Amazing scope and depth for a 72 hour game. I thought the game would end at the end of the first level (I was very wrong). Nice nod at Blaster Master, although in this case everybody stays inside the fortress. Liked the little touch in the upgrade screen where the soldiers must all go inside the castle before continuing on to the next level.
There should be in-game text explaining the controls at first, not just in the itch.io page as some people may miss that. Same for the story: The starting cutscene was confusing to me as I thought they were rival kingdoms (some hearts would have cleared everything up!) and they gave chase in a different direction to that of the dragon.
The “fortress mode” text overlaps itself if done repeatedly, so you should clear it. I wish that the upgrades were explained (or given a name at least), and that the upgrade buttons were bigger or we didn’t need to click the small circles. I was able to jump infinitely on the later stages, and I’m not sure that was intended (this circles back to upgrade descriptions).
While this is a good game, the jam restriction is not really there, since you control a single castle (you could say the soldiers are doing the work, but that’s like saying you’re controlling muscles or cells, haha). I read what you said about the griffon and other upgrades, but they are basically automatic.
Despite this, this was one of the most solid and elaborate games I’ve played this jam, great job.