Nicely done. The game works as it should and it had a great sense of humor, which is nice. More in-depth review coming:
Design [4/5]: I liked that it was an RPG that only focused on one stat: SOUL. It keeps things simple, but the gameplay is still varied and your character is still customizable since you can learn one of your opponen'ts moves at the end of every encounter. That's a really cool idea. Having said that, I think there are some drawbacks to this approach. Considering you don't have an "attack" or "strength" stat in this game, the only way to get a stronger attack is to defeat an opponent with a stronger attack. However, that's the problem: your opponent will be far stronger than you at one point. There are a few ways this problem could be solved, but I think all the solutions come with other drawbacks. One idea would be to simply give the player lots of health, but that would make you too overpowered. Another idea would be to have enemy encounters scale linearly in difficulty. However, that would just get predictable and boring after the pattern sinks in. I think the aesthetic and narrative design of this game goes a long way in motivating players to continue through the encounters. I was trying to figure out how many points to rate for design. I decided on 4/5 because I think this game is a really interesting game design experiment in what happens when you have an RPG with only one stat, and I really like the mechanic of taking one of your opponent's moves at the end of each encounter. It still gives you some freedom to customize your character. The reason I couldn't give 5/5 was because there were a few design problems that I still think needed to be addressed to make this a better game:
- Sometimes, when you choose which of your enemy's moves to adopt, there really isn't much of a choice. For example, in the construction worker encounter, he has two moves: build and demolish. Build heals you while demolish does damage to both you and your opponent. I think "build" is the obvious choice. I wish there had been some more consideration that went into making these choices more interesting, so that you really had to think carefully about which move you wanted.
- The game isn't balanced well. I spent about ten minutes trying to defeat the boss of the McConaughey tower and that boss is just too overpowered no matter what your moveset is. However, the fact that I spent that long trying to defeat the boss is a testament to how good this game actually is. Something was keeping me engaged and motivating me even though that boss was nearly impossible to defeat. I just wish I could have seen the rest of the game's content, since you obviously put so much good work into the narrative design and artwork.
Adherence to the Theme [5/5]: It's an RPG with only one stat. Additionally, you only get to pick one move at the end of each battle. Nice job!
Originality [5/5]: I wish I could give 6/5 for originality, honestly. This game is unique mechanically, aesthetically, and from a narrative perspective. I've never seen an RPG with only one stat before (even in games where it doesn't seem necessary to have a fully fleshed out stat system, like Undertale), and the mechanic of choosing one of your opponent's moves at the end of each battle is unique and surprisingly interesting. The art style is funny and obviously original and had me laughing out loud at a few parts. I particularly loved taking the cop's "entrapment" move because the animation is your character planting a ziploc bag of drugs onto the opponent. That's just too funny! The narrative is unique as well. I was surprised by every encounter and the flavor text always had me smiling.
Overall, great job on this game. I hope you continue with your game development pursuits!