Short sweet and simple, very solid! I do wish there was a little more clarification on exactly how the poisons and everything worked, but all in all I was very pleased with this game

Cool game! I liked the dialogue with ivy, and the general interpretation of the theme. The music changing when you drink an incorrect bottle was a fun detail too.

This was a very simple but polished experience with some great atmosphere. The concept takes the theme in it's most literal form and makes something interesting out of it. 

First I want to talk about the art. While there isn't a huge variety of sprites, the ones that are here are executed well and do a great job of building a coherent aesthetic. The black background and purple line art make a very relaxed abstract environment which works well within the context of the game. Everything is very clear and there are no assets that don't match, which is a nice bonus.

As for the audio, the song that plays fits really well and continues to build on the already great vibes. In addition I really like how you shift the pitch/speed when you take damage. It makes it clear I made a mistake, and the speed up adds good tension. Although, I do think some basic sound effects could have helped make the game feel a bit more complete. Something like when you add poison, drink, and so on could have helped with clarity.

Last I want to go into the actual gameplay. I think the little story elements do a great job of easing the player into the game, and giving a reason for the player to want to move forward. In addition, was glad to see this game had a very intuitive tutorial (something many jam games are missing). Otherwise I think a game like this would feel a bit unclear to a new player. 

With all that being said while I do find the actual gameplay interesting, it did feel very luck based (Which isn't always a bad thing). Fortunately the checkpoint system makes death a lot less punishing when you do lose. I did notice the AI wouldn't pick ones they poisoned (at least in my playthroughs), which gave the game a bit more strategy. And the addition of purify and swap certainly added more depth to later stages.

In addition, I liked that you added the notes page so that I didn't have to memorize everything that happened. Having the notes allowed me to look back and make strategic decisions, rather than hoping I remembered something from earlier.

One complaint I had about the gameplay was how slow all the actions were, especially since many had no animation or sounds. I get that it's simulating time for the AI to think and things to happen, but it made the game feel a bit more clunky since I couldn't take my action even though nothing was happening.

Another issue I had was that I couldn't always tell what the AI did without checking notes once the purify and swap were added. At first I didn't even realize I could check, so I was just assuming they could only poison. (This may have been something I missed, and if that's the case then my bad)

Overall this was a charming entry and a fun experience. I apologize if this review was a bit much, but I'm doing this to all the games from this jam as I think critiques help us grow.