This had a real retro charm to it. It was kind of goofy in a way that I liked, like the spinning sword animations. I particularly liked the spear attack animation though, that looked really slick. The background art stood out as nice, with the light coming in through the windows as a real standout for me. I also thought the variety of enemies was pretty good (ugh those wizards...). The song really fit the environment and tone, but oh god it's stuck in my head now...
Now to some suggestions for future improvements.
- The combat was implemented well, but it gets pretty repetitive. The amount of weapons offsets this, but it ultimately boils down to walk-in, strike, walk away (or wait for the enemy to turn around and then just murder them). It needs some sort of decision point if it's going to be such a big focus of the game, like a block or dodge roll sort of thing. The wizards were fun at first (find a way to get under them to abuse their AI) but were annoying if you met them in a narrow corridor because you were basically guaranteed to take a hit.
- I think the map screens were slightly too large, especially in the beginning. There are a LOT of enemies to kill which paired with the combat not getting any deeper made the large spaces get repetitive fairly quickly. I also explored the Western Catacombs first up until the Guard Quarters where you need the High Jump, which meant I had to go through the Western Catacombs a total of three times with the enemies respawning each time. While it definitely ensured that I remembered where I needed the High Jump once I found it, it wasn't the greatest experience.
- I really liked the two large empty rooms leading downwards towards the Holding Cells. I wish they had been leading up towards the final showdown though, I felt kind of let down when I went through these two giant rooms building up anticipation and then just found a room full of more normal monsters. Still a cool gameplay moment though.
- Some form of healing would be a really, really good addition (outside of finding the healing power-ups).
Honestly though, this was an enjoyable entry. I was sort of annoyed by the western catacombs thing at the beginning, but as I kept playing I felt myself compelled to go further and find new weapons and see where the game would take me. There were a few moments where you teased power-ups or had them on screen just long enough where I could sort of mentally map my way to them and that was good as well. Thanks a lot for the entry, I had a good time. Great job!