Probably one of the most interesting and well-balanced applications of the "you can't see around you" gimmick I've ever seen. Two things that I find very nice about this game, gameplay-wise:
- Your attack gets exponentially stronger the longer you "close your eyes". This encourages you to prioritize long and risky bursts of Unseeing-Power over Z-spamming/"rapid blinking", which in turn gets you to learn how attacks work and where you can safely close your eyes for long periods of time to strike. Speaking of which...
- Every attack is balanced around this gimmick - all of them are structured in a way that lets you stay in place for long times and/or gives you clear lanes to weave through even when blinded. For example, Embers of Love has slow-moving heart rockets with predictable reflection behaviours, so you'll always have a small safe zone to stay fixed in at any given time. Claustrophobia is designed in a way that allows you to chain multiple powerful attacks by running to a corner and staying there, and so on.
There are still a few imperfections in the gameplay, though:
- The second nonspell is too tanky (aka has too much health), and is probably the least balanced attack of the game. The first nonspell was fine because the red spiral, in spite of Koishi's random movement, spun in a way that was easy to predict and follow. The spiral here is very unpredictable and doesn't give you much room to safely close your eyes.
- Claustrophobia's vertical walls oscillate a bit weirdly. If you let the spell live long enough, the walls start being pushed further downwards, giving a very clear path to move through at the very top. It's skewed in the player's favour, but still...
- The penultimate spell is my favourite concept-wise, but it's also easily cheeseable. Since the rings of bullets don't spawn around you until you stop attacking, it's possible to just hold Z and instakill the boss before she shoots anything. I highly recommend spawning sparse rings of bullets that get the player to do some dodging before they can attack.
Finally, a comment on the overall presentation: I love the music, I love the TATE/vertical resolution of the game, I love the art. It's a beautiful little game with a fascinating gimmick and a dash of Koishi-flavoured spookiness added to it.
