I really liked it!
The peaceful imagery combined with the slow, predictable recharge time of the "Effort" bar creates a calm feeling which was very nice.
I kept playing even after the end.
However, it was confusing at first, and the huge amounts of help text only made it worse.
There was a lot of text like this:
"You will learn the game basics in several simple steps..."
Okay, but this doesn't actually help me understand how the game works. It's just more text that I have to read, when I'm already feeling confused and frustrated!
Or this:
"Alternatively, the game will switch automatically when both Energies are deplete..."
Okay, but the game will do that for me automatically, so it's not something I need to know about! If you'll just let me play the game, I'll see it happen without needing to read about it!
Or:
"Click this icon now to see how Click Progress works."
Okay, but right now I don't even know what "Click Progress" is, so this means nothing to me. And the next help window has moved on to "Additional Energy Recovery," so I have no chance to stop and figure out what "Click Progress" meant. It's very frustrating!
Having played the game, I now know what would have helped me:
I needed to know what an "Abiding" was. If there were a label above the abiding list, that would have explained everything.
Likewise, I needed to know what an "Observation" was. If you put the word "Observation" somewhere on the observation window, that would have taken care of that.
I also needed easy access to the current Task and Milestones. I would have *loved* a "Milestones" button where the "Path," "Skills," and "Tools" buttons are! (The Milestones are hidden under a book icon in the "Path" menu--which makes it pretty hard to find. And you need it constantly!)
Also, I would have liked having the "Skills" button in the top left corner of the game, since that's where the "Skills" window appears. It would have made the navigation easy to remember.
Having said all that, I really did enjoy the game! It's very well made and has a nice ambience. It has a lot of potential--but it's already enjoyable and worth playing just the way it is. Thank you for making it.