2D sprites that always face towards the camera, similar to DOOM :) 

(+1)

Love the old-school vibe. I think Pixel-Deck.com could suit this game really well

(+1)

amazing art styl

(+1)

Really enjoyable game, reminds me of Balatro with the card system. If you lose all those cards go away! really short and addictive game, loved my playthrough!

(+1)

short, classic but cool game ;)

(+1)

( ❛ ͜ʖ ❛ ) NICE!

(+1)

awesome gam

(+2)

Sick stuff

(+2)

Short but cool game!

I wish we could do more in terms of weapon upgrades and combat abilities.

Also, the flints are so brittle x)

(+1)

cool idea

(+1)

Super cool

(+1)

This is absolutely amazing

(+1)

reqlly sick project

(+1)

Really fun! the graphics kinda hurt my eyes but downloaded version helps

(+1)

Dude, this is really fun

(+1)

This has potential!

(+1)

really cool

(+1)

fun rough-like

(+1)

simple play tip

remember "The enemy of my enemy is my friend"

you don't have to finish each enemy manually by yourself

after almost 11 round, enemies defense very tight

the only one you have to do is just hit and run

If you've hit an enemy even once, your kill count will

increase even if other enemy takes them down

usually I hit every enemy once and wait for purge to start

The creatures will wipe out of the rest

And you need to get used to moving while your inventory is

open

(+2)


Nowdays I'm addicted by this game

(+1)


Maybe over the 20 round I couldn't got upgrade item anymore there just only heart and flint

Deleted 9 days ago
Deleted 9 days ago
(+1)

cursor not locking for some reason on macs safari :/

(+1)

That's game is unique. I really felt like a warrior in endless bloodbath where I actually was in fear for my life but tried to kill these MF THAT CONSTANTLY BLOCK (•_•). I love fighting system and especially how music create this whole atmosphere of endless War Without Reason (got it? :) ). Things that I don't like is of course you can't go to fullscreen and you can't immediately see that your flint is broken. Of course I hear the sound that should hint that've happened, but it's too low and you not always notice that so it would be cool to have more noticable sound and maybe break animation so you can see this with your lazy eye. Hope for your next games!

(+1)

It's concise and good.

(+1)

Dude what

(+1)

It's kinda cool but being on azerty keyboard, it makes things a little awkward to control

(+2)

this feels like a horror game

(+1)

in this game you shake your spear (AWESOME game btw)

(+2)

Would be awesome if I could remap the keys (Im left handed and have an AZERTY keyboard, the whole deal :p ) Thanks

(+1)

I wasnt part of this game jam but stumbled upon this masterpiece. Also if you are on windows I recommend using microsoft powertoys for remapping. I occasionally speedrun undertale which doesnt natively support wasd and powertoys is a miracle worker, do recommend it.

(+1)

Thanks ;) I'll give it a try

(+1)

pretty cool, a 3DS port would actually go so hard as a homebrew title for modded consoles 

Viewing most recent comments 1 to 40 of 79 · Next page