itch.io

A very cool game with far more than initially meets the eye. I regretfully didn't have time to beat it fully, but I'm excited to give it all the time it deserves after the jam! The intro area was fairly unassuming, but I was really impressed with how the game gradually expanded and the sheer sense of vastness and loneliness in the level design, and the little bits of lore and foreshadowing in the areas I explored left me with many questions.

The moment I was truly hooked was when I first saw the giant ziggurat/temple, and I'd just like to say the song that played there might be the single best piece of music I've heard in this jam. The red boost zones were also a great addition and really took the platforming to the next level.

Aside from the environment, the main character was definitely the star of the show. Tizli's design is amazing and the model is very well made. The animations that were there were nice, and the abilities were nice and satisfying to use, with the slide being my favorite (and admittedly, watching her T-pose up a pole was hilarious). Even more than that, I loved the visual storytelling of her changing appearance as you progress, and I enjoyed piecing together her backstory from NPC dialogue. Definitely looking forward to beating the whole thing eventually, and can't wait to see where this project goes in the future!

Very cool game, and definitely one of the most unique sets of powerups I've seen in the gamejam! The monochrome style definitely has potential, and I'd love to see it more polished like in the initial area. I think some of the puzzles could use some reworking, since I often ended up resetting the room to fix what seemed to be an unsolvable state. The part with multiple rotating platforms involved a lot of waiting for things to be in the right position, which made it all the more painful if you missed a jump all the way near the top. On the other hand, the section with the bull miniboss breaking the wall was a really cool moment!

I adore the neon colors and the retro aesthetic, and the music and sounds are amazing, but boy did I immediately get completely overwhelmed as soon as I started the game! Then I watched the official playthrough... and was no less confused than before!

I think for me it was really the issue of throwing everything at the player all at once. As soon as I got the gravity upgrade, it felt like the entire map became accessible all at once, and there was never a chance to learn or focus on any single mechanic or object. That said, the minimalist vibes are great, and from what I've seen in the video, the final boss looks cool!

Apologies for the short review and not beating the game fully, I really wanted to fully play at least every game that left me a review, but it turned out a lot of them were much longer and more substantial than I expected and I "kinda" ran out of time - people really went all out this jam! 😭

(That said, I do find it really cool that between this and Gravoneer, I've seen at least 3 different implementations of gravity in the jam (player only, player + props, props only), and all 3 featured an ominous thing hanging out in the middle of the room at some point!)

A very competent and well-made short game with some of the most beautiful artwork I've seen in the jam. The protagonist is super cute and very well animated, even down to such details like the hair moving when you jump, and the elephant enemy is adorable as well! The atmosphere in the main sky area is truly heavenly and serene, and the water effects throughout the game were downright gorgeous.

A fairly standard Metroidvania in terms of gameplay and powerups, but everything that was in the game was implemented very well and fun to play with, and the parry ability was a great touch too (thinking about it, I should have tried using it against the final boss...). The infinite butt slide was hilariously powerful and a great help zooming around the map, and the giant bat made for a cool finale!

Not really a Metroidvania in my opinion, but still a nice game with a very cute and unique art style, and a cozy and dreamy atmosphere! Some more sound effects would be nice, and even the attack sound is very quiet compared to the music.

Definitely a very unique entry and a cool idea for interpreting the theme, and I guess technically a Metroidvania in the most fundamental sense. (Does every item that gives access to a new area in a video game automatically make it a Metroidvania? I don’t really want to get into the philosophy of it, but I suppose it’s really up to individual interpretation!) Sadly, being pretty bad at point and click games, I wasn’t able to get very far (only as far as wandering about in the technical section, based on the maps in the extra folder), so take my feedback with a grain of salt!

I do appreciate the dedication to black and white graphics, and some of the sprite work is pretty nice (once you’re able to see it). However, I don’t think it interacts with the echolocation mechanic very well. Since black is the color of both areas that haven’t been echolocated yet and areas that simply have nothing of interest in them, it’s often not immediately clear if you’ve even successfully used echolocation or not. The cooldown also doesn’t exactly help here, and I think having a cooldown on what is essentially your ability to experience the game is just too punishing.

Even though it’d mean breaking with the duotone artstyle, I think having a third color for walls (basically areas that have been revealed but don’t have anything in them) would be a massive improvement. That way, at least you’d be able to keep track of what you’ve already looked at, and what could still contain useful items. Also, the inventory was hard to see over white objects due to having no background, so another color (or even just putting a black square behind it) could help there too.

With all that said, I think the game does a great job at capturing the oppressive atmosphere of the regime, and the subtle ambience makes it even creepier. The idea has a lot of potential too, and doesn’t have to be limited to point and click games either - but I think it definitely needs some work to make sure it works for the player rather than against them. I’m pretty sure there have been several games with this kind of echolocation mechanic, so perhaps looking at them for inspiration could help!

Man, I really wish I had started playing this game sooner so I could have given it the time it deserved. I only managed to get as far as the long jump ability, but I'll definitely be checking it out again after the jam!

The pixel art is immaculate, this game might have the single best designed and animated protagonist I've seen in the jam, and the enemies and backgrounds are great too - I love the brutalist, almost Source Engine-esque aesthetic. I liked the music too, and the sound effects were just perfect and created an amazing sense of feedback that made every action fun.

