This was so much fun, holy crap.
Probably my favourite game of the entire jam (at least of the ones I've tried so far)
Graphically it looks phenomenal, and the cutscenes are really well made.
Might not be 100% doable on NES due to how the scrolling works combined with the sprite sizes, but outside of that it's a visual joy, I adored the cave level visuals especially with the top and bottom parts scrolling adding such a great illusion of depth.
The gameplay was so fun, action packed and the perfect difficulty for me. (I'll leave blight mode to the more hardcore peeps, base challenge was juuust right~) I like how you don't need to parry anything aside from the final boss (which is extremely well telegraphed so not a problem) as getting the timing right for those rarely feels worth the risk/time investment for me in most games. I'll stick to my sword and board swinging and dodging, and the game fully allows for that playstyle.
Checkpoints were well placed, and the crowd control magic felt very impactful and powerful...even if I forgot to use it aside from like... twice lol.
I really enjoyed the bat fight, kept me on edge the entire time, despite being able to do it hitless my second attempt. Certainly felt like it made me work for it though!
Took a bit to realise what the final boss' gimmick was, but once I did he was an absolute joy to fight. What a great sending off for the game.
Felt like a fully realised experience, great work <3