Hey! Props for the most funny ending so far ;)
What I liked:
- The visual style! It really reminded me of some of the old games in 1997 like Hexen or one of the first Tomb Raiders from the 3D + Sprite part. I also liked that the enemies were remarkably different and yet shared the same style.
- The background music because it was very moody and fit the theme very good since it had some echo or hall in it which resembles the level structure quite well
- The EXP / level system. One enemy down, one upgrade more. That is a rewarding mechanic and adds a second meaning to killing the enemies besides staying alive. I did not expect to find even different weapon types!
- Key - Lock puzzles where you see the Lock before the key. Very well done. Metroid and Zelda are doing this for example and it always feels nice to finally find the key to that door :). Speaking of: Not only where there keys there were levers too. The fact, that you used levers just once, made them special and that felt great too. Also the combination of a room with levers (something new) and then opening a door in that room to find a new weapon (something new) was a nice double surprise.
- Leveldesign: This is a huge dungeon, yet every room feels different so that I can easily create a mind map of the dungeon. This is a good mechanic if you do not want a dedicated map to obstruct the screen. The dungeon gave me enough visual points to remember where to go and even if it was not huge it felt quite big. This is supported by the different height levels. Good job.
- The ending and the explanation ;)
What I noticed:
- I didn't used the special attacks, given by the additional weapons once. I just skilled attacking to LVL 9 which was sufficient.
- I was completely amazed by the look of the game itself after the Intro text that looked a bit flat on that background. The intro made me expect something completely different. If that was intentional: That's a good trick to keep expectations low and then: surprise!
What can be improved:
- At some points I could shoot enemies from below them when they were placed two steps above me. They however could not fight me then. If this is intentional, then it's okay. I liked the advantage.
- The keys gave me a hard time ;). I accidentally closed the game 2 times because I wanted to close the inventory with escape and then realized it should be enter. But by hitting enter I just said "yes" to the: Do you want to quit? I would have preferred using enter and space as the action key and escape to close the menus. After all: If I want to quit the game I can just press alt+F4 or hit the X on the window.
- On one point I walked into an enemy that walked into me the same time and it could attack me but I couldn't attack it. I had to restart there.
All in all a very good entry!
Keep it up!