The controls and combat were snappy and felt great for the most part, though I have to agree that the window on the dodge roll was pretty unforgiving. I never found much use for the melee attack while playing since the game was so generous with ammo capacity. The humanoid enemies that I encountered were fun to fight against, but I wasn't a big fan of the flying robots. They felt blander than the humanoids appearance-wise, the small exploding drones were hard to see against the background and tended to swarm you right after entering a room (and on one occasion even knocking you out of the door entering animation while trying to escape), and the bigger, shooting robots just felt like a more annoying version of the humanoid sniper.

Like I said, I will definitely try to beat the rest of the game after the jam, but I dare say what I've seen is more than enough to give it high ratings in most regards! I'm only a bit torn on the minimalism, since minimal pixel art is kind of the norm for most gamejam games, and I'd say this one goes well above and beyond what you'd normally see in a gamejam. Regardless, the atmosphere is top-notch and I had a lot of fun exploring around and fighting!

I see, thank you for the clarification!

Quite a nice prototype! The graphics have a nice retro vibe and I really liked the music playing near the healing stations. The voice acting and the sounds for punching were also amazing, and punching in general was super fun and satisfying - I loved how fast you could swing by alternating buttons, and punching out doors never got old!

That said, it was hard to tell when an enemy was about to damage you at times, and hard to avoid said damage, so after a while I started just avoiding them. It was also hard to stay on the crab, and it took a very long time to come back if you fell off and respawned.

On the other hand, special props for actually having kill planes in death pits - you'd be surprised how many short prototypes missed that part and had you falling endlessly and having to quit the game. I managed to beat up the giant bee and the game said "Nice," so I guess that's the end? Either way, had a great time punching things while it lasted!

(Note: This is a review of the browser build, I went back to check and I think the Windows build is slightly different?)

Great game and cool implementation of the theme, not really much negative to say about it! The art style was simple but effective, and I liked the use of sparse background elements to give rooms more personality. The music seemed a bit disjointed at first, but it did grow on me over time. It did such a good job staying in the background that I'm not actually sure if there was more than one song, so I think a bit more "kick" in that area definitely could have helped!

As someone who's pretty bad at both making and solving puzzles, I thought the puzzles in the game were quite creative and just the right amount of mind-bending without ever taking too long to figure out. I also appreciate that the backtracking never got too bad, with the warp mechanic definitely being a big help there. I think my only issue was that some of the bounce timings were pretty strict and took a lot of attempts to pull off. I actually had to remap my controller to have the transformation ability on another button to pull off the various tricks comfortably. I think the deadzones on the analog stick might also have been a bit low, as trying to use the stick often resulted in jumping or transforming by accident. While I appreciate the dedication to the directions-only control scheme, I think more mappings for the jump and transform would definitely have helped!

I actually went back and played it in an incognito tab to make sure, and all the "powerups" indeed seem to be available from the start (at least in the web build, I think in the Windows build, the square form and the warp aren't unlocked by default?). The "Metroidvania" is purely based on player knowledge, which I think is super cool and great for replayability! Some mechanics and reveals were pretty easy to figure out by accident, like the bounce ability. Others, like the various checkpoint shenanigans, were genuinely jaw-dropping, and I think the game did a great job helping you discover them organically!

Either way, I had a great time and managed to find both secrets according to the credits (I'm guessing the frog at the start was one of them, honestly not sure what the other one was)!

Very fun little survival/tower defense/Zelda/shoot’ em up-vania! I loved the graphics and overall tone a lot, especially the ruined city backgrounds - I always enjoy a little cozy apocalypse. The different ingredients were adorable, and I loved the idea of taking little blob guys and improving them in various ways.

All the different mechanics were quite intuitive and blended together surprisingly well. Being able to carry and place your own defenses was a lot of fun, and I particularly enjoyed making my own army of followers with the table recipe. That said, I had trouble figuring out what some of the items did, like the angel or the devil, and overall I felt like there wasn’t much reason to craft anything else besides the turret guys.

The RNG of obtaining ingredients felt a bit restrictive at times, and it was annoying to leave an ingredient behind only for it to be nowhere to be seen later, whether due to despawning or wandering off. Some way to store ingredients for later could definitely be a big help there. The slow walking while carrying an ingredient also felt a bit too punishing, considering the player wasn’t even very fast to begin with.

The Chungus™ was a cool way to combine crafting and a defensive objective, though I feel like the “defense” part never really came into play much - my character ended up getting swarmed and dying long before the enemies were able to even take a sliver off of the Chungus’s health bar. I think perhaps getting rid of the “tower defense” altogether and focusing on protecting your character could help the game flow a bit better.

Another thing that might improve replayability and help alleviate the bitterness of defeat is if all the recipes were “active” from the beginning, rather than needing to be found every time before the Chungus will allow you to craft them. I just think it’d be a cool way to "sequence break" subsequent playthroughs and reward the player for actually remembering them.

Sadly, I didn’t quite manage to get to the end due to being overwhelmed by a procession of unkillable enemies following me. However, it was fun crafting and exploring around while it lasted, the presentation was amazing, and I think this combination of mechanics has a lot of potential for a bigger game!

It took me most of the night to finally beat the game and I think I can safely say it's the first entry in this jam that I both loved and hated, haha.

First things first, if I was reviewing only the first 60% or so of the game, I think it'd be a near-perfect score. The art style was gorgeous and captured the retro sci-fi aesthetic perfectly in a manner that reminded me of Starbound, and the combination of pixel art with dynamic lighting was quite effective. Despite the overall cheerful color scheme, some parts like the dark zone or some of the empty-looking rooms (perhaps unfinished) around the outskirts of the map made for a genuinely spooky and unsettling tonal shift. The map was overall a lot of fun to explore and blended puzzles with the environment very well.

