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You should seriously consider continuing the development of this game after the game jam is finished, the central mechanic of the grappling hook is really full of potential and its probably the most unique out of all the submissions we've rated. Randomizing the vault's layout each cycle and the sacrifice/upgrade choices at the level's end would be a starting point. Also consider limiting the range of the grappling hook and making the upgrades more grapple-reliant to further emphasize the unique grappling mechanic. We liked how the music changed to be more frantic when the diamond was collected, that was an excellent detail.

Its also interesting to see a different game engine besides Godot being used for once. Very cool game!

Does that also include the art drawn for the thumbnail? That's the one we were most impressed by (it looked like the artist made it themselves for this game, too!)

Thanks a ton! I haven't gotten your game on the submission queue yet but I'll be sure to play and comment on it (regardless of the queue!)

Thank you for the amazing review!! The music went through thorough research so I'm very happy that so many people liked it. Each dev designed their own levels (rather than all three of us working on each level) so the designs for the levels and the difficulty can be all over the place sometimes (Ian can complete the last level with 6 hearts left but I have yet to complete it even once). The fire traps ended up being the most challenging feature, and the hitboxes in particular were really hard to tune correctly -- too small, and it never hits, too big, and it hits when it shouldn't. 

The reference to Olmec culture and the Olmec stone colossi was not intentional, but you made a really good connection and I wish I had realized that beforehand (especially given that the Olmec culture is the "mother culture" to the Maya and Aztec cultures). And thank you for reading the dev log, it had a lot of stuff about the game that I desperately wanted to talk about but couldn't find the space to in the game itself.

6+7

I lowk got invested

"100% human made"
So based

We liked the lighting work on your game too! The lighting on our game took a few tries to get right.

Thanks!

You didn't upload your .pck file with your .exe so the game cannot be played.

I liked the creative artwork, especially of the guy with the long nose. The game felt short and the ending was abrupt. The concept is extremely creative, though, and the music (especially at the start) was great.

Thanks. We tinkered around with the CPUParticle2D node and some gradients to get it working. We had to fix the fire traps 6 or 7 different times but we got them to work in the end.

The theming is surprising and honestly really questionable but personally I liked it, it pushes the limits in a really creative way. And its not like I can complain, because my submission was about human sacrifice. 

The art style is really cute (the little puffy guy's health bar facial expressions are adorable). Most games I've seen so far have great concepts but fall short at implementation, but this game is pretty thoroughly implemented. The parry system is solid (but maybe you could throw on some more special effects to make it have more of a "punch" it, like in Ultrakill) and the movement options like vines and ziplines and dashing are all fun. The levels having their own individual tile themes (grasslands, coast, etc.) is a small detail but it really means the world because it shows how well thought-out they are. The music is solid, the tutorial is very comprehensive (a lot better than our miserable tutorial that we had to remake twice) and the only major issue is that its unclear how the game relates to sacrifice, but any thematic issue pales in comparison to the quality of the rest of the game. Awesome job on one of the best submissions yet!

The art is adorable. Seriously like it's so cute. Best art me and my team have seen so far out of all the other submissions. Which is why its really a shame that the artist didn't seem to take the time to draw all the other sprites. The gameplay does need some polishing, and its unclear what part of the game involves sacrifice (although maybe I'm just oblivious).

If the artist has, like, a site where they just post their art, please send it!!! Seriously, the art is so good.

Like a lot of the other submissions the concept for the game is very interesting and could have been developed in a variety of different directions. I like the direction you guys took, with cards for strategizing before the battle and then just having a good old button mashing fight to the death. The implementation of the battle phase needs work. The characters are really painfully slow (and even when they go fast its really clunky) and the Rouxls Kaard (unfortunately) doesn't seem to work.  To my surprise (and delight) the game has, like, actual music, not just music or some pre-made royalty free stuff, but like, (seemingly) actual, unique, originally composed and pleasing-to-the-ear music, which was just awesome.

Also, the mustard card is the single best thing I've seen in any of the games so far. Thank you

The artwork is very nice. Especially the thumbnail, its very cute. The game's concept is actually really great and I'm jealous I didn't come up with it myself. The execution of the game could use some work, though. The little dialogue bubble is not the best design, as you are pushed straight into the game right from the start and have no time to pay attention to the dialogue. Also I have no clue how to map the keys after I lose one... both a skill issue on my part and a good sign to make the instructions clearer. I really liked the game though and I will send it to my friends who keep asking me what my monkeytype WPM is: (embarrassingly low...)

The animations and artwork of the characters are very well made. I like the blue palette. The gameplay is more complete than many other submissions -- good job -- but needs some polishing, as the combat and the dashing are sometimes frustrating (granted, both are hard to code, and your submission did them both decently well). The UI and screen are slightly broken at the start but they work if you go into full screen.

Or you could complete it like this :P

Through your game, I learned what a Kombi is for the first time :)

The concept is creative and honestly very cool. The player controls and the hitboxes are clunky, and you will often fall or just stop jumping inexplicably. The sprite for the player is cute, especially the animations. The map is not very intuitive, the random drops are annoying, but the concept of having to "sacrifice" what amounts to your timer (or life force) to gain knowledge of the surroundings and where you should head next is really great. 

Unfortunately the game doesn't load. 

Is that Finn?! Contrary to the game's instructions, the space bar doesn't allow either player to jump.

The theming is pretty good. I would recommend toning down the camera damping considerably. It's crazy strong and almost completely prevents you from seeing anything in the direction you move in.

Solid game with a very decent baseline mechanic and good theming. I would recommend adding more variety to the enemies and reworking the bullets system to be slower, require reload, and collide with enemy bullets. Right now the "shooting speed" sacrifice actually serves to make the game easier, since you can peer around a corner and basically set 500 bullets in place like Dio throwing knives. 

Thanks!
To be honest, I was unable to finish the last level. But the dev who made it (Ian) mogged me by finishing it with 6 hearts left. 
It means a lot to us that you enjoyed the music. We put some decent time researching Mayan and other Mesoamerican folk musical styles for our compositions. One of the songs is based on the Mayan folk song "Xtoles" (pronounced chi-toles), and it was probably sung by warriors devoted to the Sun God. Pretty cool, right?

Thanks a lot!

Note: the web-playable version does save properly. Hooray!