What can I say, man? This game is amazing, especially considering the 9-day development limit. My only concerns are the lack of mechanic explanations for players. I didn’t realize I could run until the end of my playthrough. Also, the item GUI disappeared after opening and closing the pause menu, which caused some confusion—especially since it was my last item, and I wasn’t sure what to do or where to go. But aside from these minor issues, the game is awesome. The atmosphere is spot-on, and the satisfaction of beating it—along with the final cutscene—made for a great experience.
Thank you! I don't know if this is too on-the-nose, but I was thinking that obfuscating the controls might contribute to the feeling of "powerlessness".
To your other point - are you saying the item counter completely disappeared? One of my playtesters reported that bug and I thought I had resolved it for him. Any additional information you can provide would be helpful!
If that's the case then you could add an item that after pickup would give you ability to sprint and like other items would display the message "I can run now, but I'm still POWERLESS against this monster"
As for the bug; If the completion of the game (collecting all items) hides the text, that could be the case. Otherwise, I just paused the game for 30 secs and the GUI disappeared, there's not much information I can provide.