Just got to the end. I liked that there was a definite ending where you could tell you'd won, but the ending itself was very sudden and the... part immediately before the ending was very unlike the rest of the game.

OK, can't write this without spoilers. Spoilers from here on.

I'm jotting down some suggestions here in case you'd like ideas. They're in no particular order.

• Clicking by accident should not exit the ending screen (haha... guess how I know that.....) - exit button or "press x to return to main menu"? Please haha I'm so clumsy.
• 'Suddenly, bullet hell' is quite a gameplay shift. It was also difficult for me and took multiple tries, and I had to look up how much health the thing had so I didn't give up.
  • What I do like is that the cat fights back against you, unlike all the other enemies that just stand there as damage sponges.
  • I can't immediately think how I would redesign this battle to be less reflexes and more strategy, but that would be the way I'd personally go.
  • I would have liked a little more introduction to the boss battle. Some narration explaining what's happening, like 'Billions of followers vanish with the slash of a paw. You stand alone, newly-formed soul vulnerable in your hand. Your heart, pounding. Your insides, churning. Her eyes burn into yours. You look away.'
• Lasting consequences for execute vs absolve... right now it's just a mechanics choice and doesn't feel meaningful to the story.
  • I know you're trying to avoid being an Undertale clone and your tone is darker, so...
  • If you start absolving, perhaps the game starts constantly mocking you (having seen that some of the in-game text already leans this way) and hinting that you're making the game harder for no reason. (And have this be mechanically true. Within reason.) But if you persevere, you get some kind of story payoff at the end. More about story in the later points.
  • Meanwhile, executing could have an added effect of making the final boss easier, like maybe the fight back button does more, but you don't get as much lore and at the end you get a hint to challenge yourself more.
  • Possible other 'kind' vs 'cruel' choices that add to the challenge. Such as adding a useless but 'morale' follower job (cook/nurse/musician?) and/or you give the villagers a weekly day of rest and it slows your production, or you can choose to give them better housing that costs more. Make the player work for their good ending/OSHA approval.
• Storyyyy! I was certain I was imprisoned in the dark forest for a very good reason, as the game text kept hinting, and I was hoping for some payoff for that at the end. I was sure the cat would turn out to be a prison warden, just doing her job and keeping the big bad contained.
  • The ending could have us escape and be just as bad as before, if we've been executing things, but if we absolve everything and make other merciful choices, it could leave us with a small hope: have we reformed? Have we learned anything from our time in the forest?

If I got it right, the heart texts are the ten satanic commandments or something similar. I am also pretty sure the story is about crawling your way out of hell with sheer determination and grit. Perhaps a new loop could start, with the player in the real world, but still shackled to where they were before.

Maybe the game could expand mechanically in some massive way, to make clear that this time, its real. A grid map of stuff, other characters, a whole RPG of sorts, with your choices in the forest affecting your character build.

For me I beat the ending on my first try, but I'm pretty sure its only because of beating GAR-TYPE and general long-term experience. I will say though, I like how the gameplay is structured, where its cool that there's no shift in controls, you're still just moving your mouse and clicking things, but now there's just danger. Maybe similar things could be added as minor danger in menus or similar things would play out in combat scenarios. I mean full honesty, I liked the conclusion and thought it was a fun shift, but I can imagine how it might be a bit of a shock if you haven't had any experience with mouse dodging before. Other than that I mean just keep doing what you're doing. There's obviously no substance to the ending at the current moment, but I'm excited to see where the story will lead when the full game is out!