Interesting and surprisingly intense game. I dug the weird, minimal, retro-magic vibe.
- I found the Pokémon-style Elemental mechanic to be pretty straightforward. Shape matching was also easy.
- The Effect mechanic was less intuitive, but I could wrap my head around it. What made it especially difficult was that I couldn’t always tell what the enemies were supposed to be. I often found myself thinking, “Is it big? Is it fast?”
- More gradual level progression might help. You play the first few rounds with Shape, then Shape and Elemental, and then add Effect. (I know the tutorial introduces concepts that way, but it can feel like an info dump if you’re not playing through it.)
- I like the music a lot. I especially like it in the tutorial, where it feels magical in an unsettling sort of way. The battle music seems more generic, but I still enjoy it.
- The timer sure adds stress!
- I wish there were some variance in the pressure the game puts on you: moments of intensity, moments where you can take a breath—all underscored by a gradual build.
- I have mixed feelings about defending. It’s clever, though it feels disconnected from the attack phase. It’s also frustratingly luck-based. If you miss a letter early on, you might not get it again, and you’re forced to wait for the timer to run out and then take the hit.
- The game feels one-note for me right now. I’d love an overarching progression loop. Maybe you unlock unique, Balatro-style cards with strange magical effects, or maybe this entire game is just the battle sequence in a larger RPG.
- You could do a lot with VFX here. Partly for game feel and aesthetics, but also to make it crystal-clear when your attack is super effective, ineffective, etc.
Finally, I looked forward to playing your game since the review swap began. I don’t have a Windows machine, so I had to wait until a friend could share their computer. Since your game is fairly lightweight and you’re making it in Unity, consider a web build. Though the larger player base might not care, a web build would make it more accessible to people like me.
This is a cool, weird game. Great work.