First of all, congrats friendos, you made a great game. It's fun, enjoyable, the mood is great and that's a very convincing proof of concept.
Here's some very positive points :
- You have a very evocative mood. We want to see more of it. Which is a great thing, because that mean that every bit of what we saw is good.
- The game, it just works. No big bugs in sight. Congrats.
- Overall good experience as a game. Fun and good pacing, very little explanation needed. The difficulty/tension curve is good. Good job.
- Love the little secret combination of cards. Great ideas.
Here's some "could've been better" points :
- I would've loved some kind of "End goal", even for a PoC. Or at least a message telling "You've discovered everything, congrats ! Now survive as long as you can". Because I was stuck wandering if there was more to do, so it felt a bit frustrating to slowly realize that, in fact, there was nothing more to do.
- Don't get mistaken : The fun comes from discovering the recipes, not the "actual" actions. Making potions in repeat is not "that" fun, and it doesn't have to. If you keep on going on that project, focus on that discovery part.
- The "shadows" part could've been a bit more integrated to the gameplay itself. More "corruption" maybe ? Or the shadows coming to get you ? Curses ? Dunno
And finally, here's some "what I would want to see in a theorical full game" points :
- More "Lovecraftian" shit. I want to see corruption, nightmares, existential dread, creatures etc ...
- More and more recipes and interactions.
- A true end goal : Maybe making a very complex potion ? The philosopher's stone maybe ?
- Please let me brew clients :)
Very subjective feedback. Again, congratulations on making a good game in such short notice. Bravo !