Hello, I am Cootadude, a Noob with EXP.

For this review, I am going to have my video, the timestamps with quick explanation of them, then my more detailed things left out of the video or more thoughts that came after the video.

Here is my video, because I'm going to be referencing it throughout the review:

I would also note that melee's only use is to gather money, I found it impractical in combat due to the reason that you have to be close to the enemy and such a risk barely pays off in damage output.

So naturally, I almost only used throw because it is ranged, and I found that the spear going back to you causes damage, it just seems better in every way.

Around 05:01 I encountered something "weird" with the controls (Xbox One), this may have been intentional? But I counted it as an error as it wasn't specified in the pause-menu controls.

Left bumper - throws

Right trigger - throws

While pause menu says only X throws.

Around 08:59, this may just be a visual error on my part, lol. But I first misread the R as a B due to the font. This is very minor and can be ignored, I would be cool either way.

Around 10:17, was it a sale as a discount? Or a sale as in "for sale". In the video, I misunderstood it due to this confusion.

Now this may also just be a "me problem". But I think it would be best to find a better way to word it.

Around 18:19, the "zap" things have been taught beforehand that they kill instantly during platforming, then in this boss it just injures, both are still "bad things" for the player to avoid as another danger.

But the issue pointed out here is that I was "scared" of jumping too high and touching a single line from the top, and seeing it go so low I did not know if it would kill me or not which in this timestamp causes me to not dodge the bosses attack, causing me to lose HP due to a misunderstanding.

Now yes, I did "touch" it without getting damaged, but at those times I was focused on jumping behind the boss and not dodging attacks, so I was not thinking about that part of the environment.

Around 19:24, the first transformation to "Seed-Mode" I could not jump. But the second and every other future one worked as intended. So only the first time was bugged.

Around both at 20:18 & 24:37, the visual effects block my view (in a bad way), the first one is minor, but the second I found to be more major. It is a very cool effect, but at least change the second one so I can outright see that I need seed-mode for that part of the map.

Now to my other thoughts:

The art-style reminds me of paper, and I like that. The animations were pretty good as well, but I would say the transition from jump to throw looked abrupt, I only noticed this during editing and not actual gameplay, showing how minor that is.

The platforming was smooth, yes, I had some hiccups but that is in every game. I liked that only the saw in the saw-traps injure and not what connects them to the platform.

The Key Shard Fragments are a cool touch, the only issue about such a thing is dissappointment when all are collected. But if you live up to the build up, there is no issue. The more work I would need to do to complete the key, the bigger the award needs to be.

The spike-platforms sound is just so good, nothing more I can say. lol

I was dissappointed at first with the starting enemies, because they wouldn't chase me when attacked or were even dangerous. But thinking it as a new player, I understand why. I found my style of fighting because of them, then when I did get to agressive and new enemies, that style was used and evolved due to the weaknesses exposed. So I was dissappointed at first, but later on appreciated it.

The first boss I encountered, it was a nice and simple boss, but it had its issues: What I already pointed out, but also that there wasn't enough visuals to show that I can throw my spear at the top part, though it did show enough that behind is the weakness and I did figure it out eventually. And I would suggest having a warning system for when the wall barriers will come back on, so I could move out of the way, knowing it is becoming damaging again.

When parkouring (maybe combat too) with the spear, I would really apprecite a system where I can "semi-aim" the spear so I won't need to time when to throw while jumping. But this could change too much to the mechanics, so depending on what direction you're going this would break or improve the game. I would be cool with either.

Final thought was when I found the man's backpack/package, my RPG-Side-Quest-Brain told me to go back and tell the man he can go now. Now I did get some more exploring in the Upper Reaches due to that which is cool, I still would have liked a more confirmation that I do not need to go back especially when I did not find them. lol

That is all my thoughts so far, overall pretty solid game, has a few issues but that is to expected to every early stage of any game. Rarely found any bugs. And the game was a joy to play, so you did win me over for the full release.

