Impressive game, lots of polish already as is !

I really enjoyed playing through this one, it has quite a challenge but yet still manages to be approachable, i like the way you've introduced your original mechanic through the story, after one classic shooter stage bam you can phase between 2 spots to avoid getting cornered, plus you made some very clever patterns requiring the mechanic.

The only issues i had, was that ocasionally in levels where patterns and enemies really fill the screen it can have a bit of slowdown, and some times during dialogue, the arrow button on the dialogue box would overlap and hide part of the text below. But other than these this is really well made overall.

The artwork looks really nice, and the story and world is really engaging, and the music was epic and fitted the theme quite well.

Well done to your team :)

Some quality here!

As a touhou fan I really enjoyed this game, also the main mechanic is very creative and the game has good level design!

I have only one complain, the second and final level are way too long, the first level fits a lot better.

Well done on this. You've brought a lot of things together, a cohesive style (art and music), as well as a story and interesting game mechanic.
Fine not having the swop mechanic in the first level. The length of that level felt better then the following levels though.
I'd suggest shorter levels, with bits of story/breaks in between.

Switch mechanic was a great idea and addition, added a new element to the game to keep an eye on when to switch.
Bullet spray from the player was weird at first, but really suited the game in the end. Though That could also have been managed in power ups instead (something for a future version perhaps). 
Jam time only allows so much to be squeezed in :).

Think some of the particles from one of the enemies are being launched at a weird angle , and end up hanging around the map until they slowly disappear. Just something to flag there.

Great job on this, lots of work involved. 

A nicely put together shmup with a simple, yet engaging movement mechanic!

Some thoughts:

• A lot of factors make the game feel quite a bit slow-paced (not in a methodical way, just “slow in general”), such as…
• …the player’s relatively weak and slow-moving shot versus tanky enemies (though oddly enough it felt just right against the bosses) unless you really pointblank them
• …the fairly long stages against said tanky enemies
• …the first stage not having the swap mechanic at all
• …the player’s slow movement speed versus how wide the screen is (which I assume is to encourage the player to swap often, but it still felt too slow nonetheless)
• Could be more engaging if there were more mechanics like a scoring system or something to encourage the player to not just hold down the trigger the whole time

Amazing! At first I was thinking of it as somewhat of a modern take on retro Touhou games but I think calling it just a clone of a different game wouldn't be fair, it feels unique and in a very good way. I love the main mechanic and how it is used, it didn't feel like just another gimmick to make avoiding patterns easier, it felt like the patterns were made for this mechanic in mind and that is honestly not an easy thing to get right. It was hard to get used to but it felt fair... except for this one specific pattern where you have to dodge two djinns AND other patterns, my mind couldn't fully comprehend that and it felt like a big difficulty spike, so I'm thankful for the forgiving checkpoints. So the gameplay is really fun, I think the sound design was good, the visuals are well done, the game looks good while also not being overwhelming. If I were to complain about something it's that the default controls on the keyboard are a bit odd, it wasn't terrible I just wish there was a way to change the controls to the way I'm used to play. There was also the issue of the button to continue the dialog covering part of it and some of it going outside the box so I had to add some words in my head from context. Lastly, weird complaint I know but... I wish the font was different? I don't want to nitpick, it's just that it was the one thing that just didn't fit with the artstyle for me and it was this mild annoyance every time I noticed it. With that out of the way, this is the best game I've played so far in this jam, keep up the good work!

I cannot praise this game enough. Let me go over all the things I love about it:

The art, if a little simplistic, does its job well enough.

The main mechanic is genius, changing up the game without totally alienating the player. When was first introduced, I was like "oh boy, another useless movement ability" but it turned out to be necessary and very fun to use. That brings my to my next point:

The enemy bullet patterns are well-designed and varied, and most importantly they force you to use the swap mechanic in interesting and creative ways.

The story is kind of basic, but it helps the game stand out more and the gameplay feel more important compared to some games. 

The final boss is everything a Final Boss should strive to be. It forces you to use everything you've learned. It changes things up, but not enough to make it feel like a completely different game. It was hard, but very fair. I died three times when the boss had just a sliver of health yet, which made me want to keep trying. It also means the boss was perfectly balanced.

