I really enjoyed how many rooms there were, and even that the game had boss fights! I thought the enemy attack sequences were good too, and made for interesting extra mechanics to add to challenging platforming.
I felt like the hit range for the player was too short, and often I'd end up inside an enemy before my hit would register. This quickly became frustrating in tight areas and I'd often just have to avoid enemies entirely and rely on my platforming skill. The cyclops boss fight also had a larger collision box than the sprite, meaning I'd sometimes take damage when the two sprites weren't touching - mixed with a short hit range this made the boss more frustrating than difficult. Also, and it's a minor thing, but I felt the player should pick collisions for hearts first before taking damage from an enemy collision. There were a few times where I tried this and it didn't work out. Mechanics which feel unfair or against the intention of the player can make or break a metroidvania.
I liked the collectables, but I must admit I didn't really understand what I was collecting. There were a few things that looked like letters but I couldn't make out what they were for.
There were also some issues with the level design:
- There were checkpoints before large empty rooms which meant dying resulted in walking through empty, safe areas to get back into the action. This quickly sapped my energy for continuing.
- There were blind jumps across spikes towards moving platforms. I was in the spiky plant area and I hadn't encountered moving platforms yet. When I arrived the platform was off camera so I just took a blind jump and hoped for the best. The best option for these kind of puzzles is to show the moving platform as it moves away when it's first on screen.
There was a slight issue with pixel rounding which meant that the player was sometimes 1/3rd of a pixel off the floor. You can also see in this screenshot that some pixels are wider than others. This'll be down to the rounding algorithm you use.
All in all though, the platforming challenges were fun, the artwork was really authentic and the sheer scale of the project was very impressive. The music was really enjoyable and all the different backgrounds really made me feel like the areas were separate and unique. I thought playing as the penguin character was good fun.