man oh man am i glad i stumbled upon this! i expected something a little like slay the spire (which i love) but i got something more unique and fresh! the mechanics felt very clear and immediately drew me in with having to balance hunger and health and stress. it wasnt so many things as to overload me, instead i found myself tunnel visioning on not dying that when the knight groaned in hunger i would go "oh shit" and pray that i had food on hand. also the tutorial was the perfect length for me. "here's how to attack. here's how to use items. if you starve you die. go gettem champ."
aditionally i was delighted by how even without any sort of dialogue or set story, the mechanics lead me to make a narrative out of my runs. my first run i saw lots of weapons early on but prioritized food and ended up surround by enemies with a broken weapon and starving. on a vampire run i didnt take food cards and so ended up with a lot more gold and also i would literally hunt around the board looking for small enemies to eat, just like a vampire! (though, i kept getting food cards in room rewards and in the shop and when i ate them they worked normally, is that whats supposed to happen?) ive played dnd for most of my life and playing through these emergent narratives gave me a similar sense of exploration and joy.
i like the variety of items and effects, though some i wasnt sure exactly what they did. oh and did i mention the art direction?? i love the art style, its very fitting for a classic crawl through a dungeon and the background music fits just right. all the text was large and easy to read which i greatly appreciate due to my eyesight and the colors made each card clearly distinct in its purpose.
did i pause this comment to play another run? yes i did. did i die at floor 25? also yes. but it wasnt frustrating, it was fun cause i got farther than before and i managed my items as well as i could. all in all i really love what you've done here already and i cant wait to see what you do next. :]
(though im especially excited to see new characters)