Hello there! I didn't realize you had another game. I played and reviewed this entry. Here's my breakdown (it's a lot, but I hope this helps). I haven't finished, but I'm really enjoying it, so I'll definitely keep playing. I want to finish the demo.
OVERALL FUN
Most important category (IMO) and you nailed it here. I'm really enjoying this game. I love how you need to unlock various different abilities to proceed further into each map and rescue villagers. The story and simple and cute, and I love how each villager has their own unique personality. My only gripes...
Combat, while I love how the # and color are associated with each enemy... hitting them with their random movements can get a bit frustrating, but this is minor.
The zones are big, and with no map, they feel a bit daunting at times. This may discourage new players if they get too lost and confused. However, in my case, I pushed through and as I started unlocking new abilities and items... plus learned the map a bit... it got easier. Have you considered a map of some sort, though?
CONTROLS/UI
Overall not bad controls, but they were a bit uncomfortable feeling. I think they'd be better if you let us have a couple extra keys for confirm and cancel/escape. Not a fan of Enter being the only interact/confirm button and Z being the only cancel/escape button. Maybe...
-Confirm/Interact could be ENTER & SPACE
-Cancel/Escape can be Z & ESC
-Love how ARROW keys and WASD can be used to move
Also... controller didn't work for me, but I use a PS5 controller... so it may only be compatible with Xbox. This may be my fault since I don't have an Xbox controller to test it on. I need a new one. I broke it over the weekend.
Full screen didn't appear to do anything. It enlarges the screen, but the game stays the same size with a large black border around it. It would be nice if the game, itself, went full-screen.
You have good tutorials, and you explain how to play very well.
It would be nice if there was a quick key to view all your stats on screen quicly. Going into the menu, cycling down, and then hitting confirm twice can get a bit repetitive after a while. It looks like you want to keep the game screen clear of HUD info, but maybe pressing a button causes a quick popup that displays HP, MP, Strength, Luck, etc. Pressing it again gets rid of it. Then players can choose to leave it up... or play without.
ART
5 Stars! A+! Rotten Tomato scores you 100% here! Artwork is fantastic and very unique looking. I love each character's look, the animations are very well done, and the style is amazing. I love your animated speech bubbles, as well.
SOUND/MUSIC
Music and sound was very well done and fitting for the theme of the game. Love the music and it didn't feel like it got old or repetitive at any point (which is a good thing).
ADDITIONAL FEEDBACK
For all the locked doors... you should only have that message populate once or twice. Or, maybe a faster animation without a dialogue box: knock, question mark bubble, done. Not a huge deal, but I think players would get the idea without waiting on that text box.
I love, love, love that you have to learn everything: swimming, farming, dashing. However, I will say this... and I only do because old-school RPG players are obsessed with dash. If your character moves too slowly, and you can't dash... they get upset. My game is the same. You need to learn dash, so while I respect this and have no issue with it myself... you may get some complaints because walking is just way too slow for some people, especially with the size of your maps ;-) I get this complaint with my games, as well.
You should add a visual indicator on each building when you rescue a villager. Perhaps the shop sign has a crosshair over the icon until you rescue them? After they're saved, and the shop is open for business, and the new sign shows up without a crosshair?
The light green monsters with the white # is hard on the eyes and difficult to read. All other colors looked great, though!