Really well polished! I greatly enjoyed the mechanics and had a lot of fun with this one

What a great entry into this game Jam.  I mean it's simple, but you have taken one of the most overused genres (side scrollers) and given it a new game dimension that refreshes the whole thing.  I loved the "don't trust the shadows" premise.  So good, so much you can do with that as a design/mechanic.  I loved the music, super classic Nintendo-like.  

Just so good, so much space here to work with to create a great game.  Right now from where I'm standing you won this thing, this is my current favorite.

Cool idea. Maybe this is personal preference, but I felt like once I jumped, my landing position was almost fixed. A little more in air control would make it (for me) a bit more enjoyable and a bit less frustrating.

But aside from that, well made!

Super cool idea of taking the standard formular of a side scrolling platformer and mix it up with these lighting effects, it was a real "ahaa" moment when first encountering the all consuming shadows :D
I would suggest tweaking the character control because it is not something you would expect to be this hard as a "simple" platformer. Dont get me wrong, you can definitely speedrun this with enough practice but it would be way cooler to experience the mechanic with the lights itself instead of struggling with the controls. Nice short mini game :)

I found a bug where i get stuck on a platform, when i reached the thunder, i placed myself on the right, where the platform dissapears, so when it dissapeared i pressed left and when i reached safety i bugged. If you are fast enough you can still jump from hidden platforms.

Really loved the light mechanics.

Aaah! The aesthetic is to die for! This looks amazing, and the music and sound effects fit well. Perfect example of making what appears to be relatively simple assets just explode with life; if I'm being completely honest, the general vibe of this game just makes it for me.

Conceptually, this is really cool as well. Not sure if I quite get the "retro" connection, but maybe I'm thinking about it too much. The pixel art and feel of the game are sort of retro on their own.

Some of the platforming was quite difficult for someone who is terrible at platformers, like me. I think the controls maybe felt a little wonky sometimes. I think at least that releasing the spacebar at different speeds giving your jumps more or less height would have been nice. Then again, it might just be because I am so terrible at these types of games that I'm looking for something else to blame, haha.

Overall, really, really cool game.

I'm a huge sucker for atmospheric games and a fantasy-writer myself so I'm probably going to bend over backwards for this game due to cognitive bias

. . . but, I suppose I have to critique this game fairly just to be a good sport. So, time to bring out the sandwich!

- Jumping in this game is very wonky. There's way too much momentum behind it, causing you to unintentionally miss a platform you planned landing on due to the physics. In platformers, you want the jumps to be as precise as humanely possible or the game's whole purpose will go down the sink. Couple of times I felt like just quitting the game as is . . .
+ . . . but this game's rich theme (and my unyielding neurosis) kept me going! This game is ooooozing with character. I love the intro-narration, I love the music in the background. The art, the everything! As a narrative writer, I humbly thank you for this flavourful experience! ^_^

- Although the music can get repetitive after a while, especially because it is pretty one-note, no matter how beautiful. Especially when you already are ticked off by the trickiness of the platforming, which unintentionally turns this game into a rhythm-game of sorts

+ The mechanic behind the light influencing the tangibility of the platforms is simple, yet brilliant!

- Speaking of lighting . . . in the section with the lightning-bolt illuminating a row of platforms, that lighting goes by a tad bit too quick. The lightning should either flash a bit longer, or the light should linger around a bit longer after the flash

- Ironically enough when I complained about the distance of jumping earlier, some sections would have benefited from a smidgen more jump-height instead

+ What softens the blow for the platforming though is the checkpoint system, that is much appreciated!

- Sorry to end this review on a minus, but although getting though this game felt satisfying when you finally learn and get accustomed to the jumps, the ending itself is a bit anticlimatic . . .

+ . . . throughout this game I held my breath and my intrigue was fully captivated as I waited to see what was the reason for the main character's journey and/or the punchline/explanation behind the lights . . .

- only to be left kinda flaccid. Not sure if this game was intended to have any bigger meaning behind it . . .

+ / - . . . but this game's atmosphere sold me on the expectation that there would have been

Suggestions if you ever decide to turn this into a full game:
* An actual ending. Either calming, relaxing music at the end of the game to cleanse the pallet and feeling like a reward for the tricky platforming

* There should be some kind of a meter or a bar showcasing how much more of the stage there is left to travel

* More tracks (2-3, preferably 3) that randomly alter between one another

Cheers!