itch.io

Thanks for the clarifications! Yeah, after a few more runs (I've done like 7 at this point), I did end up getting the monocle, realized just how much of the game's mechanics were hidden, and decided to just start using the wiki whenever I got an item I didn't recognize, lol.

I feel like the items in this game fit into two categories: So minor/subtle you'll never figure it out without the monocole (most stat-boosting ones, or that backpack that only does anything if you know you're supposed to skip a turn for it to work, or any item that breaks TT's rules so fundamentally there's no way you can know you have its effect unless you're literally TOLD you can place traps under lured cogs now), or obvious enough that not having a description actually kinda works (any item which "announces" its effect in-battle, like the alien glasses, the dinosaur one with the meteors, and most pocket pranks).

A game like Risk of Rain can get away with a vague item description or two, because the items with those items usually have instant, obvious effects. "...And his music was electric", and all your attacks are suddenly doing big, flashy chain lightning attacks. Checks out, you know? But the game still explains all of the non-obvious effects, because there's no way to know otherwise.

That being said, I am still really loving this game. The characters have super interesting gimmicks (I'm in the middle of a run with Bessie, she's super creative, and my first item this run was the wizard hat which makes it 10x more interesting), the item effects are really cool when you understand them, the game's various "twists" are incredible (my jaw dropped when the game presented me with a 9x14 matching puzzle and I was like... you can DO that??), and the original music has been stuck in my head ever since I started playing. Special mention goes to the factory silo platforming room where it starts filling up with paint, that music and the final boss music are two of my favorites.

While the game is pretty noticeably different from Toontown in some ways, after playing for a while, I honestly forget it's not Toontown, and it's genuinely astounding y'all managed to recreate it this well in Godot. The controls/physics are at least 90% there, and the visuals are *totally* spot-on, and I can't imagine how hard it must have been to port everything so well like that. It's only super obvious anything's different when the game looks "too good", like the lava platforming room in the mints (which is a really cool effect, by the way).

The haunted golf course area is super cool, too. My only complaint is I can't see 2 feet in front of me, meaning I had to tap W instead of holding it for most of my time there, and the one time I did hold it, I fell right into an oil pit I couldn't tell apart from the floor. Aside from that, the "classic creepypasta" vibe of the place brought me a kind of nostalgia I wasn't really expecting! I had a dumb smile on my face the whole time I was there.

The faulty factory is amazing, too. I was taking screenshots of the cogs to send to my friend the whole way through. And I've had a lot of fun messing around with what it unlocks when you beat it!