Love the retro vibe that this has. Controls feel solid and the zoomed out camera gives a good view of the world around me. There is a lot going on in the world, in terms of visuals and enemies, that makes it feel alive, and I like immediately seeing things like a door that I know I'll unlock later.

I personally didn't feel a huge need for a story or clear goal right off the bat, the world itself invites you to play. A lot of older NES or MS-DOS games are like that; you just get yourself a controller and simply play, and that's fine. I did wish for more check points though, or health packs, or the ability to heal right away. I kept dying, and being taken back all the way to the start is hugely demotivating. It also looks like you're not given full health when you see the two greyed out hearts, I think it'd be better to hide those if those are meant to be upgrades for later, or just give the player full health.

Lastly, something I really loved was watching things in the world interact with each other. Seeing the caterpillar die and transform into one of the enemies, then attacking the thing that killed it, was a really cool detail.

It's impressive how much variety you got into the environment, and yeah, the pulled out camera is a neat hook.  I think the main thing it's missing is some positive feedback.  I ended up only playing about 20 minutes because I felt kinda lost and unsure of my goal.  I'll post my playthrough when I upload it.

The game somehow reminded me of Noita. The map is very large, when you enter the game, you do not understand where you are going and what to do at all. The game is interesting, there is something to explore. The controls are convenient, the physics of the character is also good. Sounds and graphics perfectly match each other. Great game.

I like how massive the game feels, like when it's zoomed out and there's a overwhelming visual from all the different types of tiles on screen! 

I did feel a bit lost and I think I found a few pickups and NPCs I didn't interact with because I didn't know how to (I think a quick fix could be to add a button icon when the player are close to them, or talk / pick up when overlapping). But I feel like there's a lot more if a player puts in the time required to unfold it!

sheesh, this game world definitely feels 'big'... definitely a lot of exploring to be made.
adding some in-game instructions or guidance would be really helpful, since I was pretty lost during the start of  the game.

Ooh, I really like this one. It feels very different from other entries I've played so far. I could get lost in it forever (seriously, I can't tell if it's actually huge or if it just feels that way because of how open it is from the start, but it feels huge).

I mean this in the best way: the art is kind of ugly, but I also kind of love it. I get a kind of retro aesthetic from it when games had to be legible, not beautiful, and I really like it. (Please don't take this the wrong way; I sincerely apologize if it sounds like I'm bad-mouthing your art, because that's not my intention at all. I'm trying to describe a sort of janky vibe that I get from it, not calling the art itself janky. I do quite like the art, and a lot of the animations are especially well done, like the climbing!)

As others have mentioned, the biggest issue is the lack of direction. I played for a while, and I still had little idea what all I was doing. I will say, however, that even this I kind of didn't mind... like, I had fun running around and messing with things...? Sort of feels in the spirit of the exploration element of a Metroidvania, just ramped up to an extreme. I don't know, maybe I'm a weirdo, but I sometimes enjoy the feeling of being dropped in the deep end, haha.

Overall, super cool and super unique. I dig it big time. Great work.

I'm genuinely impressed by the depth of implementation given the jam's time frame. I had a blast playing this submission. A bit more guidance or direction would be a welcome addition, but overall, it's a commendable effort. Great work!

This is awesome, I love seeing another GameMaker dev too! The world feels real, when I discovered the caterpillars were eating the vines I sat back and said "Wow" I haven't gotten far, I beat the first boss and got 'Shoot', I have something else I can throw with Y. Just now realising that's the 'Heal' I thought it would refer to healing myself but that makes sense now. Then I killed some green guys in a house upstairs, then I fell downstairs into some lava. This game is huge and very well put together! Art and sound are great, It's a little confusing trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do/where to go but that's part of the exploration. One thing I noticed is with the moving platforms, the ones that go in circles; you don't move in x with the platform which is kind of annoying but the real problem was when they're going up you get stuck in x and have to jump out of them. Then a found a platform that moved only up and down which I didn't get stuck on so something is happening with the spinning ones. Great game though, I'll definitely sit down for another session on it!

Fun game it is massive 😂 took me so long to find anything at the beginning. First thing I managed to find was the boss which didn't go very well. A little guidance at the beginning can be super helpful for new players but overall great job!

Game mechanics and level design is great. But little work on character design is needed.

I really liked the concept of this one! making it take place during a war not just for lore sake, but making it a part of the game play was smart. I always like when games have warring factions that you don't really have any loyalty to, so having that energy channeled into environmental obstacles for this game fit very well in my eyes. I also found the scale of stuff unique, you really feel like a little guy in a big world. I did similarly get lost a lot like other had said but that's really a part of the metroidvania experience imo.

The game is cool, i tried to explore everything but kept dying. Good work!

Hello! I played the game and found the concept of being during a war very interesting. The game only leaves something to be desired in terms of game design (I'm not talking about the pixel arts), but other than that, it's very interesting!

Wow, this game is huge! The world is vast and there's so much going on - it reminded me a bit of the original La Mulana. I got horribly lost with so many options for exploration, but I'll definitely return to this. Great job!