itch.io

Thank you for playing and reaching the end! I definitely should have at least put a warning before ending the game, but hopefully our much-needed save system will fix that in the future! I'm really sorry you experienced audio issues, I'm not sure how that happened as I've never experienced it in my testing. Perhaps a problem with our browser build? I'm glad you were still able to push through the game despite the lack of audio feedback, as it really adds a lot to the experience.

In terms of gameplay, I agree with a lot of your points. We would have loved to include a fast travel system to cut down on traversal time, but wanted to prioritize other mechanics and features. In the future, we would implement other mechanics that really encourage more grapple charges (e.g. grapple charges not always resetting when grounded, specific grapple recharge points, sections that use more grapple charges than usual, etc.), but hopefully our base mechanics give a good sense of what's to come!

In terms of the key items feeling unnecessary, that was partly intentional. The idea was that certain pathways could be traversed in different ways. Maybe the Bubble Blower would help reach a section that's too high up, but if you have enough grapples then you can try to manually grapple up instead. This gives alternate ways for players to reach their destinations which we hoped would give players more freedom and allow for unique playthroughs. Same goes for the Umbrella: Purchasing it helps to reach farther distances, but we provided alternative routes so that the Umbrella isn't an absolute requirement. This does mean that if you already traversed routes where the Umbrella would have been helpful, it becomes less useful. We hope that for future development and level design, we'll be able to create more scenarios where those tools can shine.

Thanks again for your detailed feedback, it's greatly appreciated!