Thanks for such an in-depth review on what didn’t work for you. It’s a shame you couldn’t record anything, but it’s nice that you wrote your thoughts in such detail.
I agree that the font is quite hard to read. You can actually take as much time as you need to read the story text, you have to click to advance to the next scene. But I will probably be replacing that font.
The potions heal the character with the least health/energy when you click on them or use the shortcut key. When you levelled up, the button that appeared was for a new battle skill, so you didn’t miss anything.
As for what the crystals do, it’s explained when you collect the first and second ones, you normally can’t miss it, it’s an explanatory text that stays on screen for a minimum of 2 seconds and until you move again.
Besides that, I agree that battle is a bit messy, I made the first fight almost impossible to lose to give players time to get used to the controls but that might not be enough. I was too far along development to change anything but I considered making it turn based instead, and I think I will do that after reading your comment and some others 🙂 I will take your precise feedback into account because you make lots of valid points.
About the loop, there is actually some foreshadowing. Every 10 crystals you collect, you will unlock an “exploration power”, such has being able being able to walk on water or being able the traverse specific wall portions. You may see a crystal or path just out of reach and then unlock the corresponding power. The dungeon is built like a mini Metroidvania, so there is some natural backtracking. The loop grows longer the more crystals you collect, that’s the gist of it 🙂
Thanks a lot for playing and trying a few times!