The art style may be simple but that doesn't mean it's easy to make considering all the directions and animations. Some of the sprites and animations we did make for example: the sword swing area animation, the arrow, and the sword sprites. We only had two weeks and with no previous game dev experience we added what we believed to be the most important parts to achieve a "complete game/foundation" without spending too much time on intricate details. We agree with most of the points you brought up but considering our experience we are proud of what we made.
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You guys should be proud, especially for a first game. It's just some constructive criticism since the asset link that was provided shows all of the directional animations, so given that, spending a bit more time on some more intricate details would've resulted in a more impressive complete game. It definitely has really great and creative potential and you guys should keep at it! :)