Love the art in this! Though the gameplay felt a bit too intense all the time. You had this lovely world and map that the player barely gets to explore because they have to race to the statue and then stay there to protect it. Also would have been cool to see you use the shield to reflect light and deal constant damage rather than spam the fire button, and I couldn't get the hang of the melee attack without getting knocked out.
But there are a lot of things great with this entry, the design of the characters and the art, sfx and music ties very well together, and there is a nice base with the gameplay that shows a lot of potential. If you manage to find a good balance with the pacing then you could have something great here. Good work team!