I had so much fun with this game that I genuinely forgot it was made for a jam! It's that captivating and well made! The controls are explained through a quick interactive tutorial and are easy to get used to. Don't like the buttons you have to press? Don't worry, you can easily remap your controls! The music fits with the pixel art and is calming to listen to. The sound effects either give actions additional weight (eg the attack sounds) or create a really atmospheric ambience (eg the cave noises). The visuals have well made pixel art with smooth lighting that further improves the games atmosphere.
The only issues I have with the game are that I don't really see how the game fits with the theme, and apart from dealing a high amount of damage, the final major boss is underwhelming, with it only having one attack.
Still though, the fact that this was made using a basic C++ framework with a few libraries is nuts considering how polished the game is! This game rocks!