itch.io

(I already left this comment, but I'm reposting using my team's Post Jam 10 account. Sorry about that!)

What genre do you think the game is?

I think it’s a party game. Unfortunately, I only got to play it single-player so I probably missed an important part of the experience.

How fun is the game on a scale of 1-5? How balanced is the difficulty on a scale of 1-5?

Well… maybe I’m just not good at this sort of thing, but the game is crazy difficult for me and feels pretty unforgiving. 😅 I love the bright, jazzy vibe though.

Is power-up collection clear and enjoyable?

It wasn’t clear to me what effect the powerups had.

Would you replay the level to improve your time score?

In its current state, I wouldn’t replay it to improve my score. The difficulty is too high for what the game is, at least for me. However, I know things might be different if I played coop.

What one change would improve the game most?

Clear, gradual build. Start easy and ramp up the obstacles over time.

Side note: I like the aesthetic. Fantastic job with the real-time slicing effect.

I was excited to check out your game. The art is fantastic, the characters are cute. I love Giovanna’s dialog. However, I feel like there’s a disconnect between the story and gameplay; I would consider focusing heavily on one or the other for now—and, if it were me, I would do gameplay.

The gameplay, story, narrative, and visuals—I want to know if, even though this is a very story-centered game, it’s still fun to play. Does the story reinforce the excitement of the gameplay, or does it just get in the way, making the experience slower or boring?

I also want to know if the story is engaging enough or if I need to advance it faster to reach the interesting parts.

Currently, I find the story gets in the way. You’ve got a lot of text up front, but that text doesn’t draw me into the characters or their world as much as I was hoping. I was surprised by how long it took to get to the action. I would consider introducing core gameplay much sooner and, importantly, be more concise in your writing. Rely more on storytelling through character action and atmosphere—and, as much as possible, through the gameplay itself.

Additionally, please let me know about any bugs or poorly designed parts that I could fix.

There are a bunch of typos; you’ll want to do a language pass. Also, I don’t know if this is a bug, but there were some unclear moments. For example, picking berries for Giovanna: “Did I already pick berries from this bush? Did I not? Do I have enough?”

As someone used to left-handed movement (ASDW) and right-handed action input, I would love rebindable keys. Z and X took some getting used to.

Personally, I value “game feel” in metroidvanias. I think you have a decent start, but to make ENCAPSULATED the best it can be, I suggest zeroing in on gameplay and feel at this point in development.

I hope that helps. I look forward to seeing where you take your game from here.

Interesting and surprisingly intense game. I dug the weird, minimal, retro-magic vibe.

• I found the Pokémon-style Elemental mechanic to be pretty straightforward. Shape matching was also easy.
• The Effect mechanic was less intuitive, but I could wrap my head around it. What made it especially difficult was that I couldn’t always tell what the enemies were supposed to be. I often found myself thinking, “Is it big? Is it fast?”
• More gradual level progression might help. You play the first few rounds with Shape, then Shape and Elemental, and then add Effect. (I know the tutorial introduces concepts that way, but it can feel like an info dump if you’re not playing through it.)
• I like the music a lot. I especially like it in the tutorial, where it feels magical in an unsettling sort of way. The battle music seems more generic, but I still enjoy it.
• The timer sure adds stress!
• I wish there were some variance in the pressure the game puts on you: moments of intensity, moments where you can take a breath—all underscored by a gradual build.
• I have mixed feelings about defending. It’s clever, though it feels disconnected from the attack phase. It’s also frustratingly luck-based. If you miss a letter early on, you might not get it again, and you’re forced to wait for the timer to run out and then take the hit.
• The game feels one-note for me right now. I’d love an overarching progression loop. Maybe you unlock unique, Balatro-style cards with strange magical effects, or maybe this entire game is just the battle sequence in a larger RPG.
• You could do a lot with VFX here. Partly for game feel and aesthetics, but also to make it crystal-clear when your attack is super effective, ineffective, etc.

Finally, I looked forward to playing your game since the review swap began. I don’t have a Windows machine, so I had to wait until a friend could share their computer. Since your game is fairly lightweight and you’re making it in Unity, consider a web build. Though the larger player base might not care, a web build would make it more accessible to people like me.

This is a cool, weird game. Great work.