itch.io

This is one of the most polished and feature rich games in the jam! I won't reiterate what has already been said about the super-fun core mechanic and great boss designs, but I will add a thought about a mechanic that likely goes under most players' radar, the altar in the main hub. Firstly, like all of the other menus in the game, there is no way to use the altar menu pop up with just a controller, but even when you use it, trading your life for opening up boss rooms doesn't feel good. The menu for the alter doesn't clearly explain that this is what's happening, and if you give all of your life to open the boss rooms, you now have now have less health to face bosses that you have not gained the experience to beat, even with full health. I would suggest that the tradeoff for health is more firepower, or that the mechanic be removed altogether and the alter become a place where the player brings some energy orb thingy that they get for beating the bosses to open up the next boss room. This will allow the player to feel a sense of progression and keep the gameplay balanced.

Overall, this project is on a level above most of the other games in the jam! Great work from everyone involved!