Really love the tone, concept and execution of this idea. The narrative works excellently to counteract the progressively more challenging gameplay. I ran through a few times (but never managed to finish), because I was curious about how things would develop - shows a good narrative hook!
The controls need a bit of tweaking, though (I died to ladders way too many times). While I really like the progressive powerlessness, I think you're a little underpowered right from the beginning. I liked that feeling on my first play, but then I realised just how difficult it was to make it through even at max power, and so I feel like I never really get a chance to become 'good' at the game.
Aside from the controls and mechanical design, I think everything else is really truly impressive. Your characters are so good, both in terms of art and voice. Loved your nods to Disco Elysium.
Overall really good, and nice use of theme!
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During the development of this, I wondered a lot about the viability of the direction I chose. Part of the controls issue is for sure a bit of unintentional jank, but I was also less worried about fixing any issues, since it added to the unfair feeling I wanted to create.
So yeah, I think the feeling that you're too underpowered even at full power is exactly what I wanted (but it is possible to get to the end* of the level even after 1 death, I think, but definitely with no deaths). Ideally, I don't want people to feel that they're getting "good" at the game. But potentially that's a problem in and of itself. I appreciate the detailed perspective and recounting of your experience. I'm curious to see how many people will feel the same as you (I suspect it'll be a pretty big majority).
Thanks for playing and for the detailed feedback!
* It's worth noting that the "end" of the level is a jump you can't make that just kills you immediately. There's no "winning" this game; you can only finish it by giving up.