I feel the concept of a Microgame/Horror Combination would have high potential.
However - the execution is questionable, and with better titles available, hardly recommendable for more casual audiences.
Most problematically is the lack of content.
Even if you consider 100% completion, the only requirement (beyond a Good and Bad Ending) to 100% the game is completing all minigames, which in total, there are 17 ... kind of.
In actuality - the 17 is closer to 9 - with another 8 as variations of other minigames. Mostly commonly reskinned are the topdown levels, which from my count - there are 7 of them.
As for the others - the Flappy Bird mode gets two variations - while Get X, Avoid Y also has 2.
For reference in terms of the amount of variety - WarioWare: Snapped! - a downloadable DSiWare title with one of the smallest sizes in the series - had 20 Microgames (15 if only speaking about Singleplayer minigames) - which from a description read, seem all different from each other in spite of that small roster and limited budget.
Even so, the small roster would be fine, if there was incentive to actually replay these challenges.
However, the way the game does so is not ramping the speed or difficulty up as you replay them, but instead having them being longer experiences.
That would be fine if the game had a reasonable difficulty, but most are surprisingly difficult for a game you can still beat in under an hour (final moment spoilers) - [spoiler]given you get lucky enough to win the Russian Roulette, which the amount of shots you have to hit yourself with is based on how much you succeeded or failed, despite getting four, I still won the odds.[/spoiler]
As a result, you casually won't be completing many of them. For myself, I only really got around to six of them, before warranting closing out, and returning to A Hat in Time over it.
To be clear, once you have completed the minigame, there is no incentive to go back in terms of completionist goals.
There is an achievement for completing all 19 Minigames, but outside of that, there isn't like a harder variation of each minigame. You can complete them over and over as you wish, but there's no Highscore for winning multiple times in a row.
As for being a horror game - a game about scaring the player - I maybe was intimidated genuinely once, and honestly found it more effective as a Rage Game than a Horror Game - which going by the description, I don't believe was the intentions.
I love the artstyle of the game, and again - do believe it would enable interesting opportunities to explore as a game.
However, I believe the following should be improved upon in a future title like it:
1. Focus on smaller, bite sized minigames, as apposed to 1-3 minute long minigames - to keep the pace up, and give more development time to add more minigames.
2. Leave the difficulty low, as to allow replayability in faster, infinitely playable & ramping in difficulty variations (as one game, rather than multiple).
3. Try some alternative artstyles. It's fine to keep a theme like this around for one portion of the game - especially in the endgame, but I feel the game would be more visually pleasing to have more than three colors on screen. Why not change the art approach as you get closer - to really make the player feel they're progressively going insane with how strange the minigames look?
4. If necessary, adding DLC (whether free in smaller packs, or paid in large bundles) would help expand the game, and better define the game's value.
Even as a $3 Title, even as a Free Title, I question if it's worth most people's time and funding.
Consider that even the [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2741670/MINDWAVE_Demo/]Mindwave Demo[/url] offers similar gameplay with more replay opportunity as a game that isn't even finished - just because of a High Score system alone, and can be downloaded for free.
Honestly, I would love to see this game improved upon in the future, but as the last major patch was within the first two weeks, I doubt the game will be receiving anymore major tweaks, without being a sequel title.
With that, keep improving upon your titles, but as to those questioning a purchase, seek other options personally.
