Wow, this is awesome. I really enjoyed this one.
I love how you make mechanics that give you different modes of play during combat. As soon as the kick was added, it gave every combat a “slash and dodge” mode and a “find guys to kick so i can heal” mode. Interchanging between those two distinct modes, and then eventually getting good enough to weave both together felt really good. I really like that healing requires staying in the fight and playing even riskier.
Using the slash dash for AOE and chaining together slash dashes on enemies felt super good as well.
I didn’t have any problems with the camera, but I mostly used the lock-on for combat camera and only used the mouse for the exploration in-between.
(spoilers) I really liked the lore touch of the souls coming out of the paintings once you get the eye. I also loved how the final boss arena is back at the start. Idk how to describe this but it’s really clever to remind the player that they’re back at the start by using a blue ‘soul’ note in the same spot. I might not have noticed that the game ended where it began without seeing the old note next to it. It’s a really clever way to remind the player that this is where it all started.
Killer music too, kudos to Viho!
Really great work, one of my favorites in the jam.