The main gravity mechanic is brilliant and well-implemented. Most of the puzzles were quite creative and encouraged multiple solutions, and I really liked how collecting additional block colors encouraged you to see previous rooms in a new light. The other player abilities were pretty straightforward for a Metroidvania, but they complemented the gravity manipulation very well. I think my only major issue for that part is that the game doesn’t really feel very “minimal,” as it has a very substantial amount of content and quite fleshed-out graphics and gameplay.

Now, I’m pretty sure I had even more good things to say, but I honestly struggled to hold on to those positive feelings during the final segments of the game… The frustration began to kick in as I was trying to hunt down the last of the four giant buttons. I spent upwards of an hour stumbling blindly around the entire map looking for any doors or movable blocks I might have missed, somehow repeatedly missing the giant orange room directly right of the vortex. Now, that one is probably mostly on me, but I'd have loved if the world map gave some kind of visual indication of which rooms have been fully explored.

After I finally found the last button and destroyed the big vortex, I stepped into the door fully expecting to see the credits. However, nothing up until that point could even compare to the hell that the final room put me through. Needless to say, I was already tired and frustrated from the button hunt, and completely unprepared for a difficulty spike that felt like something straight out of a Mario romhack.

There were two major offenders here, the first being the wall-jumping section just below the entrance. At first, it was extremely unclear what the game even expected me to attempt to do here. On most of my attempts (that I didn’t die on the initial spike tunnel drop), I died due to stopping the moving wall a smidgen too late or too early. If I did manage to get past that initial hurdle, and managed not to overshoot or undershoot either of the following jumps, I would still end up completely stumped by the last part of that section. I think I was supposed to slide down and wall jump into a double jump backwards onto the suspended section of the wall, except it felt like the game would take away my second jump if I bumped my head against the ceiling, or spent too much time sliding against the wall? In the end, I somehow managed to finagle my way close enough to the last ledge that I guess the game decided to give me the next checkpoint out of pity.

(Worse yet, I actually had to do that section twice due to getting softlocked later, in the section where you ride a white platform through spiky gates. I respawned inside the platform and got pushed out of bounds, forcing me to replay the whole room from the beginning.)

The other big offender was the penultimate section with the multiple turrets shooting you and having to open and close doors while zigzagging your way upwards. Not a bad challenge by itself, but at that point the framerate was suffering severely for me, presumably due to playing on the web build and the entire room and all the enemies being rendered. While I understand the appeal of having one final giant room, I think cutting the room into smaller rooms might have helped the game perform better in the browser, while also saving you from having to replay the whole thing if you get softlocked.

The other parts of the room were tough and a bit jank or confusing at times, but nothing on the same hair-pulling level as the two sections I mentioned above, and overall I did find some masochistic enjoyment in pressing on. I nearly got softlocked again in the part where you’re supposed to build a little cage for yourself to pass through lasers. Two of the pieces got stuck together in the corridor, but fortunately I was able to push them apart with the third one. The part just after the many diagonal enemies and before the turret gauntlet introduced what I think was a previously unseen mechanic, where you had to use the momentum from the trapped platform to jump higher. Definitely a cool “gotcha” moment, but it’s something I feel should have probably been taught to the player earlier.

Overall, I think it took me over two hours to beat the last room alone, and it was certainly a big relief to finally see the credits. Now if it wasn’t clear enough, while the game did leave me quite exhausted, my declared hatred of the last part was only half-serious - after all, the reason why I was able to push through to the end is because I enjoyed the game a lot in the first place!

Cool game, but pretty rough around the edges! I liked the character models a lot, especially for the player and the AI familiar. The environments were a bit repetitive and easy to get lost in due to everything looking similar, and the music was nice but stopped playing eventually.

The controls were usable but could definitely use more sound effects, especially for hitting enemies and perhaps even a footstep sound - those boots have got to make some noise! The main character felt much too fast and agile for the size of his armor (guess that’s the power of the sun for you?), though I did like the air dash ability. The gun felt extremely weak compared to the melee attack and I think I only managed to kill something once or twice with the charged shots, so I ended up sticking to melee for everything as it did the job much faster. The familiar is cute, though I’m not sure if she’s meant to serve any purpose in the game? At times she randomly seemed to fly off into the distance or get stuck looking at a dead enemy.

The main mechanic was interesting but didn’t really feel like it had much impact on gameplay, since the only ability you really needed was melee (and you could easily clear the whole map of enemies before having to give it up). Fun fact: On my first playthrough, I didn’t realize you were supposed to take your abilities back, and ended up stuck in the boss room without any means to harm it! I also discovered the boss could push you out of the map, leading to an infinite fall into the void. The lava pits also don't seem to actually hurt you, leading to another softlock if you fall down there without any helpful enemies to finish you off.

The final boss itself looked very cool, though the fight itself was a bit simplistic due to only the minions seemingly being a threat to you (and I think the boss’s body blocked most of their shots), so ultimately I just ran next to its head and spammed melee. Eventually the boss seemed to go down, but the health bar was still on screen and I was still trapped in the room, so I guess that’s the end of the game for now?

Like I said, definitely needs some polish, but there’s definitely potential there!

Loved to see another implementation of the “one screen” idea! The art style is very unique and detailed. Personally, the dark environments with brighter characters are quite easy to read, and together with the sporadic music, they make for a truly bizarre and haunting experience. The main character is very cool and extremely well-animated, and the little cutscenes when collecting powerups and at the end really give her a lot of personality.

