The game has lots of potential. But the main issue holding it back is a few things.
1. The enemies in general are too tanky. It makes the game a slog to play when even the most basic enemy takes like 5 combos. And the perks help this alot, but they make it enjoyable when before it wasn't.
2. The melee range is rather low. And so you constantly, and I mean CONSTANTLY hit, not by the projectiles but the actual enemy while attacking because your own attack propels you forward. I suggest you take the third hit in the combo that has actual knockback and some range, and make that the basic attack. And make the final hit more extreme.
3. Enemies take forever to attack.
4. There's no telegraphing so you're waiting for enemies to attack so you know when it's safe.
5. No health recovery at all.
6. Real low enemy variety.
However, as I said before I think this game as potential and I'd love to see it fleshed out. So let me tell you what I liked.
1. Homing's mostly pretty good.
2. Perks all seem good, even if basic they are interesting. Like Marked is nice, Reflects are nice, the "Higher value drops" is good.
3. Art's nice. Animation could really make this shine. But the masks are nice (Final boss is rough but obviously Game Jam limits how much you can really do, when I was animating for Hourai Victim I felt that)
4. Music's real nice, gives some nice aesthetics.
Overall, I think you should actually make this a proper game, because it does have potential.
Polish it up with some animations, new perks, a larger attack and all that. And it could come out really nice.
Hell, it's what me and Cathulu are doing with Golden Flame right nowand eventually also with DanmakuDragon (That's our own entry in this game jam here https://itch.io/jam/touhou-jam-6/rate/912501 )
Hell, I also want to make Hourai Victim something I flesh out too since the other devs weren't interested.
Anyway, that's all. Goodluck in the future.
Viewing post in Unfinished Symphony jam comments
Thanks for the feedback. I wasn't really sure if I should continue with the game but your post really convinced me to try going for it. After all, I need a place for all those arts and music that went unused since the game isn't finished. Really grateful that you took the time to critique this game.
Honestly it warms my heart that I encouraged you to really go for it. I'm more than glad to write a good dose of feedback if it leads to someone chasing their ambitions like this. You're welcome man. After all, the main game I'm working on right now spawned from a Game Jam and I'm happy to be working on The Golden Flame (it's coming along so well haha). So I'd really like to see you take a nice idea and make it shine. If you need any help with the art, just ask. I'm happy to lend a hand.
Go far with it man, you've got some potential to make this a decent game.
(Also if you have a twitter, discord or something so I can keep up with the game's development, can you send it?)
I'm actually banned from there. Some guy went turbo rage when I criticized someone harshly for them harassing some members. And that guy went and said various things to the head mods of the server and got me banned I believe. I think? idk that's my guess.
You should crack open a social media. Or you can maybe make a dedicated server for it (Since then I don't need to deal with trying to somehow get back into a banned server)
Oh, that's a shame. I might open a social media for my game dev stuff soon. But for now, I have a YouTube channel that I post random gaming stuff. If things get going I might post some dev stuff there.