Three things I liked about this game:
- The whole game looks gorgeous!
- The music is also very fitting for every location (even if I am a little biased about one...)
- Once I realized the map in the different eras is the same, just with different dressing, it eased some of my navigation woes. It's also a clever way to subtly reuse maps.
Three things I did not like:
- The password mechanic. I was one of the unfortunate ones to miss the password. This stumped me until I reviewed Hawk's playthrough. What might have been better is to "give" the player the password so when they interact with the robot it would automatically work.
- As beautiful as the map design is, a lot of things get in the way of navigation. More than once I got caught behind something I couldn't see and had to brute force my way out, or in some cases wait while the character blocking my path got out of the way.
- Player guidance is also a little lacking. I know that a big deal in this type of game is letting the player figure things out, but don't be afraid to railroad your players at strategic moments or reiterate what they are looking for.
Another thing that isn't important for a jam game, but something you could consider improving in the future: improve the characters' individual voices. Most NPCs were either flat "welcome to our town" characters or very wordy people. Some different quirks, like clueless, obsessed with something, or one-word talkers can help differentiate your characters so they don't suffer from the dialog equivalent of "same face syndrome."
It still was a beautiful game. Good job!