The array of powerups and items is quite impressive and creative. The switching mechanic took some getting used to, but all the abilities feel fun and satisfying to use. The star ability was my favorite, being simple and effective to use, and I also loved the ability to find hidden objects by zooming in - it really added a lot to the feeling of discovery. However, I think the base jump could be a teeny bit higher, as it feels like you can just barely make the 2-tile-high jumps that are expected of you. 

Shooting and deflecting is also nice and has a great sense of feedback, though the enemies do take a while to put to sleep. Combined with the fact they wake up eventually, it often feels like it’s better to just run past them. On the other hand, I certainly appreciate the ability to slow down bullets, as it helps even players with skill issue (me) pull off the deflections!

The map is fun to explore and has a truly impressive amount of content and secrets packed into a single screen. It does lead to the issue where it’s hard to see things at the farthest zoom level, while the closest zoom is a bit too close. The UI being part of the map itself rather than its own screen layer was also a bit confusing at first - it took me a while to find the health bar, and I initially thought the matchbox icon was an item in the level.

That said, it was awesome to see so many secrets and optional interactions. All the unique NPCs really make the game world feel alive, and finding and talking to all of them was definitely the best part of the game for me. The stalker interaction and the camera “powerup” were absolutely hilarious, and some of my other favorites were the witch and the construct (definitely a very relatable NPC…).

Overall, definitely a top contender for me among the entries I've reviewed so far. A very polished and atmospheric game that captures that dreamlike vibe perfectly, and a great idea and interpretation of the theme (and I’m 100% not being biased saying that)!

A beautiful and exceptionally well-crafted short adventure with a very fitting and satisfying conclusion. I think it perfectly embodies not only minimalist graphics or gameplay, but the spirit of minimalism as well. The visuals were lovely and the music was quite fitting and serene, and I loved the variety of weapons and enemies. It really felt like there were multiple ways to deal with each room and encounter, which is quite impressive for such a minimal game!

My only issues were that the orange enemies often ended up stuck in doorways, and I wish the warning for the larger enemies' dash attack was a bit more visible. Perhaps the enemy attacks themselves could be a bit snappier and more aggressive, too - as it stands, I feel like there wasn't much reason to use the player's own dash ability. In addition, I think the player might feel better to control if the hitbox was slightly smaller than the visible model. Also, the game crashed on my first time trying to collect the circle powerup, though fortunately this problem solved itself afterwards.

That said, those were at most minor nitpicks that didn't detract from the experience at all. And I'd say the implementation of the theme was hands down immaculate!

First of all, Allo is clearly the best protagonist I've seen in the gamejam so far (and I'm 100% not biased saying that)! The pixel art for the characters and biomes is gorgeous, with Allo’s crouching and crawling animations being my personal favorite - he's just so adorable! I also liked the music and the sound effects, especially the feeling of impact from shooting and hitting enemies.

The idea of using multiple smaller missions is clever for a minimalist Metroidvania and does a great job creating a sense of exploration while preventing you from getting too lost. The levels, enemies and powerups are certainly very much inspired by the classics, and overall I feel like there weren’t many big surprises there. However, the controls are nice and snappy and everything feels like it’s implemented very well.

My one and biggest issue with the game is the timer. I was able to barely beat most of the levels on time, but ended up giving up right at the end of the third mission due to running out during the final boss. I just feel like it creates unnecessary stress, and considering the high health and tight placement of some enemies, the timer kinda encourages just running or damage boosting through some sections.

That said, I actually went back and played Super Mini Jumper after this, and while both games are fun in their own right, I can definitely see the improvement in the player attacks and enemy design in this one. Looking forward to more dinosaur adventures in the future!

One of my favorite entries so far when it comes to theme interpretation. The shooting mechanic does a great job creating a sense of progress and player power, not to mention the sounds and feedback make it very satisfying to use!

I'm a big fan of the visual style and the music as well. The art might have seemed simplistic at first, but I was very impressed with the way it managed to paint different biomes with such a limited palette. The complete shift in tone and ambience in the dark zone was one of my favorite parts of the game. I also adore the main character and the little room we start and end in!

The difficulty ramped up quite nicely over the course of the game. Some parts were pretty tough at first, but it was satisfying to get to a point where I could zoom through parts that used to give me trouble, and the snappy controls definitely helped. That said, I gave up pretty quickly on both of the bonus rooms (and did also encounter the softlock near one of the secret flowers).

One thing that I felt was missing was a straightforward fighting section or two, since for all its versatility and how powerful you feel with a bunch of upgrades, you don’t actually get to use the shooting mechanic against enemies much! Though I guess the moving crystals could kinda count as enemies? Either way, it’s just something I thought could help tie the game together, but of course a more puzzle-oriented game is perfectly fine too!

Regardless, a super fun and memorable game with a distinct style, great controls, and I’d say a perfect implementation of the theme!

Definitely one of the most solid and well-executed entries I've reviewed when it comes to the controls, mechanics and overall presentation!

The pixel art for the backgrounds and characters is absolutely gorgeous, with some of my favorites being the main character's portrait in the corner, and the knife-throwing enemies. The music is great too, and I love the sound effects and the sense of feedback on hitting and interacting with things - although the micropause when collecting a big cluster of jewels seemed a bit excessive, unless it was actually unintentional lag!

The auto-attack took a while to get used to, but it turned out to be quite a satisfying and fun mechanic, especially hitting enemies from below or jumping on their heads. Overall, a very clever implementation of the theme! The powerups were fairly basic Metroidvania fare for the most part, but they were well-implemented and fulfilled their role in the progression well. The most interesting one in my opinion was the drop-kick ability, and I wish it had more use throughout the game.

