This is definitely one of the more interesting games in the jam. I have somewhat mixed feelings about it overall, but it was certainly a unique experience.
I'm still undecided on the visual style of this game. It's certainly dreamlike, but it's also kind of ugly. I think I like the battle sprites and background effects, but the world tiles less so.
Mira's design is nice, though her single glove bothers my OCD.
I really liked the combat, at least at first. The use of masks and emotions for strengths and weaknesses isn't something I'd seen before and it was a lot of fun initially. However it did start to get tedious. Boss battles and new enemies and attacks were welcome changes but I felt there was too much of the same in between- it started to feel grindy and it started to feel like filler. The last bits in the lead up to and immediately after (what I thought was) the final boss were particularly egregious- by that point the combat had become pretty samey.
About two thirds of the way in we got some very different gameplay which I appreciated. It's hard to talk about it here without spoilers but I liked it. It was a really nice break and I was disappointed when it shifted back to mostly combat.
The use of in-battle events in the boss battles worked really well, I think. However I was never able to figure out how elemental weaknesses worked and which attacks were best against which boss. I was particularly confused when I was advised that it "looks like magic is not very effective"... immediately after doing 300 damage with a fire blast.
Overall I think the combat is the biggest strength of this game even if it is sometimes confusing and maybe a little overused. I wouldn't mind seeing another game with a similar setup.
I loved the premise from the beginning, and the narrative had a flow and energy to it that kept me engaged. But at the same time I found it really confusing and hard to follow. By halfway through the game I really had no idea what was going on anymore. Every new thing that was introduced just left me with more questions. Some of that is dialogue that was sometimes shakily written and unclear but I think some of that is just inherent weirdness.
I don't want to spoil the ending for anyone but it was an absolute mind screw. I thought I'd finally get some resolution and explanation after the final boss but was left even more confused. The very, very last bit of the game- as in the last few lines- reminded me of Monty Python and didn't work for me. Was this added because you ran out of time?
Finally, I'm a dirty save scummer so the semi-immersive save points are kind of lost on me.
All in all I'm not sure where I stand on this one. It's certainly an interesting game with some really neat ideas, but I did find it a little tedious, and I kind of walked out wondering what I just played.