Thanks for giving it a look, chillz! Credit for the aesthetics goes to the rest of the team: Matt, Luke, and Zach did phenomenal work here.
As you say, there was some awkwardness in the pacing; I’ll take most of the blame for this. We were indecisive early on between turn-based, real-time (like Battle Network), and rhythm (like Necrodancer). Eventually, I settled on something that sits in the middle; picking one and fully committing to it may have been wiser.
As for obstacle variety, I strongly agree, and we had plenty of ideas here: obstacles with more health, or covering multiple spaces, or moving. As is always the case with gamejams, we were limited by time, and obstacle variety paid the price.
Regarding balance, I think I have to push back a bit. Spamming one ability is a totally valid strategy (since, as you say, it’s impossible to die). But it’s definitely not an optimal strategy: depending on the ability you spam, you’ll either miss obstacles with your attack, or lose points by getting hit. So I wouldn’t expect that strategy to make the leaderboards at the showcase.
All that said, you’re not the only reviewer who disliked the lack of a fail condition, so it was probably the wrong call to rely solely on score to determine success.
Thanks again for your feedback!