Link to VOD:

Honestly, I straight-up love this game. Immediately wishlisted it on Steam once I hit a stopping point, and I will be buying it when you're done. If this didn't say it was a pre-alpha build, I would have guessed it was at least beta, if not early access.

Everything is beautifully done; I love the art, the music is fitting and enjoyable, gameplay is really fun, and it's challenging without being frustrating.

I couldn't really get a solid feel on the story from what I played thus far, so perhaps introducing a bit more of the story to us early on would be helpful. Get an idea on Sol versus Luna, and the like. 

Would also be nice to have a healing station of some sort right before big boss fights. While I was able to manage it (eventually), there was a certain sense of frustration brewing at having to go so far back, and make it through a lot of hazards to reach the boss, with only six mishaps available to me. 

Regarding the boss fight I did do, the area where you can stand and try to strike the boss is very narrow. It was difficult to maneuver my character to be facing the boss, while simultaneously avoiding the whirling danger around it. A little bit more space to be able to maneuver would be appreciated just for ease of navigation.

Overall though the game is solid, and I really look forward to the full release!

Hello! Welcome to Feedback Quest 7! My name's Hythrain and I'm one of the hosts and one of the streamers for this event! This feedback is being written live as I stream your game! If you're interested in seeing my live reaction, let me know and I can send you a link to the VOD once it's posted to YouTube!

So my normal approach for any game in these events is simple: I get the game, make sure it's not a virus, then play it with as little information on how to play as possible. This way, I can judge how intuitively someone can figure out the game. Only if it's obvious that I need to read more will I do so. I note this so you can get a sense where some of these feedback comes from. In addition, I want to note that feedback and rating are different; don't use this feedback to gauge what I'll rate, nor should you view my rating as entirely indicative of my feedback.

I'm a fan of Metroidvania games. I've been playing them for over 20 years now! I liked the set up of this one where your weapon can be used as a projectile but you can't melee without it. That said, there are aspects that I feel could use some improvements.

1. You right now have a button for "seed" mode and another button for "human" mode. Since you don't seem to be using a ducking system, but not make these the same button and it just switches between the two modes? This would free up a key for other things.

2. Speaking of other keys, the melee attack being on 2 feels odd given that it's the only button pressed in the number keys line. While moving it onto W (and making S just switch back and form between modes) would work, I wonder what it'd be like if the left click was for a melee attack while W was for throwing? You can make it that hitting left click still returns the spear if you've thrown it, since you need it before you can melee.

3. Dialogue behaves awkwardly. If you press the button to proceed while it's writing out a line, instead of just showing the whole line and needing to press again to go to the next line, it just jumps ahead. This could be something that is worked on so players don't need to wait on the text speed to get all the info.

4. I expect this is still on the horizon, but the sound design will need work. Atmosphere is so important in games like Metroid, Castlevania and Hollow Knight, and right now there's not enough in the sound design to set up the atmosphere right.

There is more than can be worked on, but these were the specific things I looked at. Otherwise, it plays nice and I do like how it's a bit forgiving when it comes to jumps. I can't wait to see more!

Hi, I tried your game, it's very lovely, beautiful stages, cute lore, and I enjoy the core mechanics with the spear, however for the life of me, perhaps missing some directions, I could not figure out how to crutch and get past stage 3. ^_^llll I wonder if others would get the similar problem as a new player. 

Another issue I ran into as a streamer is that the game opened up on my Monitor 2 and I had no way to window or change it, I had to modify my stream setting right away in order to show case it, more game setting relating to monitor adjustment or just having windowed option would be great. 

As a fan of metroidvanias, I loved platforming with the spear and the cozy feel of the environment. Just like with most metroidvanias though, I died a lot and got lost after beating the second boss. After playing for a while, I started getting really comfortable chucking the spear around and found that you could defeat enemies really quickly by throwing the spear near them and then immediately doing 2 melees which is a little faster than 2-3 melees.

Overall I really enjoyed the game and if I was better at it I'm sure I would have been able to experience a few more powerups and quests outside of the seed one.