Heya! I know the rating period hasn't started yet, but I just hit a good stopping point and figured I'd give my thoughts! I'll return to properly rate it when the submission phase ends!
Overall I'm pleasantly surprised with this title! The sloppy graphics and presentation had me under the impression it would be a poorly made game, but its gameplay loop is challenging and enjoyable enough that I continued playing just because I wanted to!
So, the overall decipher system is very cryptic, but that could just be due to the nature of learning an alien language. I went into this fully expecting a puzzle game though, so I was completely thrown off when I was met with a very challenging bullet hell game!
A major critique of mine is that sometimes the coins will spawn in the upper corner of the screen and will be overlapped with the jam submissions links on the game page. That's more an Itch issue than an issue with the game but it made a few levels nearly impossible due to the location of the coins. The controls were also a little sluggish, since the player moved slower than my mouse, which made it a little uncomfortable to control.
The Hard and Very Hard segments were definitely veering on frustrating, and I definitely didn't finish most of them even with all the upgrades I could get.
And of course, the elephant in the room is that the graphics, even for a 3-day project, are pretty bad. After playing for a couple minutes they completely faded out of sight and mind though, and ultimately I wouldn't call that a huge point of contention for me!
Overall Fun: 4/5 - I had a great time! Frustrating harder difficulties prevent this from being a 5!
Controls/UI: 2/5 - The aforementioned sluggish movement definitely docks some points, and the menus are pretty basic. They're functional enough that it isn't a 1, though.
Art: 2/5 - The art here is straight up bad, but I'm giving it a 2 because it didn't harm my play experience too much. The art wasn't distracting and it didn't make the game more difficult to play, so it could be far worse.
Sound/Music: 3/5 - It's serviceable. A 3 might be a little generous of me but I didn't dislike the midi piano track, and the beeps of the doors opening and collecting coins was genuinely helpful information. I think some additional audio feedback for staying in the circle and hitting the dummy would be greatly appreciated though, so I don't have to constantly glance up at the UI while dodging bullets.
Overall, I had more fun than I expected! The game needs a lot of polish work, but it was an enjoyable experience!