Congrats on finishing your game!
The sprites and music in this game are phenomenal. Truly spectacular. The enemies are punny and goofy and I love them. The lil faces on all the food is a nice touch, too. And that music is a BOP.
So this is a "deck builder" where you can play any card in your deck as long as you can get to it. That's a pretty neat take. And I'm sure it'd be an great full release with enough time to polish and refine. As is, this just felt overwhelming to play. Having my whole deck, plus learning all the stats and unique names, and learning the game was far too much to learn in one go. This would have greatly benefitted from more onboarding, such as the first enemy being a tutorial with a limited board to attack with. Level 1 only has 9 plates in a 3x3 or something, level 2 introduces more concepts and gives you a 4x4, etc. And then on top of all that, I was immediately asked to make decisions about long term strategy and deck composition, which I felt unequipped to answer.
I come from a board game background, so I love seeing video game adapt or draw from physical games. The card grid and movement here feels like familiar territory, and ripe for design exploration. Makes me want to play around in this space, too!
Overall, a very cool (if ambitious) entry. Keep up the awesome work, and keep making games!