I hopped straight into playing the demo, and figuring out how the game worked without any instruction was actually very fun! I had to aimlessly lose a couple times in order to figure out how the day/night cycle worked and what exactly the objective of the game was, but because the systems and design are consistent and telegraphed, and the platforming makes things fun to explore, I was able to learn quickly with trial and error. I also really respect that the game has a clear vision and ties it very well and directly into the gameplay for its impact.
For the game mechanics, I personally thought there should be some sort of risk to letting the day pass without doing anything; having to escape in time in the night areas was a fun mechanic, but you don’t really have to plan anything you do during the day if you can just wait it out right next to one of the entrances, and you’re free to just play it safe and wait a whole cycle since nothing happens during the day when you’ve run out of seeds. As a side note, I think it could be cool if the different entrances/exits to the night areas are connected somehow to lead to some puzzles traversing them, rather than always coming out the same way you came in regardless of the exit you find.
A few little things:
- maybe it’s already been mentioned but I think the start screen should say ‘A -> left’ instead of ‘Q -> left’
- for some reason the input lags a lot if you play in fullscreen (it works great otherwise)
- maybe add some coyote time for platforming; you could definitely go without it to keep the platforming at the same level of challenge, which I did enjoy, but there were some occasions where I felt like my jump input got eaten, so maybe there’s a balance to find