This game is so close to being great! The art, sound and music are all great! The idea is unique! And the enemies - though they could telegraph attacks better - are are really good! Plus the story and other polish - all very good!
But - and you knew there was a but - the fact that it’s so close to being great makes it all the more frustrating in the areas it falls short in. The game is just way too punishing. It’s to the point where it feels unfair and unenjoyable. I actually gave up after the umpteenth time trying to make it past a certain point and dying again and again.
The spike damage is way to darn high. And so is contact damage with enemies. A way to fix this is given players more hit points at the beginning. And make the controls more responsive so we can make those tricky wall jump + dash moves around obstacles. Giving the player more time of being invulnerable after taking damage could help this too.
Another issue with damage and health is that there’s no way to regain health but to save again. Why not have the health restored when an upgrade is obtained? Or have enemies drop something to heal the player? If this is something introduced later in the game that I didn’t get to, I’d move it to the beginning.
That we can wall jump from the get-go is odd. But worse of all is not telling the player this. Its odd with play testers helping out that this was not discovered earlier.
It’s also odd that the player is completely defenseless. Why is that? Most metroidvanias do not do this. And it’s OK to go against convention, but usually there’s a reason. It’s not a deal breaker, but internal consistency in design choices and story are important in game development just like it is in other mediums.
Re-reading what I’ve said, I sound kind of harsh. But as I said before, that this could have been so much more enjoyable coupled with the fact that your team are obviously really good developers, is the reason for this. I hope you’ll take all player feedback into account and make this game as great as it could be!
Hopefully you’ll agree constructive criticism makes us better developers. And so now I ask you to please play, rate and comment on our game. Let us have it! You’ll only be helping us, more than you know. Thanks!
