Already feels fun to me so nice proof of concept. I also like the direction you're going with art and colors. Guiding question answers:
- Rhythm felt true to the beat but not to the actual rhythm of the song? Like I felt the keys were arbitrarily selected rather than following the actual song right around the first a -> d -> j -> k section. Controls were a bit jarring at first since I'm used to rhythm games with the keys all next to each other (i.e. 1,2,3,4)
- Without reading your description would have no clue to parry. Attack I picked up but I found myself not really attacking as much since I was focusing on the challenging rhythm sections. Except when parrying.
- Wasn't able get very far (82,700 score) but ramping of difficulty felt around a medium level difficulty rhythm game so feels good for me.
- Only the sword was effective since I'm so focused on the bottom of the screen I don't notice much else.
- Auto attack and more healing from potions (this could be contained in an easy/practice mode maybe similar to not having to strum in guitar hero easy mode)