itch.io

I'm surprised horror isn't in the tags. That horse is terrifying. All around, the atmosphere is so claustrophobic and gloomy. The game atmosphere is described as classic high fantasy, but this feels like dark fantasy to me. It's not overly drenched in death, decay, or sorrow, but the only high fantasy element that I can feel in this game is the time slow ability. Whenever I read that was a mechanic, I did not expect it to be used in this way. The lockpicking element is fairly well executed as well. It really adds to the tension whenever you're on the main castle floor. Finding the key was really difficult, though. The graphics are amazing. I love the retro PC game aesthetic you all went for. 

Pretty groovy game. Distinct lack of skeletons outside of the puzzle level, though. The puzzle level itself was really confusing because I didn't know what I was supposed to do or how I was supposed to do it. I wasn't able to complete that level because of it. There was never a dash in any of the levels, just an attack that sends out a red shape. The sprint button definitely made the player move faster, but it could probably be made a little faster. The maze level felt a little frustrating because of the camera. The stealth level was cool, but was far bigger than the player ever needs it to be. I'd say 60% of that level goes to waste because the player has no reason to ever tread from the most direct path to the goal, which is very easy to run straight to. The platforming was decent, but felt uninspired. The random enemies thrown in on the bottom did increase the tension and my engagement, but hardly. The music was very much appreciated.

Very cool game. Art looks fantastic. The dark atmosphere is very compelling. The little enemies that smile are pretty dang unnerving, especially whenever they spill out of the next room while it's still dark. However, the enemy placement does feel a little unfair at times. Like I walk into a room from below, and I can't even see the enemies until they have all swarmed me because they were all hugging the lower wall, which blocked my sight of them. This is in spite of how little I actually took damage in the game, for reasons I do not understand. I only really took damage during the second boss fight. Additionally, it feels like the player character is really weak. I appreciated the slight knockback on the projectiles, but it still feels like it takes too many hits to defeat even a single small enemy. The boss of level 2 also feels unfair. All of the enemies move faster than the player, and I don't know if there's a way to defeat them all fast enough before your hit points run out. With how fast the enemies are, ranged attacks feel a little useless. As we have similar games (at least, planned to) I'd certainly suggest some kind of close ranged option to complement the magic pellets, even if it isn't necessarily a melee weapon. It would add some variety to the combat and add to the strategy.

Very interesting game. Liked the idea of having different movement mechanics for each level, but each level felt either too difficult or too underbaked. The gravity level, for example, isn't a challenge at all once you find out you can just flip gravity mid-air to effectively fly towards the goal. Some very impressive visuals throughout the game, especially levels 3 and 4. It all feels held back by the clunky controls, mostly the rotation. It feels awful, and the box collision with the snail character makes it really hard to rotate whenever you're near walls. The slippery movement makes me feel like I have little control over my character. In these ways, it almost feels like an intentional design choice. Also, I played the game under the same profile "Snail Trail" instead of the game here because this game has nothing to do. I might be missing something, in which case, I apologize, but I drove my snail character around in that little forest for ages and only became frustrated with the movement and how easy it was to get stuck on the massive rocks. I think you submitted the tech demo instead of the real game for some reason. I'm glad I checked to see if you had posted the real game.

Very interesting game. The follower mechanic was very cool, and made the punishing instant death from the bullies more manageable and reasonable as the game progressed. The enemy placement was very interesting, too, allowing me to strategize my own course through the classroom to avoid as many enemies as possible while gathering all of the other students.  The camera system worked pretty decently, but it gets hung up on projectiles and that just doesn't feel very good. Also, there isn't a cursor on the main menu, so you have to guess where your cursor is to even hit the start button. Very cool main menu, though.

Really fun game! Tried all three weapons and technically beat the game twice. I really like the upgrades system. The combat feels a little stiff and slow at first but as you get upgrades and get further into the game (particularly level 2) it feels like a really thrilling bullet-hell style experience. Besides the hit point integer on the top right of the screen, there isn't any indication whether or not you've taken damage, which kind of hurts this gameplay since you want to be hyper focused on your movement and the enemy bullets. Not having an animation for the cat player character to move up or down sucks, but I quickly got used to the cat sitting and found it pretty charming. I did notice that on repeat playthroughs (might have been the one specifically after I beat the game) the shop reroll price does not get reset to the base value, even though the text still reads the correct number. If I collect the real number of coins required and then press reroll, the text shows the correct number afterwards.

Peak. Rushed through the first time but I just replayed it and it holds up. Such a joy to experience. The first world hop you do on your own is so clever because I really thought I won at that point since I was back outside. But of course I didn't, it was just another simulation.

The parkour for the optional second star was pretty tough to figure out and complete, but I had a lot of fun with it. Didn't take too long, either.