To get it out of the way, this is veeeery early access. And free. Both are taken into account. You are effectively a playtester if you play it at this stage, which is fine, though that should probably be a bit more obvious. May help reviews. Anyways, I have a lot of feedback for the devs, who seem to be taking it in, which is always a good sign. I only bother writing a review since I see potential in the game and want it to be better.
Gameplay:
-Upwards attack is a super cool idea, if not a big janky.
-WHY IS DODGE F??? Please add custom keybinding, or change it to alt, or something, it's weird to get used to and uncomfortable on the hand and makes combat more difficult.
-Speaking of keybindings, even if you don't have an option to change them, please show what they are in the controls menu, I still do not know how to parry.
-Health being white and stamina being red is an...odd choice. Especially when health becomes a darker red when low. White for health can work, I've seen it work, but having the stamina bar be larger and above it is confusing and weird. It looks normal but then it's backwards.
-Movement is a little stiff feeling, not very sure how to describe it but fluid movement makes a game feel far more high quality.
-You can skip the beginning cutscene, or watch it, and you can skip it even if you watch it, which is nice. Unskippable cutscenes are annoying, and I'm not exactly looking to get immersed in something I played for like 20 minutes.
-After the first boss, you can explore the world. Looks alright, didn't go far since it seems to be empty. Can't speak to how much is actually out there, but the trailer shows a lot. In fact, everything is shown to be outside, where the actual, current gameplay is all underground.
Graphics:
-Not a big graphics guy, in game looks alright. However, the 3d cutscenes manage to look worse than the gameplay instead of better like most games, which is almost impressive. 2d cutscenes are really good though, please use them more. I get 3d is kinda needed in parts and is probably a lot easier to do, but it looks like a game from 20 years ago.
-In game effects are pretty bog standard, I assume, I don't remember much. Jump attack should have a sort of wind upstream effect, or at least show the character readying to jump, or both, it has a delay anyways. Details matter, a lot.
-UI is fine, if a bit blank.
-General lack of detail in environment makes it seem pretty bland.
Performance/bugs:
-No stuttering or crashing, fps seemed fine, didn't notice slogging and it didn't seem choppy.
-Stamina will sometimes "freeze" at low, preventing you from using it or it regening. You can usually get it empty to fix it by sprinting, but it'll throw you off and can mess you up.
-If you die to the boss, the way to him will be blocked. You can get over the wall using the jump attack, usually after a few tries, but it's inconvenient and most will simply quit the game after. Barrier never went away for any attempts after than.
-SPOILER: Boss is tough, easy to cheese by doing a jump attack, falling a little, then spam attacking his face. You can kill him in one go like this, he completely stops moving, no pathing or attacking. 2nd phase he is almost completely invincible, you can do like 2% of his health but the cheese does nothing. You are supposed to lose so whatever, just noting.
Overall, worth giving a quick shot. Free, smaller download, and still fun despite all the critiques. I really hope the devs focus on ironing out gameplay rather than expanding the game too far too fast, like I said, details matter. And getting people hooked on a short teaser instead of giving them an empty world will encourage more people to stick around, as well as encourage better reviews. That all said, good luck to the dev team!
