Thoughts recorded during my playthrough
+ = I liked it
- = I didn't like it
* = Comment/neutral
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- I appreciate the options menu on the title screen, but without something playing it's hard to know what the sound settings should be. It's blind guessing until I get into the game.
- Grammar is a little off. For example, "I had to enter the magical crypt below my town and defeat the mightiest of its creatures, which was written in it." I think you meant the mighty creature was mentioned in the letter, but the way it's currently worded it's telling me that the mighty creature was written in the crypt. I'm able to revise it mentally, but it's an extra effort that makes enjoying the story difficult.
- What are the controls? I didn't see them mentioned anywhere and there's no tutorial.
- This needed to be displayed in the previous room. I'm glad that it's there, though!
- Having left shift be run sounds good on paper because it's all under one hand, but in reality it's an awkward reach on my keyboard and won't be comfortable. A keyboard configuration would be ideal; if not possible, please use a key that's easier to access, like space bar.
* Something that should be included in the tutorial: use the mouse to aim
- G key is also an awkward reach on my keyboard. If it were F, it would be right next to my "walk right" key, but as it is it's incredibly hard to reach when trying to dodge the enemies that suddenly appear
+ I do like the tutorial room. I got to try out the different mechanics to learn how everything works.
+ The art is delightfully pixelated and lively
+ It's not too hard to survive the first "real" room of the game despite the mass quantities of enemies. (Playing on Normal difficulty)
+ The minimap, complete with dungeon layout and enemies present, is a real help
+ Oh, right shift works too? That's handy. Tutorial should just say "shift" instead of "Left shift" since it doesn't matter.
- I saw something I couldn't pick up in the first dungeon and just wrote it off as a rock or something. Now I realize it was a corpse based on a conversation in the second dungeon. I think corpses should be pointed out earlier so it's clear what they are when I run into them.
+ I like the retry feature when you die to the boss. I don't have to start all over again or too far away from the battle.
- I'm not sure what the point of this choice is. I get some extra text if I answer "I'll do it." I still do the battle if I give the other answer.
+ I like that there is an audible "hit" sound when my shots connect with the enemy. I don't have to guess whether the shots off screen are connecting or not.
- The dungeon after the first boss is way too hard. The enemies are bullet sponges and keep respawning until I'm too overwhelmed to be safe. I have to quit since I can't spend any more time on the game.
Summary
The concept of this game is cool: a dungeon crawler with bullet hell mechanics. Once the mechanics are understood, it's even an enjoyable challenge. However, there are some things that hold it back from being awesome. The biggest issue I had was with how the mechanics were taught: explanations came a scene after they were needed, and some things, like the time shifting, was not presented in a way that allowed me to know how to properly utilize them. All of these issues came together and resulted in me quitting the game early. This game does have its good points, too: the music was appropriately ambient; the graphics are clear and lively; bullets can swarm the screen but are presented in ways that make taking hits not feel cheap. I think if the game were given some boosts to how it teaches the player to play the game and some of the other presentation features this could be an outstanding experience.