Hello, we are 4 game design students from the University of Paul Valéry in France, and for today's class we had to evaluate an itch.io game that asked for a feedback. We choosed your game because we thought it was a nice game that deserved our attention :)
We made a playtest with three  other testers by making them play 15minutes each and questionning them on various aspects.
Here is our final review :

UI & Menu

✅ Positive:

• The menu is easy to navigate, they had no trouble accessing the tutorial.
• The artistic direction sets a great mood, making the game visually appealing.
• The dialogue box is well-integrated and clear.

❌ Negative:

• The HP and mana bars are not very noticeable—some of them didn’t even realize the mana bar was there.
• Players tend to focus on the top of the screen, so key UI elements at the bottom might be overlooked.

💡 Recommendations:

• Swap the top and bottom UI elements (Crystals/Lives and HP/Mana) for better readability.
• Make the mana bar stand out more, maybe with an animation or color contrast.

Narration

✅ Positive:

• The introduction scene effectively sets up the story.
• Short in-game messages help reinforce the objectives and make the lore easy to understand.

❌ Negative:

• The "How to Play" page feels unnecessary—most players either skipped it or found it redundant after the introduction.

💡 Recommendations:

• Replace the "How to Play" page with a control mapping screen.
• Allow players to skip the introduction scene after their first playthrough.

Gameplay

✅ Positive:

• Objectives are clear, and we quickly understood the core gameplay loop.
• Exploration is fun, and the game offers several interactive elements (candles, crystals, btw there is a misspelling on "cyrstals").

❌ Negative:

• Spells are underused—some of us completed the first few levels without using them.
• The first level feels too punishing, making early gameplay frustrating.
• The game can become repetitive since the difficulty remains the same throughout.
• Major bug: Pressing "R" skips scenes, allowing players to finish the game in seconds.
• After dying, some spells disappear or don’t work properly, and magic wands don’t always respawn.

💡 Recommendations:

• Introduce a more useful early-game spell (e.g., an attack spell instead of "grab distant items").
• Balance the first level’s difficulty to make it less frustrating.
• Ensure spells are needed for progression to make them feel meaningful.
• Fix the "R" key bug and make sure spells persist after death.
• Guarantee that magic wands and spells respawn consistently.

Characters & Feedback

✅ Positive:

• Character designs are strong and give the game a unique identity.
• The player's animations convey emotions (fear, hurt, happiness) well.

❌ Negative:

• The feedback for losing a heart isn’t clear enough—it can be easy to miss.
• Some interactive elements don’t provide clear feedback, making them feel useless.
• The purpose of crystals is unclear.

💡 Recommendations:

• Improve visual and audio feedback when losing a heart (e.g., a flashing effect or sound cue).
• Add a clearer visual effect or text prompt when collecting crystals to explain their use.
• Ensure all interactive objects provide noticeable feedback.

Environment & Ambiance

✅ Positive:

• The cute, rustic, and pastoral art style gives the game a distinct charm.
• Exploring the environment is enjoyable, and there are plenty of details to discover.
• The music fits well and adds to the atmosphere.

❌ Negative:

• Some objects, like bushes, aren’t visually distinct enough, making them confusing.
• Some colors lack contrast, making certain elements hard to see.

💡 Recommendations:

• Improve the contrast of important objects (bushes, interactive elements).
• Add subtle visual indicators (glows, highlights) to show interactive objects.

Enemies & Interactives

✅ Positive:

• There is a nice variety of enemies.
• The mechanic of transforming monsters into objects is fun and unique.

❌ Negative:

• Enemy colors are not always distinctive, making it harder to tell them apart.
• Some of us didn’t realize that pumpkins were shooting projectiles.
• If we stay in certain areas of the map, we can avoid most obstacles.

💡 Recommendations:

• Improve enemy color contrast to make them more visually distinct.
• Add clearer animations or sound cues before pumpkins shoot projectiles.
• Adjust enemy placement and level design to prevent players from avoiding challenges too easily.

To end this review, here are some quotes that our testers told : "The character's voice is cute." ; "The trees are dancing !" ; "Wow there are so many enemies" ; "I want more spells to cast !"

If you enjoyed this User Research review as much as we enjoyed making a playtest of yours, you can check our itch.io accounts : https://leovoi.itch.io/, https://vincentvolage.itch.io/, https://ornylove.itch.io/, https://makollection-de-jeux.itch.io/

Have a nice day ! :))))