Wow! this game is huge!
Great presentation. The graphics are nice, the music is a good background, and boy the tutorials. I love that this game really takes its time to guide you through the complicated (and stylish) interface. I love that there is no buttons with text, instead, everything is themed to the jam and I love that.
The overworld: There are so many systems here that give this game a really nice appearance. The character has a looking direction, moving around is confortable and the animations of Clint are cute. The books giving exposure to the world and story are so cool, interacting with them is easy and satisfactory. I wouldn't have thought a jam game would have so many features, like fast traveling, an overworld map, an interactive tutorial that lets you know the correct area where to be, depending on the acquired spells. Traveling the world by itself is already a great experience.
The battles: I really like the way elements combine into more difficult combinations and the increasing difficulty of creatures. The interface is awesome and, once I got it, it was really easy to tinker around with different spells. I like that creatures cannot be defeated so easily and you actually have to be thinking of the "resonances", it took me a while to figure it out but it's totally worth it.
I love that the actual focus of the game is not to kill the creatures (nothing against that, but at the same time we have 30 years of game development focusing on violent combat) so I really like that here you need to actually focus on the "right" attacks instead of the most powerful ones, like a book I found somewhere pointed out.
The graphics are so cute and the game systems are just solid.
Mixing the potions in the obelisk to prepare for different encounters was very interesting and, did I mention that I love that this game has an overworld map? I like the little details, like the camera is zoomed in when first at the house but then further away when in the world, or the boxes blocking the second floor of the house. These really sell the idea that there is a world beyond what is presented in the game, and I love it.
At the time I'm writting this, I still havent defeated the dogs and cats, but seems that it will take me a bit more time to figure it out, and there is so much in this game that I wanted to write this review before I get back to capturing them.
I think this has all the marks of a commercial product, starting from the very friendly, very clear tutorials, to the completeness of the theme. One thing I find confusing, is that when attacking with a salt spell, the remainders are the base things I used, instead of "salt" ones. I was worried that the second attack that would form the celestial part (for example, when fighting the dog) wasn't going to register, but it does without a problem so it's only an informative detail that would have made it clearer for me.
Congratulations on this really great game! Now... I'm back to capturing that crafty dog.