Hey, how's it going? :D
I really liked the premise of the game and found the idea of gathering ingredients for the summoning super interesting. I honestly hope you keep polishing the game until it reaches the point you want because there’s something really cool here. Here are my thoughts, considering the game’s size and the time you had available:
- I felt like there are too many enemies per room, and the fact that loot isn’t guaranteed doesn’t create a satisfying experience because there’s no real sense of impact. In my first playthrough, the Arkham bats didn’t drop the tail, and I thought maybe I needed to touch the creatures. Sometimes, instead of taking damage, they’d push me to a specific point on the map and trap me. In one of these situations, I got stuck "between" the walls and couldn’t move, so I had to reset the game. From my perspective, if the game gave a greater sense of impact or an audio cue (which may exist but wasn't there due to an audio bug) with fewer but stronger enemies, it would probably align better with the strange atmosphere you're going for. Certain areas could focus on multiple enemies, making that particular challenge more about quantity. A reference for this would be Metal Gear Solid 1 and 2, where each screen has a small number of enemies, but they’re challenging to fight. Since the usable space is limited, it’s easier to predict what the player might do. I think this would also help when hunting for bugs.
- I was really curious about the musical direction of the game. I played while listening to a playlist, and honestly, it worked really well and made me feel immersed. I’ll share the playlist here in case anyone else wants to try playing along with it.
- The protagonist needs a bit more polish because the face looks worm-like. It would be nice to have a separate sprite for when the character is facing sideways or backward. Maybe giving the face just a silhouette with creepy eyes could add the mythical aspect you’re aiming for without dehumanizing the protagonist too much.
- I found the color contrast a bit glaring. I don’t know if it was intentional, but I really liked it and thought it worked with the theme.
- I loved the cover art, and even though the game didn’t fully click with me at the moment, I’ll definitely come back when you’ve had more time to polish and are happy with the project. In my view, it has the potential to be one of those hidden gems, like the beloved flash games that defined the early internet on platforms like Newgrounds.
Thank you so much for sharing!