I really appreciate your feedback even if it's harsh. I agree with moat of the points. Honestly, I basically made the letters and the story in the last 8 hours of the jam, hence the rush. The ending was quite sketchy to me too but you know - time constraints.
This game was supposed to be a lot more ambitious. I planned another enemy type that explodes and a final boss that after defeating it turns into you - this was supposed to really be the main implementation of alchemy: facing yourself and fighting your negative side. That's also why some of the letters have red text.
As for the combat I planned a sword dash that increases your movement capabilities. It would have allowed you to reach places you wouldn't normally. And the enemies? Not animating them was really a big part of the problem. I just didn't have time or the resources to learn rigging for non-humanoid creatures.
Shadow-realm was originally supposed to be schizophrenia connected with trauma. The main character was able to move into this world that's dangerous because HE made the monsters with his intrusive thoughts. In the end I tried to make it so shadow-realm is the man being in the coma and the "real world" allows him to connect his thoughts.
I'm quite new to making 3D games since you need a lot more assets to do them, but you always need those first steps even if it's crawling-steps. A whole week of burnout didn't allow me to do a lot in the final days. I love when people give detailed feedback, so thank you!