The map was fun to explore and never got so big that backtracking would be a problem, and I enjoyed the various secrets and shortcuts I found on the way. I think my only major complaint was that some of the enemy placements seemed a bit unforgiving (mostly on the final "ascent" section to the last ability), plus I wasn't a fan of the spikes being able to hurt you when touching them from the side - but those are small nitpicks more than anything.

Obviously a final boss would have really helped tie everything together, but considering the time limit and the overall level of quality and effort in everything else, it's hard to complain!

A very cool and unique entry, it's always nice to see a bit more of a narrative focus! The graphics and sound are certainly very minimalistic, but they do the job for the theme and the setting. The enemies were also quite cool and unsettling, especially the big "spawner" type. The powerups were simple but effective, I liked the focus on climbing and growing/shrinking vines throughout the game, and getting a bit of a lore explanation for each powerup was a nice touch!

I quite enjoyed the writing and the story, it was definitely the highlight of the game. Although, I also feel like it tried to fit slightly too many things into such a short time frame between the reality manipulation, 4th wall breaks, the various plot twists etc. Also, I wasn't really able to find any of the "dark themes" that the page warned me about - though it's possible I simply missed something, as I definitely saw at least one book that I didn't quite figure out how to get to.

Regardless, I had a lot of fun with this game and I'd love to see you take this kind of story focus further!

Very nice game! I loved the design of the player and the enemies, especially the shooting bird guys. I really liked how they hide back in their egg when they don't have line-of-sight to you, I thought that was a neat touch. The dying and respawning animations for the player are cool, but they started feeling a bit slow after a few deaths. I think cutting out the second of delay after your character has already disintegrated would help a lot.

The environments look alright but don't really match the characters in my opinion. The world looks pretty grounded for the most part while the characters look like they belong in a more steampunk setting, though I guess time limitations were a big factor here. Many rooms feel a bit large and repetitive, making it hard to tell where you're supposed to go sometimes. On a few occasions, I felt like I was in a copy-pasted version of a room I was already in before, but with different entrances and exits. On the other hand, the handful of health pieces I was able to find were a fun little extra challenge and a nice motivation to explore.

The black-and-white segments didn't really feel like they contributed much to the game, other than making those parts harder due to not being able to see your character. I'm guessing they were an attempt to incorporate the theme, but in all honesty, the game doesn't come across as very "minimal" with those monochrome sections being so few and far between. They could have been a great stylistic choice if the whole game was done like that (and if you could see your character), or perhaps if there was a mechanic like the Subspace from Super Mario Bros. 2 where you can temporarily make the world "minimal" to solve puzzles or find secrets. However, as it stands, they were kinda just a minor annoyance.

The music is nice, although the main theme seems way too cheerful for the overall style of the game. However, I do like the change of tone with the more somber versions of the theme in the later areas, the song playing on the big bridge being by far my favorite of the ones I heard. I think the contrast between the different remixes could have been an even more effective storytelling device if the early areas were also more friendly-looking to match the happier music.

As someone who has never played many 3D platformers, the controls were decent enough to get used to. Sadly, I wasn't able to take advantage of the gamepad support, since I'm one of the weirdos who likes inverted Y-axis on the right stick, and the option wasn't available here.

It does feel like it takes a while for your character to stop, especially out of a sprint. The ledge grab is definitely a great lifesaver and very appreciated, as often it was easier to jump early and aim for the ledge, rather than try to land on the platform itself and end up overshooting. The limited turning while sprinting feels kinda overly punishing, and the whole steam mechanic (while fitting for the character) seems a bit unnecessary gameplay-wise, only serving to slow down the game by making you wait or run back and forth sometimes.

In general, it kinda felt like the solution to most puzzles was to just sprint and jump, and at times it was hard to tell if I was following the intended path or sequence breaking due to how tight some of the jumps were and how far you could go at full sprint.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get past the big bridge, as the gap seemed too big to make even with a full sprint into hover, and I couldn't figure out how to interact with the floating head guys. I tried left-click, right-click, bouncing off of them, but nothing seemed to work. I'm guessing there's probably something obvious that I'm missing here, and I'm open to hints and advice because the game is a lot of fun and I'm curious to see the rest!

Perhaps the hardest game I've looked at this jam so far. It took me the better part of the day to finally beat it, and I definitely admire the scale and the vision of what you made in a month!

The visual style is very striking and cool, but sometimes it's also hard to tell if what you're looking at is playable platforms or just decoration. I think it might help if the use of glowing blue was a bit more restrained throughout the level and overall colors had more obvious meanings, like platforms being one color, walls being another etc. I got quite stuck just after getting the wall jump and had to refer to your video to find the correct way to progress, as I kept trying to jump between two buildings that were very close together somewhere else (possibly an intended secret?).

Towards the end, I actually climbed the massive skyscraper first because I thought it was the intended way to drop down to the second-last target, only to find out I had to climb it all over again! Fortunately, on my second climb I discovered a bit of an "exploit" where you could climb a single wall almost endlessly by grappling upwards while backing away from the wall and holding glide, only needing to stop on a platform from time to time to reset your glide.

The enemies... honestly didn't feel like they contributed to the game much, especially the grounded "melee" robots. The floating drones were a bit more of a threat, though they felt more like a mild annoyance most of the time. Also, they often seem to bug out and start backing away from me endlessly until their shots can't reach me anymore. I think a melee attack that one-shots enemies could help the combat flow better, encouraging you to weave between their shots and get in close as opposed to plinking away from a distance. There could even be a mechanic where you bounce off of enemies to stay in the air longer!

