1) The movement of the player is perfect. It feels like I am in complete control (contributing to a feeling of being powerful). I'd be careful if you're adding anything such as a dodge roll or dash since those can take control away from the player (making you feel less powerful) in exchange for temporary safety.
2) The sound effects (love the Wilhelm scream, btw) such as the thuds make me feel powerful. Hitting multiple enemies also makes me feel powerful as does exploiting the enemy AI. However, almost everything else in the game makes me feel weak and like I am up against impossible odds. The sort of feeling you get when taking on the zombie horde with only limited resources. One of the reasons for this is the harpoon. Having one harpoon means you are going to switch into a (powerless) running away state when trying to recover the harpoon. The delay on picking up the harpoon magnifies this because you have to stand still for a short while, exposing yourself to the enemy.
Some other things that made me feel less powerful were:
- The zoomed in camera. Since I can't see the enemy (and some can jump across a good portion of the screen), my guard is always up. It is sort of like how you have to be prepared for what's around the corner or through the window in the older Resident Evil games. When I do see them, I usually end up using a more twitch-y reaction instead of calculated, controlled one since they are almost on top of me.
- The number of enemies. Mowing down hordes of enemies can make you feel powerful (I felt great after hitting three in a single shot!), but if you're outnumbered and forced to run, you feel very vulnerable.
- Enemies can jump over your harpoon. I think this is great, but it doesn't make me feel powerful. It makes my weapon feel weaker (since it can be dodged).
- You can't win. The game is infinite, so you will die at some point. It's hard to feel powerful when you know that you're going to die (although some final blazes of glory do make you feel good).
That all being said, I really enjoyed not feeling powerful. It was satisfying going up against a powerful enemy!