Helluva ride!
I think the graphics are very nice, love the character design, the effects, the music, I think you did really great work, there's quite a lot of depth in here and it's very impressive!
Here are my UX notes:* I think a custom cursor or something pointing from the character to the cursor to indicate that the mouse was the dash control would have been SUPER helpful, even after I was fairly comfortable with the game I still kept tripping up, the heat of the moment makes it really easy to forget your cursor is your dash target.
* I think it's incredibly difficult to get your bearings with how quickly the fuel depletes. I can barely remember what I put in the pot last and sometimes you are absolutely screwed over by logs spawning too far away... I collect 5 logs and then they all get spent immediately and by the time I collect five more it's empty again. Once I discovered burning potion I spent 80 percent of my time gathering for it instead of being able to explore potion combinations, it's very heavy on your mental load.
* I think dashing into objects is VERY satisfying, you nailed the feel of that. I think it was so good it should have been the only means to interact with the environment tbh, but I do respect that you programmed in so much variety in the harvesting methods. (Variety could have still happened with only ramming methinks, like the peppers still boosting you or the bushes needing more than one ram) I struggled for way too long cos I didn't read the whole page first, the inconsistency confused me. The ones you have to hold to harvest def needed some visual feedback like the bushes had, I would never have figured them out without reading.
* Using the peppers as movement to get back to the cauldron was hella satisfying
* Subtitles on what the potions did would have been very helpful, no idea what guarding or reaction do, if they do anything? Longer time to spend playing with them too, they burn out so quick they aren't worth brewing for anything other than the panacea. I'm also assuming the higher tier potions didn't do anything, I burnt like 2 trying to get their names to write them down and stopped eating them after they were both blank.
* I think the cauldron would have benefited from two slots on it that you filled up, to make it clear what you put in and that 2 was the limit. There were also a couple times in my panic I clicked on the inventory in the HUD rather than the cauldron's UI trying to put stuff in the pot, distinguishing the two might have been good
* Recipes were near impossible for my pitiful brain, I think if the game had a built in list of potions you'd discovered and combinations that didn't work getting to the panacea would have been waaay more manageable. I pretty much did have to write out every combination irl and try them one at a time, and even then the panic is so severe it's hard to remember what I put in the pot 😭 The mathematical possibilities seemed huge...
but by god. IN THE END. I DID IT. i am very satisfied.
