Full marks:
* Theme
* Metroidvania (off-genre things were definitely intentional subversions in line with the theme so
markdown there felt improper)
Less full marks (to be clear, "less full" is literal, not a euphemism. There was no 'category' for this game that gets less than a four from me.
* My enjoyment and perception of the game's execution suffered a bit; at one point I got trapped in an enemy and died. And I seemed to get hit by things and fall off platforms and/or out of the screen sort of...a lot, in a way that didn't feel entirely un-cheap. It also seemed to have a bit of performance at leat on my PC, but this cleared up after restarting.
* Aesthetics weren't mind-blowing, but they worked and had a nice unity and the music was pretty excellently chosen. If this had been in a Black/White jam I could have seen it doing decently on that front.
Overall I think this one's a contender.