itch.io

At this point all the floodgates opened at once pretty much right after I made my first comment.  OOoooh I'm salty about it.  The timing, not the game.  I blundered the rocks (I had the solution, just tried everything else and accidentally skipped over it).  I've gotten past the shark, though I'm disappointed to learn that didn't do anything for me.  I found keys but only in secondary playthroughs.  And of course, the cherry on top, I've gotten one true ending in a secondary playthrough.  Still can't beat my first playthrough though.  The ritual for what I assume is the Weather Balloon card can't be completed in all my runs.  I seem to be missing the "scent of 100 balloons."  In a secondary playthrough I completed the alchemy ritual, though seemingly to no effect.  And the playthrough I did beat was through the bubble bath ritual, though my first playthrough has all the components of the bath and the ritual won't progress.

I suspect the big flaw of this game is its rogue-like nature.  While a fascinating and very brave decision, having playthroughs with countless obstacles you can't clear through no fault of your own while having over a dozen items to try in every room of the dungeon while also having to click on every square inch of each room in case you missed a secret door is too many possibilities all at once.  I still affirm this having now beaten a lot of the content; Though I appreciate the willingness to take that risk to begin with.  If refined I could see it being much more engaging in future games.  Perhaps if one of the several allied NPCs you can meet actually gave hints or outright helped the player solve the game it'd be a little better; But even then because the allies the player could meet were also randomized that isn't a solution on its own.

Edit:  Apparently the site somehow posted my reply twice.  Sorry!  I'll clean that up.