I see, sorry if I offended you or anything like that. I didn't mean to devalue the time that you spent working on it, or that there wasn't a lot of effort put into the different aspects of the game. Also you say that I "didn't like it even before I played it" and that simply isn't true. I was excited to play it! I really enjoyed Nightshade 2.5d, I thought it was very clever and an interesting concept. Everything meshed together well. I assumed that this game would be the same if not better, considering that there was a price. I know that I did get it for free, and I was just saying that I probably wouldn't have thought it had been worth the price if I had bought it.
It wasn't that I thought the game was overall bad, it was that the final product didn't seem to me as good as some of your previous works. Going back to Nightshade, I enjoyed that game even before the 3d section was added. It had nice visuals, a nice story, and some fun secrets. Multiple endings even! Then when the 3d section was added it became even better. The chasing mechanic was engaging because you were running down these winding corridors, being able to use the glitches to your advantage, finding keys and stuff. It was scary enough I didn't want to play it in full screen.
And of course I shouldn't compare this game's chasing mechanics directly to Nightshades, as I am sure those took quite a bit longer, but still that part of this game just felt a little empty. Sure it was pretty spooky at the start, with the pony skeleton monster literally rising out of the ground! But after that it was just them chasing you around, in a forest, for a bit too long. The story did help to spice things up a bit, but gameplay wise nothing much changed. I assumed that every 10 coins I collected the enemy got faster, mostly because of the sound effect, but even then it just felt pretty samey throughout.
I know that buying assets and the like can be expensive, I have spent quite a bit to get various things from the unity asset store. But also, you would most likely use them in multiple projects, unless you bought them for one specific purpose never to use again, which I assume isn't the case. I know that 3d modelling takes a long time, as I have tried to make models for some of my previous projects, though to very limited success. The character models were a great part of the game, much better than anything I have ever done. Though I also would assume you would at least reuse Popsicorn in later chapters. As for the bendy comparison, well yeah, that is actually pretty fair. I didn't really make the connection, with the pricing I mean.
Also, the music. The music did a good job of setting the tone when you were just walking around, giving off a bit of a foreboding vibe even as it seemed cheerful. And even though it did seem to get quite repetitive when you got to the running section, maybe it just wasn't my cup of tea, and others would enjoy it better than I. I also know that music takes a lot of time, as I have composed a soundtrack for one of my previous game jam games, and am currently trying to make some other music. So yeah, music is hard.
Sorry if this was a bit long, I just wanted to try and address the points you made. And like I have said previously, I am excited for your future projects, you seem to have a real talent for 3d modelling, and most of your games have quite interesting story's. At the end of it though, I just don't want to come off as cold, like I don't get that game development does take a lot of time, effort, and money. Once again, sorry if I struck a nerve. Hope you continue to make great games!