I have to say, it's not very engaging.

The enemies do not have interesting behavior. They do not challenge any of your abilities as a gamer: in the end it felt like it was just a battle of numbers against numbers (which one of us has the best stats). Sure you have to jump and attack at the right time, but it gets old REALLY quick. The strange hitboxes of the monsters do not help either.
And what's with the insanely large amount of health they have ? It's not entertaining doing the same trick over and over, for minutes long, trying to get only one monster down to zero health.
Also, and that might be my main complain right now: the synergy between the ennemies is not good at all. They do not complement each other, and their repetitve behavior makes them swarm at you in one big mess, throwing all their projectiles at you, most of the times leaving you no other option than to flee, and leave the room from the door you got in. I'm not talking about rooms way above your level, I'm talking about rooms you should be able to clear because you have the gear to.
Now, these complaints might seem useless if it was fun or interesting to move your character around the world. But I tried almost every class and none of them felt right. Trying to unlock the abilities is hard, but once you get some, you breathe again: at last, something new ! But in the end, it all falls flat. The double jump alone prevents you from accessing certain platforms, and i wondered why is wasn't unlocked from the get-go. Same for the dash ability. And none of them was fun to use.

I get it: maybe you want us to spend lots of time in the game, wandering the corridors, finding our way through the folders. It's part of the experience (i guess?). But if there is nothing rewarding in the end, it's not worth it. Because right now, the combat is not rewarding, to me at least: it's boring. And the whole game feels the same way.
And it hurts to say because i want to like this game ! I'm a fan of platformers and an RPG enthusiast... but right now, I have to say i'm not enjoying my time with AdventurOS.

Hello Obigre, thanks for writing your feelings about the game.

Regarding the enemies, we also believe that they can be improved. Unfortunately for us, we spent so long looking at the game that is hard to notice those kind of frustrations. We did notice that some of the monsters have insane amount of health and that is something that we will fix in an upcoming patch.
Regarding the skills or the goals of the game: you might feel some of the remaining of what it was once a metroidvania-like game. We encourage you to try to defeat the bosses located at the totem rooms and get to face the formatter, which I think is the main goal of the game. It is extremely hard to make a game based on a random set of files and that is why we needed to add some purpose for the story.

If you are not finding the game enjoying I would recommend to maybe keep an eye on those updates that will make you enjoy the combat more.

Thanks again for your message, it was very valuable for us!

Thanks for your answer.

I'm a bit relieved to hear you say that the incompetence of the enemies is due to the countless hours you spent on the game, making you blind to some of its flaws. I was actually worried their behavior right now was a deliberate design choice, making it something you wouldn't want to change throughout the updates. On the itch.io page of AdventurOS, the description made it seem like the game as it was sold was only a few bugs away from its final release...

Now about the goal of the game : I have indeed defeated the formatter, without finding any totem before :/ i don't know if it's a feature or a bug, but I was able to buy the Skeleton Key from a merchant, for almost nothing (299g iirc) and open the door to beat him... and... as some others have pointed out, he wasn't much of a threat either.
Again, that might be because i didn't find any totem, but after the opening cutscene, I wasn't fed any piece of story at all, and it felt really weird. As if the plot had disappeared all of a sudden, leaving you as a nameless adventurer on a quest you didn't now much about, killing foes you didn't care much for, and freeing villagers who didn't care much about you either. Maybe you should add little cutscenes here and there, fill rooms with little bits of world-building trivia, random encounters... this kind of stuff.

Of course I understand how hard it can be making such a game, that's why I didn't just want to shout and rant at you or your game. As you've said, you've spent years working on this, and what you've achieved is already amazing. And yet, there is still so much room for improvement ! and i'd LOVE to see this game improve. This is also why I wanted to point out what I felt had to be pointed out: what is the core gameplay right now is not good gameplay.

I will surely keep an eye on the updates. Expect me to come back every once in a while whith another post :)

Good luck and be strong ! 💪