I really like how polished and attractive the visuals are, the art has a great style, and the bow combat, especially the lock-on, feels really satisfying and even reminds me of Hades. The boss fight was also a highlight, with a great sense of spectacle and a cool death sequence.
That said, a few things stood out to me during the playthrough. The story and dialogue felt a bit heavy at times, I often just wanted to jump straight into the action. I also didnât expect the character to always be swimming in the water but I guess its fine. I did almost get stuck early on trying to jump through water pools. Some mechanics could use a little more clarity, for example, the skill that causes vulnerability doesnât explain what that effect actually does, and when talking to NPCs their portraits look so similar to their sprites that itâs hard to tell itâs part of the UI layer. The shellfish currency also felt a little odd; I kept wondering why it wasnât just gold. With the guardian mechanic, I wasnât sure how much it really impacted the game, it almost felt like things wouldnât change much without it. I think the combat sound effects didnât feel as polished as the visuals, so the two were a bit mismatched. I wish I had found some upgrades that really made me play differently. A few smaller things: it would be nice to heal after boss fights, the game not pausing when pressing escape led to me dying, and I ran into an issue where monster looping SFX got stuck after dying.
Overall though, I think the foundation is really strong, the visuals are polished and appealing, the bow combat feels good, and the boss encounters are fun.