Some of the abilities (mainly early ones) were a bit confusing or difficult to use. For instance, the dash from the wall hold continually moves your character forward over a period of time as opposed to giving you one burst of speed, which sometimes made it feel like I had to fight against the dash to stay on the platform I was trying to reach. Though I think my least favorite part was the sections where you had to wall jump between two walls, as I found the back-and-forth mouse flicking to be quite confusing and exhausting. On the other hand, I really liked the challenge of grappling into a wall run, it took some getting used to but was quite satisfying to pull off.

Also, it felt like some of the early checkpoints didn't always activate, which might be why some people thought there was no save system at all? I did also get sent all the way to the beginning after a game over a couple times. One particularly frustrating moment was just before the wall run powerup, where falling from one of the last sets of floating platforms would land me next to the second robot booth and saving a checkpoint there, essentially making me replay most of the game up until that point. Fortunately, those issues didn't seem to be present in the second part of the game.

While it might seem like I'm mostly complaining so far, I think the game actually nailed the "hard but barely doable" feeling for me, where I still had the motivation to push through despite the aforementioned issues. So, I guess you could say it was all part of the intended difficulty. However, I also understand why a lot of people might give up!

The game does get a lot more fun after you get the wall run and the grapple, and honestly I feel like much of the early game could have been cut completely. The beginning feels a bit slow and flat compared to the second part of the game, and it feels like some of the early powerups like the slide and the wall hold are never used again after you get better ones. However, I did enjoy the sense of the game becoming gradually more vertical as you progress.

All in all, a very ambitious game in a genre that's notoriously tough to pull off well. The controls and movement took a long time to get used to, but I did start to find enjoyment in the difficulty towards the end. Definitely a project that has a lot of potential to be an even bigger game with some polish!

I had a great time with this game and I honestly think you should give yourself more credit! Visually, it's definitely one of my favorite 3D entries I've reviewed so far. I also don't know if I'd agree that it's "too Pseudoregalia," because my first comparison was actually to Dark Souls, with the overwhelming sense of loneliness and a more methodical pace of exploration.

The atmosphere is top-notch, and while perhaps unintentional, I think the scarce enemy placement actually adds a lot to the desolate and haunting mood. The only area that truly struck me as "too big" was the big cave with the spider webs and electric generators, and I think it was less so the size itself than the lack of landmarks. (Personally I don't think large areas are necessarily a problem, but large areas with not much interesting to look at may be a problem!)

Aside from the atmosphere, I think the player character is definitely the biggest highlight of the game. I absolutely adore the design, from the helmet and the clothes to the weapon, and I think the movement, the animations, the combos, and the sense of feedback from hitting things, are damn near perfect. The only thing I'd perhaps change is making the dash a bit faster and more "punchy" - but even then I'm kinda torn on that one, because I think the somewhat restrained movements play into the idea of being just a regular person with a bit of training and a bit of magic power, as opposed to some kind of a godlike ninja. Also, I guess due to the time constraints, it doesn't seem like buffing your weapon has any effect on combat?

I think the enemies are cool enough and they fulfill their intended roles well, although the kappa do feel like they duplicate the job of the lanterns a little bit. I know this probably wasn't possible with the time limit, but if you decide to work on this further (which you should!!!), I think the kappa could do with a more "annoying" moveset to fit their mischievous lore. For example, pushing you away if you get too close, or being able to dodge out of your combo and punish you with a quick throw if you get too greedy with your attacks.

However, if there's one thing I think could really tie all the different enemy types together, it's a tanky "bruiser" style enemy. Think Infested Barbarians from Dark Souls: scarce, hulking, close-to-mid-range, manageable when alone, but potentially lethal when surrounded by lesser enemies. Again, not something that was plausible within the time limit, but definitely something I'd love to see in a future version!

Either way, if I haven't made it clear yet, I really hope you continue to work on this game! While other games I've reviewed may have been built from the ground up to be a short experience, or you could tell where the developers ran out of time, I think this game felt the most like a "demo" in the best sense of the word, because it left me wanting so much more. The whole time playing, I had this persistent feeling that a far bigger world could be hiding just behind the corner - and I hope one day, that world can become a reality!

A fun and pretty-looking game, but it's also a bit buggy and really hard. Some of the sprite work is genuinely really nice, especially the grass and sky background and the thorns, but I think the gray rocks are a bit too gray and could use a hint more of brown or blue to make them pop a bit more and look a bit less "stock." I also love the design and animation of the main character, I think they're really adorable and the idea of lugging a giant backpack around is really neat!

The chained attack combo is pretty cool and satisfying, although the cooldown after finishing the full combo seems a bit unnecessary, and the large forward momentum often makes you run into enemies or pits. However, the health recovery from killing enemies does offset that last issue a bit, which is a nice touch! Speaking of enemies, I like the variety of designs and behaviors, each type really feels unique. I think you're already aware of this, but some sound effects and perhaps a bit of knockback for the player getting hit would be a nice addition. ;)

I found many of the platforming challenges in the game to be very difficult, and I was close to giving up many times. A few of them, like the blind drop into a dash through a 1-tile gap right after getting the dash ability, felt downright evil and like something from a rage game or a romhack. The breaking platforms give you very little time to breathe, and the instant-kill spikes can be frustrating at times. I think a big part of the issue is the jump physics, as it seems I always jump to the max height no matter how lightly I tap the button, compared to most platformers where you can jump higher or lower based on how long you press the button. That said, the generous checkpoints and the save feature are definitely very appreciated, as I certainly wouldn't have been able to finish the game without them!

