This game grabbed me by the eyes and I wasn't disappointed. Vanitas Corpus has a unique dreamy atmosphere reinforced by the dithered outlines and a soft color palette of its excellent environmental art. Tactical blends of altered photos and hand-drawn pixel art lend further create a surreal atmosphere that was both comforting and disquieting. The repeated iconography of hands and the repetition of blue and pink give the game a strong visual identity. While the art is clearly the star of the show here, another element I appreciated was the area design-- the hub world format gives players greater freedom to choose where they explore and break up what would otherwise be a linear experience. The factory puzzle in particular was really cool and original. I also really liked the mirror room, with its inspectable hints providing a general guide to where shards may be found. If the map was larger I could see how it would prove exceptionally useful. The modularity of the layout seems to hint at such an expansion in the future, which I would personally welcome.
My experience was relatively frictionless, with the exception of the transitions into different areas interacting strangely with the movement. In the factory, the doors were arranged so that one could accidentally enter a second door by accident during the transition out of the first and go to an unanticipated area. The player character would frequently drop in the middle of a path instead of where one would expect them to emerge. I also found it jarring when the door to the mirror room (which goes up) spat me out facing downwards (back towards the door), which seemed a little counterintuitive.
Overall, I loved Vanitas Corpus! This is a fun, short, digestible dream explorer with a unique genre choice for the jam format and a solid execution. It doesn't overextend itself and leaves a strong impression. If it ever gets an expansion I'll be right in line to play it for sure.