An interesting mix of a slay the spire-type roguelike and fighting game.
I ended up playing 3 runs of it, Two as the fighter and one as the rogue. My first run, as the fighter ended in failure as I didn't really plan ahead and had no idea what I was doing. On the second run, as the rouge, I was able to reach the final boss, but couldn't beat him (that run had me relying heavily on ranged cheese, and that strategy stopped working when the enemies got ranged attacks too). On my final run as the fighter, I once again unfortunately lost to the final boss, this time because I didn't have enough health (though my block button also inconveniently seemed to stop working? That might have been a bug, or I might have been mistaken).
+ The game has a good concept, and it executes on it well. It's fun integrating the character building strategy of traditionally turn based games like Slay the Spire with a skill-based fighting game.
+ The strategic aspects of the game are very well balanced. It felt like success depended on effective planning ahead, scoping out the map and ensuring you had the right path. I feel like if I had kept trying a few more runs, I probably would have eventually beat it, it's a tough challenge but about as tough as a roguelike should be.
+ The games visuals are pretty good. Locations are full of background detail that makes them feel realer. There's very nice attention to detail, with the backgrounds all reflecting what part of the map you're on, and I was pleased to note that equipping different items visually shows up on your character (an oft-left out detail that really helps sell the fantasy). I think (though I'm not certain) that at least some of the assets are from unity asset packs, but they're used well, and for a (presumably) small indie team it's not really a big issue. The game ran quite well, occasionally stuttering but I'm on a low end computer so that's not really it's fault.
- While the game does have the option to block and dodge enemy attacks, they both run on very limited resources, and movement is somewhat limited too, meaning that it's almost inevitable that you will take at least some damage (or at least it feels that way, this may be a skill issue on my end). This compounds with how rare and inefficient healing is, leaving you feeling as though you are more at the mercy of attrition than your own skill.
- While you gain upgrades at a pretty good pace throughout the game, most of them seem to be fairly low-impact stat increases rather than more exciting bonuses. This is especially notable with the charms, which, while presented as quite valuable, often just seemed to increase certain stats. This isn't true of everything though, unlocking the different moves your character could use and trying them out was always fun, and there were some fun effects on the gear and charms, like an explosion when you dodge or gaining money when you hit an enemy.
Overall, while it had a few issues, I really enjoyed this demo! I wish you good luck on further development, with time I think this concept could be something really great!