I wanted to beat this game before reviewing it but it's taking me awhile and I feel like I've seen a good amount of the game so far. I'll revise or submit another review when I do end up beating it, tho, if my thoughts change at all.

This is a great idea for a game jam submission because the emptiness of the world feels like a design decision, rather than a time-saving one. In fact, a lot of things that would have seemed half-finished in another game just seems like it's meant to be that way. The only time the game gives any indication that things are sparse because of the time limit are when you meet yourself and are given a suicide pill because "there's nothing else to do here."

I didn't find much story beyond what's there initially. I did get some new items to appear in the store, but the only thing I ended up using was the earrings and the upgrade substance for it. I picked Fists and Flurry and Barrage and, frankly, had no reason to try anything else. I'm gonna say this now: if you don't plan on having more than one party member, I don't see the point of restricting what skills that character can use. Frankly, once I found what worked, I just kept doing that over and over. I tried out the Fingerless Gloves, but I didn't really like the finickiness of how magic works. I would have switched to magic if there was a healing spell. That's what I wanted the most, but again, it seems like a design decision rather than an oversight or anything. But it did mean that certain maps took retry after retry to get through. Great for a game jam, but it would be pretty frustrating otherwise.

I like the use of dust to travel to different maps, but it only really works when the maps are fairly empty. I think if more structure were applied to it, then it wouldn't work. For instance, if the maps had things that you'd have to come back to in order to progress further, or you went to a map too early and didn't have the whatever in order to advance (heck, if you went to one and you weren't strong enough yet, or there was a tricky puzzle you wanted to skip until later), then it might be a good idea to have a way to look at what formula is needed to go where (ie, how much of this and that dust to make the connection to this or that map). As it is, it works fine, but if you start adding things or the maps get more complex with more things to do, to the point where someone will want to skip to another map without doing everything in the other one first, then it's gonna get a bit more confusing/frustrating.

So far, this has been my favorite submission. I am hoping, tho, that the game gets expanded and improved upon, because, for one thing, doing the same sequence of attacks over and over gets boring. I noticed there was a main hand and an off hand, but never figured out what goes in the offhand. Personally, I'd have liked to have been able to put the shield there, or the fingerless gloves, and either gotten defensive stuff or magic to use. Maybe when I see what you actually do with it and how you expand on the classes, I'll change my mind, but for now, the main problem with the game is how repetitive the combat is. So far, it feels like mashing the attack button just with extra steps.

Review for Dcay by HilmB

You wake in complete darkness. A figure is in front of you. It seems like you are in an ethereal place of sorts. You can make out a hole on your right. Unsure where it leads, you jump in. The bottom is nowhere in sight. Some memories come to you as you keep falling. Finally, you see light at the bottom.

You land in a lush forest. As you try to get your bearings, you are attacked by a zombie. After a fierce fight, you finally defeat the zombie, but upon more exploration, you encounter another one. This time, your strength fails you and you die. Game over... or is it?

Dcay plays by the idea of progressing little by little between deaths. After you die, you are taken to the save screen and return to the black beginning. You will find Dust from your encounters that is used to purchase gear that will hopefully keep you alive a little bit further next time you enter the dungeon.

The combat is the most polished part of this entry. Depending on your equipment, new options open up. I played with fists and Flurry and Barrage shards for that weapon. As noted by the game, Flurry is a multi-hit attack that is mostly used to build up Charge Points to unleash more powerful attacks on the enemy. Barrage is another multi-hit attack that basically one-shots every enemy if it isn't a boss.

There are currently three weapon types available: The fists, the shield and the gloves. Judging from their descriptions, the fists are for melee attacks, the shield is for mostly defense (along with shield bash) and the gloves allow you to use magic. I did not try them all as I completed the game with the fists equipped.

There's also a world selection via colored dust, but I did not explore that feature very well. Mostly I just did what the NPCs told me to (except for that boss fight where you were supposed to kill an exploding zombie, I ignored that) and the game felt rather railroaded.

The graphics are RTP and there is little music to speak of. Well, it goes along with the theme. Highlighting pickable items in a dark map was useful. However, is there another use for the flowers than to learn the healing skill? If not, it feels like you have missed an opportunity there.

The combat kept me entertained for a while. However, there is a lot of work to be done before the game could be considered finished. I see you have added a number of equipment slots, I hope you can balance the game around that when the time comes. (I learnt this on my previous projects)

Good luck in the competition!

So, first thing: the mechanics in this project seem really well thought out, and there is clearly quite a bit of effort invested in the shop system, the equipment options, and the altar's methodology. I liked the way you could engage with Brayson in so many unique ways, and that you made use of a crafting system within the shop. Also liked the convenience of being able to equip directly from the shop window. VERY cool. You made use of default resources in a way that didn't seem too forced or lacking in imagination, and that is not often found when utilizing the RTP. 

That being said, the combat system, while engaging, only remained so for a little while. Though there were different creatures to encounter, their attacks were all the same and became somewhat predictable and tiresome.  I did like your CP Charge concept (I chose Fists as my weapon), and it was wonderful to have abilities that allowed me to recharge that. I did also like the storytelling aspect of the combat, such as when battling the Lich. 

Ergomett's healing was a cool touch, and it was interesting how the environment she was in started to grow vegetation after bringing her flowers.  The healing, however, seemed to be the only way I could restore my HP, and even then it really wasn't very much. I eventually reached a map that I couldn't even get across because there were just too many battles, and no way to restore HP before I got to the other side.

Side note: On the map with the poison, where you meet yourself after avoiding the reaper, is there a way to get out of there without a Suicide Pill? There is a tile you are able to get through on the right hand side. It brings you out onto the green path, but there was nowhere to go after that.

I only got through about an hour, as honestly, the lack of any kind of storyline was making it difficult to continue. I know he was unsure of who he was and all that, but there wasn't really anything to go on to keep things moving along. When your game lacks real story elements and focuses almost entirely on battle, you have to make those battles really stand out in order to make up for the lack of story progression. Something MUST continually engage the player, or they will lose interest.

All in all, I think you have a solid baseline here, but you may have shot for far too much in the window of time you had available. Rather than go after so many different mechanics, maybe it would have been best to focus on just the combat, or just the store/crafting system, etc. While each endeavor clearly had a lot of effort, it was all just a bit too much to take in while still holding player interest.

I do hope you continue this project, however, as I'd like to see how it progresses! Thanks for the opportunity to play.

The game has an error when I start it. Probably should include something more on the project page to give some ideas about what it is.