The art in this game is gorgeous! The animations and boss patterns feel natural. The music fits the setting and it honestly well composed, but I maybe could have used a little more explosiveness in the production value and instrumentation. An X factor, something staggeringly unique that makes me scrunch my face and go "ooooooo shit" and meshes with the rest of the game!
As others have pointed out, the healing mechanic is messy. There are a couple ways you could have gone about this more ergonomically:
- I think it would have been beneficial to make the healing mechanic bind to the scroll wheel and use left click to attack. This is probably the most practical way to go about it without changing the identity of the mechanic.
- Instead of making the player have to point their mouse at the bottom right of the screen, make it work to where as long as you're making a circle period then you heal
- Abandon the mouse altogether (though the pointer graphic was really awesome!) and rework how the healing system works on a keyboard.
Additionally, I take a little bit of trouble with the phraseology of the instructions regarding healing. Do I take more damage the faster I move? Or the faster I crank the wheel? It's vague.
I will admit it's exciting to have to desperately switch between keyboard and mouse and then back to keyboard again! Not many games can generate that excitement with that control scheme.
I could have used some more juice in the impact of my kicks when I hit the bosses. This is very clearly a high octane type of game and setting, just a little more impact on my kicks would have been ten times more hype. Also I feel like just maybe a tiny bit of spice when it comes to attacking (maybe another cool move bound to "K") would have sent this over the edge!
I had fun despite this, this is all really kind of a nitpick. Everything was eye candy and it was fun to fight the bosses. I can't wait to see what you do next!
Very well done overall. This was a treat.