Great idea and a really fun game! It's true what others said about incentivizing losing but I actually liked it as it created a more relaxing mood rather than the usual bullet hell frustration. Great job!

Well, I guess I'm good at bullet hells as I didn't die in my first run.

That said, in my further playthroughs, I had some crappy RNG where an enemy with a sword spawned directly on top of myself, forcing unavoidable damage.

As a final note, i think it's a odd choice to incentivize the players to kill themselves in game. A strategy could simply be to die ten times, pick out everything you want, and then breeze through the game with no effort.

The hitbox felt a little large? Either that or it was a square- which given how the player is a circle, I would hope the hitbox matches. Typically, in a bullet hell you want the hitbox to be 'misleadingly small' so it benefits the player without them knowing. It feels better than getting hit when you don't think you should've been.

Nice game!

Really fun game! Managed to win with only 4 deaths. I really enjoyed the variation in the mutations that me and partner saw on our playthroughs!

Amazing take on the mutation theme I didn't have any problem except the mutation which allows me the have an explosion near me feels like I was hit. Great job!

Very nice idea! I think the motivation to die part is fine actually since you are also going for a high score with a lower number of deaths. With some more polish this could be amazing. Nice job!

Neat idea, but you're kind of motivated to just die to get more powerups, so would probably want to rethink how the mechanic is used. Maybe killing X enemies let's you mutate stronger and dying makes you mutate weaker, or something like that? Just a random idea.

Nice job on your first jam and for doing both the programming and music! As someone who does everything from scratch as well, I can appreciate how much work that is :)

Its an interesting concept. However i would add something that prevents players from just dying to become invincible by the mutations. It was quite fun and i beat the boss :).

Nice twin-stick shooter. Idea of getting power after a death is good (it make me think of God Mode in Hades).