Going left from the start eventually leads to an endless void, which I assume is unintended but still quite funny! Going into and out of the first NPC's house was a bit confusing at first, and the wobbly text on the NPCs feels a bit excessive. The tooltips for various objects in the world also seem a bit buggy - the tooltip for the dash ability had a bunch of glitchy characters that seemed like it was meant to be formatting markup, and the tooltips for buildable ladders appeared very far away from the actual object. Some of the areas felt a bit empty and repetitive, but some of the spike sections with the dash were actually pretty tight and cleverly designed (even if frustrating).

The beetle boss was a cool final challenge, though it took me a while to figure out he could only be attacked from behind. (And funny coincidence, since I also have a beetle boss with a similar mechanic, and I imagine similar problem!) He wasn't that hard once I figured out the strategy, though again I sadly didn't get much use of the combo attack against him, since it felt like doing more than one attack at a time just led to me taking damage. After the boss and the last NPC, I climbed some stairs and saw what looked like more level above me, though I couldn't figure out how to get up there, so I guess that's the end of the game for now?

All in all, I had quite a lot of fun running around and even started to get some masochistic enjoyment out of the difficulty. The idea and setting is quite charming and a clever interpretation of the theme, and I love the main character!

Thank you! The gun is found in the top right corner of the map, it should be visible on your character after you pick it up. You can shoot with button 1 of the gamepad (Xbox A/Nintendo B/bottom face button), Ctrl, or Shift, and aim with Left Stick/Arrows.

If you're trying to play the browser build with a gamepad, it is possible that your model may not be fully supported - I sadly discovered too late that the gamepad support in the browser isn't quite as good as with Windows, in which case I apologize. However, trying the Windows .exe version might help! (And if it doesn't, then it must be some kind of bug that I never discovered, in which case I also apologize!)

Thank you, glad you enjoyed the game! And yeah, I think if I make another Metroidvania, I'll go with simple room-by-room camera and movement.

Thank you for your kind words!!! I am definitely planning to join the next Metroidvania Month. :)

Out of curiosity, what would you recommend improving about the platforming? 

Very neat and fun demo, I love the animation and design of the main character, and the enemies are pretty cool too! It took me a while to figure out the controls and how to deal with enemies, but killing things simply by running into them is honestly such a brilliant idea for a minimalist game. Plus, it's an interesting twist on the usual mechanic where monsters damage you on contact, except we're quite literally the monster here! The player feels nice and snappy to control, although I think stronger gravity and a harsher jump curve could be suitable for a feral predator-style character.

The minimal environments could be effective, but I think there are too many big and empty or repetitive spaces in the map, which kinda draws attention to how simple the graphics really are. The escape segment with the jellyfish "mini-boss" was also a cool idea that fits the theme very well, although it kinda lacked a clear win condition. I think the idea is that we get high enough that we can jump on the jellyfish's head, but it's pretty easy to just barely miss the jump and die anyway.

The main music theme is cool, but it seems that all the audio in the game is positional for some reason? The music and other sounds played from the left or right speaker depending on where I was in the level. I think it might be a case of using AudioStreamPlayer2D where the generic AudioStreamPlayer would suffice. On the subject of audio, I think sound effects for the player jumping, landing, and dying would be a nice addition!

Either way, a great concept that I'd love to see fleshed out into a full game!

Fun prototype, although character customization didn't seem to be reflected during gameplay, and falling off the ledge results in falling endlessly as there is no kill plane. Also, I'm not sure if I'm really seeing the Metroidvania in this project, since it looks and plays more like a prototype for an online PvP shooter so far? The music is very cool and the artwork for the bombs is cute, though!

Thanks for playing! And yeah, that's on me for not making it clearer. The first switch opens a bunch of doors that lead to the gravity orb, but it's easily missable due to being all the way over to the side and the camera zoom happening at the same time, and the orb itself being covered up by false walls until you get up close.

Thank you! And sorry you got lost, I'll definitely try to create a better sense of direction next time!😂

A very unique and spooky idea that's sadly being significantly held back by bugs in the "real world" side of the game and the puzzles being "slightly" too obscure for the average player (me). I had to look at the comments to figure out what I was supposed to do, and even knowing it, it was hard to execute due to problems like:

• the hitboxes for the various interactables being misaligned with their visual location
• interactables overlapping with each other (trying to turn around but interacting with an object instead)
• parts of the room being very dark (not sure if intended or not, but the whole area with Froggy was basically completely black for me and I only found him by randomly clicking around, thinking he was just an easter egg due to being hidden in pitch darkness).

I know this might be a big change to implement at this point, but honestly I think the "real world" side of the game could benefit from just letting you move freely in 3D instead of the "old school" step-by-step movement (which also had its share of bugs, like being able to stand inside the bed or the PC after moving them in the Atari game).

Like the comments mentioned, the ending was actually unlocked from the start and I stumbled upon it pretty early on, again thinking it was just an annoying easter egg that froze the game. But, I think the intention was to have the spiral room in Atari reflect through the mirror shard and onto the real world door, thus unlocking the portal to Fantasia?

Even with all these issues, I still had a lot of fun piecing together the story from the notes and the game, and I think the unintended sequence breaking might have even added to the experience (like working out the events backwards from the ending). If the implication of the ending is that we can be reunited with Delilah in some way inside Fantasia, then that's a really cool and bittersweet conclusion, too!