Overall this is an amazing game and probably my favorite of this jam. I would love to see this expanded upon in the future.

I would love it if you could check out my submission as well :)

i don't have words to say, just really nice game, :)

Wow! Underrated entry! I loved the sound and the music. The player's controls felt great and the hitbox felt just about right. I LOVED that you could hold shift to slow. I didn't notice in the first level that there was no hit sound, but in the second level, I could tell if I was doing any damage to the ghost that sections off the map. A hit sound would have been great. Overall, great entry. 

I can only say this game is amazing! I have a really hard time multitasking, so this game was a true challenge since you have to take care of different things at the same time. The visuals and the music are amazing, and the story was engaging. Great job! I enjoyed it a lot! 

Whoa, this is a design masterpiece in my eyes, from a game jam perspective. I enjoyed the story, the gameplay, everything seemed to click, and I kept playing until the very end. There were a lot of enemies, a bunch of interesting mechanics, and the game is pretty polished. 

Great entry, this is hands down one of my favorites.

Wow! Absolutely a fantastic entry. The story was great, sprites were great, and the mechanic of switching places with the spirit was superb, and used in nice and creative ways. The patterns had nice variety, and there was even some new patterns I hadn't seen before. I managed to clear all of the stages with one death in total, so the difficulty felt fair. The variety of enemies was good, and the personality of the bosses came out well with their attacks and styles. Boss fight were also good in lenght, they didn't drag out for too long. The mechanics were also introduced with good pacing. I'd improve the game by coming up with some nice spell upgrades, maybe you could learn some attacks from the defeated bosses? Overall, a super high quality game made in such a short time!

We'd greatly appreciate if you checked out our submission as well! :)

I love this game! It's slower than Touhou but a lot of fun nonetheless! The switching mechanic adds a lot of fun to the gameplay especially when you get to the gatekeeper. Really nice story, beautiful graphics, great game!

Great game!

Lots of bullets, which is awesome. Plenty of challenging-but-fair patterns to dodge here. The difficulty felt just right.

The story is surprisingly charming and works really well.

Although the sprites look simplistic at first glance, the overall effect when everything's in motion looks great. Visual consistency is really important, and this game achieves that quite well. Also the cherry blossom bullets are a delight--more thematic bullets in games, please!

The swap mechanic is a really good twist, simple but effective. My only gripe is when a swap is needed while lots of volleys are also present on both sides of the screen, since you have to watch both characters at once and positioning options were just a little more limiting than I liked. I got better at it with practice, but I still felt like I ended up in "no-win" situations (swapping is the only way to avoid damage, but swapping isn't safe) a couple times. OTOH, the djinni with alternating waves felt really cool, and the final boss was awesome overall.

Well done. ^_^

Beautiful graphics, crispy gameplay, and the ghost part is incredibly fun.

the game is beautiful, and addicting, its music is a nice loop, but it could have more things

I love this game. The "specters/witches" in the second stage kill me all the time, I can't avoid your bullets, but I'm dumb, haha >< 

Great game, congratulations.

I like how the story is weaved into the gameplay with being able to switch places with your brother. honestly the story bits were my favorite parts

100/5

This is my favourite game for this jam so far even though I haven't even finished it and tried so many others. It left a really good impression since it is easy to understand creative and challenging at the same time. The learning curve felt perfect. Well done!

This is probably my favorite game on this jam as of yet. The ghost switching mechanic was super creative and fun, the bosses never felt too hard, and I managed to beat the whole game! The visuals were simple, and effective, especially in the backgrounds! The audio was fitting and great, the only reason it wasn't a five is because the sounds were from preexisting packs.

I experienced some major controller drift while playing, so I switched to keyboard and it went away, so I'm going to chock that up to my controller. The character portraits were really similar, and it's obvious that they were all based on one portrait, so some more variety would be welcome. The ending felt a little more sudden, maybe some graphical cutscene would be nice to complement the dialogue? 

Overall this is a fantastic entry, very approachable, very fun, good looking, and sounds great, you all did a fantastic job!

Wow! Impressive game all around. Love the art, in-depth story, and fun mechanics. The flowers on the first boss that would break apart after a bit was a nice touch that had my interest. 5/5