fun game! It has some balancing (and i think technical?) issues, however.
Beacon makes it so you physically cannot lose 1v1s- you infinitely stun them after having drunk only 1 energy pot (which is also way too strong, being permanent.)
Sleep also doesn't seem to stack properly? after 1 turn of being sleeped, they stop being greyed out even if they have multiple stacks
I'm also not sure if the odd and even dice worked all the time, as sometimes they didnt proc despite having odd/even damage (i had both so theoretically one should have always procc'ed, but that didnt seem to be the case)(these dice were also INCREDIBLY strong, but maybe thats just cause I had a good run)
finally, the fights are... too weak. going into challenge rooms I was getting the lefty creatures alone, as well as other solo enemies that, while werent as weak, certainly didnt belong in a challenge room. I did, however, once get a first encounter of two ghosts and a wind dude- that being my first encounter, it was an immediate death, but was a very interesting team build that I think is a step in the right direction.
oh- and is there an actual endscreen yet? I beat the same boss twice and decided to end it there
fun, though theres a bug i got semi-frequently where the gunmen would shoot me from off screen and i couldnt kill em. I played on the ground a lot if that helps
SPOILERS FOR ENDING 12, LIKE SERIOUSLY IN DEPTH SPOILERS THAT PROBABLY ALSO SPOILS OTHER ENDGAME CONTENT
This was the ending i got, and i sat on it for a bit and I'm just curious to discuss it. Normally, I love happy endings- nine times out of ten any other kind of ending makes me feel unsatisfied or that a story amounted to nothing, but here the opposite kinda happened. I just want to clarify, I am NOT artistic- it is a slow, painful process for me, (one i wish to improve,) and so I am NOT trying to imply my thoughts are correct or even really offer criticism, as I don't believe I can offer anything of actual value- I just wanna put my thoughts where other people have also experienced the same game (since idk anyone else who has played this.)
The reason I personally felt more unsatisfied with a happy ending this time is it just... felt abrupt for me. I've sacrificed myself, I put my trust in Esra, I chose to save everyone- no exceptions, and as I had one final exchange with Esra I expected my character to die- I felt tears welling up in the corners of my eyes, ready to have a satisfying cry, assuming I might get some afterlife narration of my deeds, maybe even a reunion with Ash as it all fades away- only to be abruptly pulled out of a simulation. And I was... pretty pissed. I'm sorry to say I thought the cheapest, easiest ending was chosen- akin to it "all being a dream." I expected that nothing I did actually mattered, but i stuck around to explore what was left of the game, and when I got to the books (a bit of unintentional foreshadowing it seems judging from a previous comment) I realized it was all fake, and I thought that was.. cool. I spoke to Esra again, chose to fight for life, and yeah, I was brought back, and I thought it was cute. But it kind of felt like the endings of the books in the simulations- rushed, and implausible, or rather unearned, as the solution was just "There's a solution!" I'm not against ending 12 being happy, but I just feel like I didn't have time to ride my emotions before the simulation, and the resurrection just felt like it was a thing that happened, with little buildup or.. I guess earning.
That all being said though, the game is fantastic. I was addicted to the loop (played on hard) and I loved the character writing, as I felt like I really did care about everyone I met (especially esra, you knocked it out of the park with her). I just wanted to discuss how i felt with something- be it someone else who reads this or just the "post reply button," and again I want to state this is not criticism or me talking down on the game in any way, the issue probably lies with me.
I will be eagerly checking out anything else you have made and will make
edit: oh I forgot to mention, I'll probably go and get the other endings someday, but i usually need to take a break from a game after getting an ending as otherwise they don't feel impactful for me.
I enjoyed this, but I have a slight problem with the slime spawning and cap- currently as it stands, since there is such a high potential cap on slimes after upgrades the optimal strategy is to just sit and wait for a minute before attacking once, causing a massive chain reaction that kills all slimes having used only one hit's worth of stamina, which makes runs way too long and slow due to the waiting. I'd suggest lowering the cap upgrades and increasing the spawnrate upgrades, so you can still get use out of the death rattle upgrades, but with less waiting and shorter runs.
This was really fun! the progression felt nice and there was a decent bit of strategy
SPOILERS CAUSE IDK HOW TO HIDE TEXT
Got a bit lost with the story though- might be cause im tired, but i didnt get the virus or core thing goin on, i may revisit to reread and try to understand The singularity form also felt kinda... weak, compared to the others. May have just been cause of how I played it but it felt like it didnt have a strong specialty like the others also, the multicellular form confused me a bit. The endings suggest you are a parasite small enough to be in meat, but all the enemies can attack you? and how does Daniel follow us if we save him when we are that small? Doesnt really matter, probs just game logic and im nitpicking but it was somethin i pondered while playing. This is all negative, but I loved this! beat it in one sitting, I just dunno what more I can say thats positive aside from how i loved it. i hope you make more.
I mainly play in the corners, so that's when it usually happened- camping the bottom left corner, hit the boss near a wall and they can just bounce you out
I beat the slime forest on hard mode, but after I beat it nothing happened, no victory screen or anything- I was just stuck waatchin my lil guys in the streets. I used the web version on firefox, if that helps
Idk if you can mark spoilers on itchio but there be spoilers here
You may already know this, but the knockback the 2nd boss applies to you when entering their 2nd phase can push you out of the boundaries of the game and get you stuck
fun game, though taking the collection distance kinda just sabotages you due to how the flames can fight for you and you dont need it due to the auto-collection upgrade at the end. Was fun though, hope you expand this