Also, I liked the Naga "boss fight" a lot, it was a cool twist on the "Lost Woods" trope. Overall, a very cool concept that I'm definitely excited to see polished!

Very fun and polished little game! The music is lovely and the art style is very detailed and gorgeous. I love the introduction of so many distinct biomes in a relatively short game, although it feels like some parts have a bit of unnecessary empty space. The attack animation of the player seems a bit out of sync with the sound and actual damage, and the actual range of the attack seems bigger than the visual indication - not too bad, but still confusing.

I think one complaint I have is that while the art and music sell the underwater setting very well, the powerups are basically typical Metroidvania fare. I think it'd be cool if the powerups were also "water-themed" instead of the usual double-jump and dash (and the light ability which is basically a keycard in disguise), though I don't know how exactly that could be done, either! I'm also not sure if I quite agree on the minimalist aspect, as the art style and gameplay don't really come across as "limited" beyond what's typical of gamejam games.

Regardless, it's an enjoyable game that definitely has potential for more!

Thank you! It is basically just a hodge podge of mechanics that I thought would be cool to throw in together (the flashlight was basically me learning how to write shaders), and by the time I got it all to a semi-functioning state, there kinda wasn't much time left to make an actual game haha. Glad you were able to enjoy it regardless!

Thank you! That's probably on me for building around the gamepad too much, the keyboard controls aren't so great tbh.

Definitely my favorite 3D entry of the ones I've reviewed so far, and one of the most visually unique games I've ever played. The closest thing I can compare it to is those old pre-rendered cutscenes and backgrounds in 90s games, except actually playable; another is the Blame! manga with its sprawling abandoned spaces and machinery. The methods and art style used create a uniquely haunting and desolate atmosphere. It's hard to believe all this fits in such a tiny file size too - a truly creative and impressive way of implementing the theme!

All the different abilities work well for the challenges present in the game (even despite using a scuffed control method via keyboard to gamepad emulation). I think the wall kick might even be a bit more powerful than intended, since I was able to finagle my way over a gate that I think was supposed to only be accessible with the dash? It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out I could Search the humanoid remains in the beginning, but I actually like the inventory system a lot - I think the text-adventure-like UI contributes to the nostalgic feeling.

According to the note, I managed to find all but 3 collectibles. A bunch of the options on the elevators didn't seem to do anything, presumably because they were unfinished? One thing that confused me was the tiny tunnel entrance next to the tram station, if there was an ability that would've let me pass through then I must have completely missed it. Regardless, a very unique and memorable game that I'd love to see developed further!

I ended up using my keyboard to play the game using a program called ControllerEmulator by Relics97! My controller is called "PDP Faceoff Premiere Wired Pro Controller for Nintendo Switch", it is a licensed third party controller as you might guess. Either way I loved the game a lot, I'll write a bigger review on the submission page!

Hey, happy to see another twin-stick-shootervania in the gamejam! (And a far more fleshed-out one than mine, too!) Definitely has that classic Metroid feeling with the powerups and weapons, but the little touches like the missile gate puzzles are a nice twist.

The minimal graphics are quite effective, though a bit more personality for the player character would be nice. ;) I absolutely adore the music, especially in the green zone and the night zone with the super dash (and I'd like to say having the whole secret area there just to give you the optional powerup is cool as heck!). The controls were good enough for the kind of platforming the game expected you to do, and the boss at the end was a simple but cool finishing touch.

A few issues and miscellaneous bugs I had:

• Some kind of a hit sound and particle effect the player and enemies taking damage would be nice.
• Got softlocked inside the puzzle above the Plasma Cannon powerup (the gate closed on my character and I was forced to quit and start the whole game over).
• It took me a while to figure out I could aim with the minibombs, though you could say the Plasma Cannon puzzle was a cool way to teach me that!
• Some of the 1-tile tunnels that require a ball jump to get into are very hard to get into (it feels like the entrance pushes you away), I think the one at the start of the green area was nigh impossible to get into.

Overall had a lot of fun with this one, it was a pretty substantial game but not so big as to overstay its welcome, and the soundtrack was definitely a huge highlight for me!

Sadly I wasn't able to play the game due to my controller not being recognized, even after installing the GameInputRedist. Perhaps it could be because I'm using a Nintendo Pro controller? I might look into installing a controller emulator, because this looks really cool and I'd love to play it!

The characters and the final boss look very cool, did you make them yourself? The minimal environments have some charm but otherwise the game seems very unfinished and buggy, and not really much of a Metroidvania. A few of the doors led into the void outside the map, and I couldn't figure out how to get up to the ledge with the keycard door. I also couldn't find a way to free the prisoner, but I managed to clip into his cage by attacking and I think I accidentally killed him?

On the other hand, both the final boss and the player seemed unable to kill each other even after depleting their respective health bar to zero, so I kinda just stood there and mashed for a while. I'm not sure if the intended way was to dash in and out between the boss's attacks, but she attacked way too quickly and had way too much health for that kind of hit-and-run tactic to be very viable, especially without any kind of parry or block ability (that I was able to find). Also, attacking the boss while standing too close to the edge of the arena resulted in the player clipping through the wall and getting stuck outside the map.

Overall, the game definitely needs a lot of work! I think I'd focus on improving the feeling of combat first, for example adding sounds and particle effects to the swings and hits, and maybe a block or parry mechanic or some other way to interrupt the boss's attacks.

Cute little demo, I'm not sure if I missed something, but I think there's only one level? Not sure if I'd call it a Metroidvania, but the graphics and music are definitely very nice and could be used as a basis for a full Metroidvania game!