Unfortunately, only the main menu loaded for me, and the game kept crashing after that, so I was not able to actually play it. Still, that main menu looks incredibly stylish. It deserves praise on its own.
I am not sure whether I was the only one who ran into these crashes and launch issues, but I would recommend testing the build on different devices.
Yes, the game works now.
And I still stand by what I said: the visual style is stunning. It is probably the best art direction I have seen in this jam so far, and by this point I have already played and commented on more than forty games. The assets look incredibly stylish, the background is beautiful, the water animation is excellent, and the lily pads and swamp creatures are all designed with so much charm and confidence that it is hard to put into words. Most importantly, all of it works together visually and creates an unusually strong sensory impression.
As for the gameplay, the idea of turning the first stage of Spore into a swamp setting is a very good one, but I think the balance and the gameplay loop need more work. A large portion of the time, especially early on, is spent simply swimming around without much happening, searching for food and only occasionally running into either enemies or something useful to collect, and that can become a bit tiring.
It is also not very clear what the abilities actually do when you level up. The descriptions are quite brief, but how exactly you are supposed to use them, and what their concrete effect will be, remains unclear. I would add at least some light onboarding for everything that goes beyond basic movement and swimming.
But once again: the visual style here is genuinely exceptional.
