Very Doom-like. The movement and grappling physics felt fluid and smooth, though the chain grappling sections were challenging when aiming at the target as you're zipping towards them. There wasn't many kill room sections, and so it felt more like parkouring with killable grappling points. Some kill rooms that take advantage of the space and the grappling ability would help add level variety. I did enjoy the sections when I could throw the sword at the conga line of enemies.
The 5th level, Blood Bath, really emphasised the grappling aspect. It was fun in the sections when coming in from a higher level and then grappling, or when you're picking up speed. However, there was a section where you get the key and have to rely on momentum to swing up to a higher level. This was punishing for two reasons:
- It heavily relies on the speed you are moving at when you leave the platform. Should you bump into the ramp as you grapple, the slight loss in speed will ruin any chance in making the swing upwards
- As a lot of the background is the same, it was hard to discern which direction I needed to swing towards. As the game emphasised on moving forwards, I initially thought I was swinging upwards and forwards instead of doing a near full revolution in order to go directly above. This felt counter intuitive. It was also difficult to differentiate between the ledge that I had to swing towards and the rest of the wall behind the ledge.
As the game emphasises movement and speed in order to get the best ranks, rather than punish the player with death, it may be preferable for inexperienced users to be "punished" with taking a slower path. This way, they get a chance to figure out the method to progress, and to practice that section more. It may also be preferable to have such sections use the player's dash movement to build up momentum instead of grappling the enemy. Additional background objects, for example torches, would help the player distinguish the walls from ledges when swinging upwards and guide them towards the goal .
The slowdown on enemy kills was cool, though it did make it difficult to determine whether I had landed on the ground and was jumping or was merely running of the edge. Some feedback on whether the player has touched the ground would help mitigate this.
Overall, the movement felt very polished. It just needs more levels. Well done!