itch.io

First off let me thank you for playing!

I have updated the menu and player dead zones on the analog thank you!
The dodge only being 8 directions is not at all hard to implement and will have it done for next demo day (maybe I'll make it toggable so players can really feel both styles)
The strawmen actually do die when their health is depleted but I may need to better show that because the health bar did look empty but he actually did have health. When the game bugged out he actually died from losing all his health.
When executing enemies the player runs into animation position like you said in this case the player rips the straw out of the strawman's chest so he needs to run to the front.
Combo meter was actually bugged out but has since been patched.
The player is slow in attack speed and dodge for a reason right now. You are actually level 0 and souls will be used to buy stats later.
I agree that context sensitive executions would be neat but I think it is too much work...I do plan to maybe add environmental context sensitive executions but I'm still much too early in to fully decide.
A lot of the slow sluggish feel comes from wanting to make a "weighted" top down dark souls clone. Specifically I want the game to punish players for attacking when they shouldn't have, dodging where they shouldn't have etc.

I appreciate your feedback and hope I can add a lot more content come next demo day!!

Alright I just finished playing your demo here is what I think. (I'm going to assume all the demo had was the fight with the pimp because I never found anything else)
Holy shit this fucking game is dripping with soul. The art, sound/music, and aesthetic is all quality man.

That being said I had a few gripes with it but first the bugs.
Screen transitions leave behind a black box that doesn't actually cover the screen but only a piece of the screen. Really noticed it in the city and nightclub but didn't really notice it in the apartments. (minor visual bug)
During the pimp fight the pimp can actually yeet himself out of the playable area, I wish I remembered what attack specifically it was but I'm almost certain it was the triple swipe with his cane. (Soft lock) (I'll come back to this later)
Auto-saves are busted. The only auto-save that actually saved was upon entering the nightclub. I kept dying and dying trying to explore but it kept putting me back at the entrance to the night club having to reactivate the Japanese guy.
Speaking of the Japanese guy he can sometimes bug out and teleport back to the ledge (only for a split second) after finishing his falling animation. (minor visual bug)
Not sure about this last one didn't really test it but I think it may be one (upon restarting the game like exiting the game to the main menu and reloading you are given all your items that you had at the last auto-save (entrance to the nightclub) even if you used them.)
Back to the pimp fight, after he flew out of the map I had to exit to the main menu and reload. To my surprise I spawned inside the pimp's room NOT the entrance to the nightclub. That is where I want to load every time I died to the pimp. 

Now gripes
The auto-save should save all the shit I picked up/used exploring. It should also teleport me to that last save. I'm not saying every door should be an auto-save but you need more checkpoints basically (specifically the door to the pimp could use one)
The Japanese man room doesn't need the vomit and broken bottles on the floor. It discouraged me from walking and I ended up just standing where I couldn't be damage trying to fight what I thought was a boss.
Also if you can you should auto-save key events (the Japanese man being one of them) so that I only need to activate him once (minor gripe really)

The enemies (and game in general) are fucking brutal. Not sure if this is what you are going for but holy shit the cherry enemies have 3 attacks 2 of which are a counter to her vulnerability. I felt the only balanced enemy was the nose.
I think it is because you have played it and played it and now assume it is too easy because you are speed running it. The cherries only need 1 attack the flying leg kicks.

They also melt your fucking health.
The pimp I thought was maybe unbalanced. Maybe take away his ranged attack while the strippers slide down.
The pimp is iffy I'd be ok with him the way he is now because once I figured out his pattern he was a piece of cake. It was just the deaths I spent learning his attacks that fucked me.
Also it's funny, imagine if the pimp instead of resting after his triple strike, bitch slapped you if you got close enough to attack and that is pretty much the cherry enemies for you.
Remember they are the first enemy in the game it's ok if they are a little dumb. Balance it by removing the 100% drop rate of the cherry item so players can't farm them comfortably

All in all it is fucking great man.

Yeah,  just really trying to nail down the feel of the game first. I'm thinking about eventually adding keyboard support but because I really prefer people use controller to play I'm focusing on that first (but trying to design in a way that would allow for eventual keyboard support)