I just went through the entire game... and I think have to be honest
The gameplay was just not fun...
- With how the game works, the crystal mechanic encourages to map out and find everything in a map, which had some potential as I saw it at the beginning, and it was fun to see the cool layouts and regions...
- However, the main drawback is that most of the gameplay isn't necessarily focused on memory. It's mostly just traversing and holding down the buttons to move through the entire thing.
- So, you have a mechanic that encourages exploration and travel, but the act of travelling and exploration is a bit grindy or strained.
That's generally the main core of the frustration I saw, as I spent quite a while waiting to explore the remaining regions I missed, or on traversing back to see the remaining crystals...
---
With that in mind, some of the solutions I thought (although most aren't great) ...
- The maps could be smaller, but the memory aspect doesn't have the space element anymore (where something can be).
- Increasing the speed of the character? It feels band-aidy.
- And, while playing the first thought I got was "This could've been a sliding game"
Expanding on this last part, I could generally see the game being large labyrinths where the slimy character slides from one place to another, figuring out how to navigate each crystal (or how to avoid the wrong sequence if its automatic), and keeps the space-memory aspect, while solving the mobility issue.
Or any other solution really. Like a combination where there are nodes that connect to each other, it's just one thought I got and there are a couple of traversals and combinations out there that could fit.
I'm so sorry, I just felt like I needed to say something, because it feels like one step away, or just a simple overlook, that I really felt like I need to point out.
---
Still, even after all that. There is a still soul in the game.
The characters, the history, the world buildings, the music, the sound effects, the lighting system, the flavor... they were all well made.
The lighting system helped to remember regions that I haven't discovered and cut down search times, the vfx and sfx were really appropriate... The character was honestly fine and the dialogue and little text encountered was really great.
I think if the gameplay loop was better, the game would've been solid. It fits the theme too of counting down, and I see a lot in this.
Still, I still see effort, charm, and soul. Thank you for submitting into the game jam, you guys got a lot of potential, and even with my frustrations, I'm glad I got to see past that and saw the effort done for this.