Hmm, interesting so far. Here's some constructive feedback if you don't mind:
I feel like the peril system leaves something to be desired. It's pretty easy to avoid getting bound as long as you keep up on healing, which isn't hard to do, especially against trash mobs.
Getting bound also doesn't feel very impactful or meaningful, because (A) getting 'halfway' bound doesn't adversely affect you very much. You can still attack and cast (imo is a bit immersion breaking) which makes the bondage feel cosmetic, and (B) even if fully bound, your ally can free you in 1 turn while also restoring a bunch of health, so it's not really a big deal.
Thank you for your feedback! I am always happy to engage with someone that has thoughts to give, especially ones that highlight things we can improve on!
There is definitely a degree of balance for us to consider there, especially since we've made the first chapter quite a softball in terms of difficulty (though I can assure you, that is intentional) with the way that we have implemented peril you are right that it is pretty easy with careful resource management to basically avoid peril against the average enemy entirely. Although I will admit I have been surprised by the quantity of players that have been stonewalled by our boss of chapter 1 entirely. We are definitely thinking of ways to make it easier to get bound (whether by balancing encounters or the mechanic itself), but it is definitely a tricky balancing act we are considering moving forward so as to not disrupt the experience.
I do 100% agree with you there though, using sword arts and magic while half-bound is definitely not long for this world! And fully bound is a state that we're definitely considering the implications of, on one-hand it is a defeat state, on the other hand it is ludicrously easy to avoid in the demo, though we're definitely re-balancing rescue, the gameplay implications of 50% health regen upon escape are too stark to ignore.
Once again, thank you for your feedback! And thank you again for playing our demo!
Glad to hear you guys are working on mechanics! As for the difficulty, yes that is usually the hardest problem to solve in a bondage game (since snowballing into loss all the time isn't fun per se, but also if its too easy then the bondage doesn't feel legit). One idea that might help is to make things on the more challenging side, but also have some kind of mechanic or system where if the player loses, they get some kind of benefit to make it easier the next time. For example, perhaps on the second attempt, the enemy will spend a turn or two gloating (so the player effectively gets an extra turn or two). Just an anti-stonewall idea. Another version of this is in Magical Girl Luna, in which, after the player loses, Luna's mentor pops in and gives advice on how they can win ('The enemy does a strong restraining move after this thing, you can Defend to prevent it', etc.).