It was a really fun game. I generally tend to like party-based RPGs with turn-based combat, so right away it was something I was eager to play.
I also really enjoyed the idea that you play as a slime - a creature that in many games is usually the most basic enemy. Turning slimes into the protagonists while fighting human enemies like warriors and archers, who are typically player characters, is an interesting role reversal.
I think the way the characters move themselves from battle to battle on their own, with the player only controlling them during combat, feels more suited for a mobile game than a desktop one. I also think that any break from this scheme would instantly make the game a lot more interesting. For example having special designated places for campfires sometimes between battles where the player could take a break, use healing items, or interact with the party in some other ways. Similarly, instead of automatically doing things for the player in towns, it would be nice to be able to choose whether to go to the inn, visit some kind of a shop, or immediately leave the town.
In some places, I felt there was a bit of information overload, especially at the beginning when you’re still learning the game. Even the pause menu partially has this problem. Although, knowing all the controls is nice, when I first opened the pause menu I didn’t know what I was looking at or what I was supposed to do or what I could even do in it, there was just too much information at once. Also, I’d like to be able to change settings directly from the pause menu instead of having to exit the game to the main menu to do that.
Another thing that might slightly suffer from the information overload is the tutorial. Overall, I didn’t think it was that bad, and I liked the idea of having a trainer explain the mechanics, but it could use a small refinement. Also, even though affinities are mentioned in the tutorial, the information about them didn’t stick in my mind and I almost forgot about them the moment I started playing. I ended up finishing the game without paying much attention to both the affinities and the kind of items I gave to each party member. I just threw all the items I got after a fight to the inventory of the slime that had the least amount of them. Maybe showing the effect of the affinities in some way actually during battle, through some animations or visual feedback, would be helpful.
Similarly, even though I knew the way Tanko’s Guardian ability was supposed to work, I didn’t really use it after the tutorial, because I wasn’t sure which party member Tanko would be guarding. Since the tutorial only had two characters, there it was pretty straight forward, but I didn’t know how it was going to scale to four characters. The Guardian ability is most useful in situations of danger when you might lose a character, and since I didn’t know how it worked, I just didn’t want to risk it and simply used defending and healing. That’s a shame, because I think it’s a really cool ability.
The most important thing - combat - was quite intuitive and fun. Although, the screen you’re on after winning could be made a bit less dense. Labeling the big boxes/containers on this screen would also help a lot. The first time I saw this screen, I was a bit lost and didn’t know what each thing was. I clicked the question mark button, but again there was just too much information, and I didn’t want to read all of that (even though I’m usually the type of player that doesn’t skip anything and reads everything), so I decided I will figure it out on my own. I think many of these systems could be taught more diegetically, rather than through large blocks of text (you might want to look up “diegetic tutorials” and watch “Half-Life 2’s Invisible Tutorial” by GMTK).
I really liked being able to see what enemies are going to do, since it adds another strategic layer to the combat, and unlike in other games, it actually gives some utility to the defend option. However, later in the game it might be interesting to introduce some mechanic that would increase the difficulty and counterweight this system. Maybe some additional abilities for the enemies?
I also really enjoyed the first boss battle. It was the first (and only) time I died, and it forced me to actually start paying attention to what I was doing.
As a small side note: the description of the blue berries (“A berry that enhances your spit”) made me think that using it would enhance the spit attack on the next turn. It also took me a bit of time to get that the slimes don’t actually “use” items, but eat them in order to attack.
Overall, it was a fun game with a lot of potential. I’m looking forward to playing it again when you release future updates.
