Hello! Welcome to Feedback Quest 7! My name's Hythrain and I'm one of the hosts and one of the streamers for this event! This feedback is being written live as I stream your game! If you're interested in seeing my live reaction, let me know and I can send you a link to the VOD once it's posted to YouTube!
So my normal approach for any game in these events is simple: I get the game, make sure it's not a virus, then play it with as little information on how to play as possible. This way, I can judge how intuitively someone can figure out the game. Only if it's obvious that I need to read more will I do so. I note this so you can get a sense where some of these feedback comes from. In addition, I want to note that feedback and rating are different; don't use this feedback to gauge what I'll rate, nor should you view my rating as entirely indicative of my feedback.
I had high hopes for this one when I saw the title screen. I love pixel art games, and there was a lot of work that went into the look of this. While there was a lot I liked, there were some issues going on that I feel should be addressed.
1. The talking mid-game can be a lot. And not in terms of the quantity of words but the quantity of dialogue balloons. Using a smaller font should allow you to put more in each dialogue balloon and cut it down. That said, a pass for reducing text while in the middle of a stage would be a good idea.
2. While I understand the use of the mouse, I'm going to say right now that you should remove the mouse cursor controlling where you face. This is, hands down, detrimental for the type of gameplay you're going for. You can still keep it for throwing potions, but it should not dictate what way you face at all times. The reason why has to do with jumping: if you're jumping up multiple ledges on opposite sides, you have to move the mouse every single time. On top of this, if you're wall jumping then you need to do this as well. This can get VERY frustrating.
3. There is a lot of jank when it comes to melee attacking enemies. Sometimes I'm able to get a full attack combo off easily before the enemy can attack, and sometimes I'm doing 2 or 3 combos because most of the attacks are missing. This gets especially bad when you're jumping, as the straight down attack can cause you to miss the enemy you're aiming for.
4. That zoom in on the first stage was weird. Not sure why it does that.
5. Is there a purpose to killing enemies? Given the jank from fighting, it feels like I'd be better off just skipping fights. Given the player's movement speed and the fact that they get a boost in speed while jumping, this is certainly possible to do.
I think that's all I got for now. I hope to see more from ya in the future! :D