I spent about 3 to 4 hours in a trance playing this game. The artwork, music, characters, and writing, it was all so fantastic!!!
I started with Treasure of the Deep and was immediately hooked by the sound design. Hearing the waves and wind was so calming, and the ship groaning added to the sense of being there. I actually got chills when I heard, and saw the creature. That was so cool!
Sticks and Stones was an absolute blast. I made my own map to find where everything was, and the battles were really fun! The twist of us playing as Belgrub was so fun, and I loved the differences between his and Torin's run. The hints in the Troll Kings fight was super cool, and I love the magic system in this! I actually gasped during the epilogue when it was revealed Belgrub made the box that the Captain found (and we have), that was awesome! And seeing Torin have a reference to the Labyrinth made me excited to play it next.
Figuring out how the puzzles and maze worked in Labyrinth was super fun, and I also made a chart of the carving in the well. Switching between everyone to progress was interesting, and I thought it was a really cool way to collaboratively get through a dungeon! I did get Emerald a bit stuck in the maze before I realized I read it wrong. And speaking of collaboratively, I got a chuckle out of realizing the swords name. That was super cute. It makes sense Torin would name it that considering Belgrub made Word from his broken sword and Elara's wand, so it was a collaborative effort.
Finishing all of the Echoes and seeing how they all came together was absolutely amazing. Using parts of each story to progress and create the ultimate weapon and fight back made me so excited! And the bigger gasp I let out when we used our sword and it revealed "there was another" to cut to the Scimitar. I immediately realized "Oh my gosh, a Scimitar is a sword. We're gonna ram the ship into that thing." AND WE DID! AND IT WAS AWESOME!!!
Getting the light ending and having the original main character hold the stone up to her window made me gasp again in sheer awe. The colors and animation for that scene were lovely, and I'm also just now realizing the gorgeous artwork for this itch.io page. The fractals of light and color surrounding the gem, it's absolutely lovely. You are so good at drawing, writing, and telling an overall amazing story of how teamwork and love can fight against darkness, whatever form that may be.
Genuinely, thank you for making such an amazing game. Time to check out your other ones!!