demo = beaten, i had fun! it's also nice to see how the identity of the game remained through the changes
got some player feedback, and on top of that some ARPG-dev feedback!
so:
-silver rim of a destroyed/broken barrel makes me think its a shield , i'd probably snap it in half to avoid confusion
-being able to zoom out so far is very cool, always a fan
-when the highlight button is toggled, it's only very slightly darker. if there's no items nearby, the player wont be able to tell if it's on
-dwarf friend stood near a barrel. i had a sword and a mind to chop the barrel. i chopped him down instead accidentally.. ooops..
-so now that he's dead, how on earth to i rez him? i couldn't figure it out, so he stayed dead 5mins into my run til the end
-Ganna and Dirk (both times) show up on the minimap at the start of the respective levels, so I can just bee-line towards them
-Ratking spawned on a barrel, wouldn't move. I just shot him dead without even a conversation. Bows OP
-i assume enemies sometimes spawn outside of the dungeon walls because Ganna with a bow will shoot at random walls near the edge of the map.
-AI Companion's target range is huge. they'll often shoot at something easily a screen away, doing all the heavy-work for me
-on floor two, an enemy goblin died and dropped a bow, which promptly fell through the ground into the abyss. happened multiple times!
-some enemies (skeletons) freeze when i go to town and return, but re-aggro if i walk into their face
-warlocks are very cool, in attack and design
-Bridge troll only had 33hp, less than 50 of the Orcs. he was a pushover!
now for the ARPG dev feedback (which you can safely ignore if it's not in your taste)
-IMO there's a game pacing issue. needing 2000 EXP to level up for the first time is 1500 exp too many, for one thing. You are putting this giant pit that needs to be overcome before a player can tailor their character at all except starting stats (i picked lightning mage - i can't even cast spells til 2000exp? that's a solid 15minutes). a big reason to play ARPGs is to be able to make and edit a character as you play, but youre not giving enough EXP or items for a player to meaningfully develop a character. i think i only found 4 blue items in the hour or so that i played, which also comes into play. the blacksmith had some items i bought, but nothing particularly cool - his best items were all common high-armor clothes.
while the multi-character system allows for customization there, i would argue you'd need more player choice variety to prevent the player mindlessly clicking forward until they get bored.
i would also 'cheat' a bit on the dev side of things to encourage player experimentation. the first chest i found was about 10 mins in, and i was sorely disappointed to find it empty. in tok, i ran into the same issues, and i cheated by making the first chests always drop loot, and i increased drop amounts on the first level to give the player more freedom for expression. if they get no items, they dont get to choose a character, but if they get a few different options, it ends up being more fun. of course by lvl2 i bring out the pain, but giving them a boost ended up being a design choice i was glad to adopt.
i think its worth it to get a stopwatch and measure 'time until event' cases in D1/D2/whichever game - while theyre all slowpaced movement-speed wise, the devs were very careful to keep this event timer low so the player has things to do ingame, or in inventory, or things to look forward to (being told about the butcher before you even enter the cathedral). while we know there's bad stuff in the mines, why not introduce the Ratking from the get-go ( "He kidnapped Dirk, the local scoundrel! be ware, blah blah" , as told by the guard in front of the mines)
still, good fun!! i think if you address the event pacing a bit it would be even better, but i disclosed it as an ARPG-dev suggestions since i think those design elements are more suited for my personal taste and may not be what you wish for the game to be