First off, you will find some nice inclusivity options in this jam game. You can turn off the blinking/pulsing light, footstep sounds, and the intensity of the weather ect whenever you like. This is a good practice to have for the comfort of the players, so kudos!
Upon starting the game, you’ll find yourself introduced to the plot and meet up with other characters right of the bat. Your interactions with your team members are short lived and they will leave you after a battle or two, but they are easy to remember due to their different personalities and way of talking. I beat the game once and went with the refuse the church route, which I find the ending at the end is quite cute with the interactions between the characters in the scene. It makes me suspect that they will be coming back for another game in another world.
The plot could use some more fleshing out as I feel the mystery behind the Blackhearts and the Tree, while it has a nice direction, got solved very quickly or left hanging. But I suspect that’s just a side effect of the time constraints of being a game jam game.
Map design wise, it has nice vibes going for it and I can see what the dev is going for. However, it could use more work and polish as there are some areas that feel big for the sake of being big without adding much new value, one of the few examples being the mansion and outside of the church.
I did like the map dashing mechanic as it gives something fun to do while exploring! Running over monsters to gain stats and items is a fun side mini game.
Overall, this game can use more story expansion and visual polish to push it further but good job!