Really well made game. It was fun to play, the fact that each level offered a different challenge makes the game very varied.

There are only 2 minor things that I might change:
- It might be better to choose a song for each level. 
- It would be better if the dialog boxes could not be confirmed with the space button. It happened to me during the chase of the other character that when I wanted to jump to catch the character, the dialog opened and I closed it with my action right away. It's a really small problem and I had it only once.

Thanks for your submission. Overall, I enjoyed this one.

• Use of Theme - 5
  • Theme is strong in every stage and apparent in the recovering from grief thematic. If anything, might be a bit heavy-handed with the stage names being overt but works well.
• Gameplay - 4
  • The game is short, but interesting for its run due to the interplay between level design, character movement, level goals/danger zones, and the emotional state.
  • My order of fav: bargaining > depression > anger. Acceptance and denial are the weakest but makes sense in a way.
  • My main issue is that the jump timing is too unforgiving, relying on the sprite to be half-off the platform to make the jumps.
• Creativity - 5
  • See prior. Top marks for using the theme creatively to make each stage stand out from each other. Particularly 
    • Bargaining: being unable to catch that "hope"
    • Depression: the slow movement, dim lights. The endless maze with "false paths" that are really illusions to reinforce the suffering of the longer paths.
    • Anger: the intermittent darkening red borders. I was less a fan of the spikes which are more frustrating than anger-provoking - was thinking it could be better if you had to lash out at something (like push a NPC into the spikes to move on).
• Art - 3
  • Some nice tricks with the light dimming and the red pulsating
  • The intro and speech UI seems to have been an afterthought and missed opportunity to reinforce the theme further
• Sound - 2
  • The BGM was good, but was static throughout all the stages taking away from the theme (i.e. too nice for anger).
  • No SFX.

Right in the feels. Good job! One small thing: I would have made the collision shape of the player a little bit smaller

wow, i loved this so much. i loved how well the levels portrayed each emotion. the simplicity and ease of just denying, the frustration and anger in the red. the barganing to yourself at first and then to an higher being out of your control. the maze that is depression and the feeling that even when you see the way out of it but you have no energy to break free so you need to take the long way. and the fact that in acceptance you still have fits of anger, moments of barganing and episodes of depression but its all a bit easier because you have the past experience and you learned how to live with it. 

one word, amazing. thank you for this amazing game.

This was a great play on the theme. I knew there were going to be a few games that took this route for "Recovery", and this was exactly what I was hoping to find. This was a great story driven side scrolling platformer. Great job! 

I did find the platforming to be a bit tricky at times, but it was honestly worth dying since the death and re-spawn animation was so pretty and well done! The only bit of feedback I think this game could benefit from is adding more sound effects and changing up the background music a bit more. Other than that, I had a great time playing this game and experiencing the story you created. Awesome game!

Damn i really enjoyed that one. Played it twice just to get on the leaderboard.

• Use of Theme - 5
  • An exceptional use of the theme imo.
• Gameplay - 5
  • Great job on the mechanics, because however simple they are they were really perfectly implemented, i couldn't find anything wrong with the game. The ai of the bargaining creatures also was really well done, not predictable at all. Overall a really engaging and fun experience.
• Creativity - 5
  • This game is so creative. It's funny how a simple platformer can be so powerful in delivering a message like this one through amazing level design and storytelling. I loved how perfectly each level conveyed the feeling of each gried stage. In denial you pretend everything is normal so its just a normal platformer. In anger i got really angry and frustrated because of the spikes. During the barganing stage you keep running after something that is unnatainable. In the depression stage you feel exhausted and life feels like a maze you will never get out of, often leading you through paths you wouldnt otherwise take. And finally in the acceptance stage you learn how to live with all of these sentiments, because grief is something that stays with you for the rest of your life. Beautiful. My hats off to you. Also this is emotional manipulation ahahah.
• Art - 4
  • The art lends itself very well to the game, i loved the animations, they were very seamless and easy on the eyes. I just wish the UI was prettier ahah.
• Sound - 2
  • The BGM was also good, even if it didnt have the most seamless loop transition. I wish there were some sfx.

i loved this! well done.