Playing on an Android Google Pixel 7
Amazingly well-thought out and High-effort for something made by a single developer! Art style is both incredibly well done and fits well with the retro style. The controls may have a bit of a learning curve, especially if you're not using a gamepad, but can be easily re-arranged in the menu. Mechanics-wise the game can be somewhat difficult to learn, as it's not all handed to you immediately, and instead drip-fed to you through lore notes obtained via exploration (though, it does quite feel like the nostalgic difficulty of the older retro titles, which also did similar!) After the initial hurdle of learning the mechanics, the combat and elemental circuit systems feel quite smooth and satisfying to use. (the chemistry nerd in me squealed with joy upon seeing that the sodium element was placed just before the underwater segment.)
I encountered almost no issues in my playthrough of the demo until a cutscene bug consistently froze my game (though sound would still play) after Eva's fight outside of the cavern. I also had encountered the same issue with two previous cutscenes, namely the cutscene when a game is first created and when you are initially dropped into the cavern, these were easily bypassed by simply skipping the affected scenes however. The cutscene after Eva's fight was not skippable, and my game is currently stuck there.
Overall, this looks like a very promising project, and I'll definitely be purchasing the full game once it's ready.
Game also has an adorable cat complete with cute sound effects. This has not biased my review at all. Nuh-uh. Nope. Nada.