How well thought out was the design of all characters involved?
Extremely well thought out. The mouse and cat are fantastic characters and it makes a lot of sense for them to be enemies. The mouse has such an iconic look with that long red scarf and I love the physics applied to the way it drapes behind him and the way it is taken off to be used in grappling is awesome. I also love how he eats the cheese too and the candy cane sword is really novel. The Christmas antler headband on the cat is the icing on the christmas cake.
How much fun was the Boss Fight to play?
Super fun. Sneaking past the cat boss as you go through the room was a lot of fun and the movement and attacks of the mouse and cat were all really great. The one on one encounter at the end was an epic showdown moment and I liked the checkpoint beforehand and how you have the baubles to swing on and the bells. I think the sounds really elevate the game too and having the quietness of just your own footsteps with ambient sounds of birds and wind from presumably an open window in the dead of night set the starting scene perfectly. I love hearing the cat purring, it’s one of my favourite sounds of all time. Lastly, when the boss music kicks in, it heightens it way more had there been music throughout.
Rate the Technical Complexity & Execution.
Grappling is a notoriously difficult mechanic to get right and it was implemented perfectly here. Also of note, there was a checkpoint, wall jumping and a parry system. I personally didn’t use the parry as I find pressing the shift key a bit fatiguing for my pinky finger. The camera scrolling to show where to head to was smoothly done.
Did the game include 2 distinct game genres and how well did they mash together?
Yes. It has platformer and stealth as the 2 genres. The platforming was done exceptionally well. I feel like there could have been some good opportunities to expand the stealth in the game, for instance being able to walk inside the candy house and see your player in the window would be awesome, maybe a mouse hole in the skirting board and being able to walk behind the glass snowglobe could be fun, especially if the snow rises up when the cat lands on the table.
Was the game well polished?
Yes. I like the text fading in and out when providing tutorial instructions. The sparkle and red targeting on things that can be grappled was nice and clear and the objects were very creative, especially the light switch. To further enhance the polish, adding an exclamation mark or shadow where the cat is going to land when it is pouncing would help telegraph the danger. There’s a lot of little details that I like such as hearing your own heartbeat when you see the cat. Lastly I just want to say that I think the ending screen is the best I’ve seen so far.