One of the most difficult games of the jam i have played so far and i think i played more than 20 games. This is almost 8-bit era or NES hard difficulty if you will. You gotta die 20 times in a boss fight to build muscle memory and figure out their attack patterns. I managed to kill the spider-thing and the frog boss. I'll give it another go with the tree boss later. I broke one star from one bcs game really frustrates you with it's difficulty when you first play it. But funny enough you still want to play and finish it like the Soulsborne games. Other things that take away from fun is the hit box of player character. Sometimes you get damage even if the projectile goes right by you. Dashing system is fun but glitchy. Sometimes it dashes on the same position, doesn't move to the position where you click on and makes you get hit sometimes. Fun: 4/5
Visually speaking boss designs are good but not the best in the jam i think(Although i like design of lamp boss pretty much). However in terms of boss fight design, i think they are great. Every boss has 3-4 phases with completely distinct attack patterns. You gotta think and strategize to beat them. Boss Design: 5/5
You used the theme as a plot device for the game's story. Which is nice and i really like your narrative style btw. But still i would prefer it to be used as a game mechanic which adds more depth to gameplay. Use of Theme: 3/5
As i mentioned before, the dashing mechanic is a little glitchy. It doesn't move your character to the position you click on, it's stuck on the same place sometimes. Also i wish there was more than just the dashin attack. I mean i know you designed game on this mechanic, but right not all you do is run and dash. I little more variety in gameplay would be nice. Controls: 3/5
Jazz music playing in the bacground sounds cool. Boss musics reminded of Persona 5. sfx are fine too but sound is cracking on the webGL version of the game. Sound/Music: 4/5
Art is the strongest aspect of this game in my opinion. The intro cutscene is perfect and succeeds on telling the story without any dialogue. Handrawn cutscenes, main character, bosses they all look great. Enviroments aren't the same quality with characters i think but they still look good. I love your cover art btw, so damn cool. The use of red/black/white color palette on the main character reminded me of Persona 5 too. Art/Visuals: 5/5
Despite all it's flaws i mentioned above, i think this is one of the best games i played in the jam. It's artstyle is cool as hell and combat is fun, engaging. Nicely done and good luck in the jam/ in your future projects.
Edit: I managed to kill the tree boss too. It was suprisingly easier in my last attempt. Love the ending cutscene!