And here I have the first all 5 star rating! This was really special, love the super metroid vibes. 

The artist and the musicians did amazing, the game design was good as well although there were some nitpicks.

Attacking the rock plays a hit animation which makes me think it can be broken by just the sword which probably isn't the case. Gameplay feels a little too heavy for me, I wish controls transitioned better betwen themselves, every time I try to do some sick play the game doesnt like it.

But like I said, nit picks. Overall this was a very solid experience, I wish there more to it tho! Like an ending or even easter eggs to be found. But you've all proven yourselves very capable Gamedevs :) congratulations and good luck on your journey!!

This was a real delight! I’m on the fence about how I feel about the movement, part of me feels ok with the slower deliberate nature but I also feel like some of the bits could have been combined for more interesting combat, like axe does a knockback. Definitely not a problem esp with no passive damage, which I really liked! The visuals were great, loved smear frames, vfx and lighting. The grappling hook was a little finicky but I started to get used it but I think having it auto-aim would have been preferable but certainly understand jam constraints. Given the size of the world, the low detail map worked but if was bigger, I’d definitely want an upgrade.

My other suggestion is remappable controls. I highly recommend using a template, it basically means you can give players a bunch of quality-of-life features for free (well within this jam’s rules, but I think most jams allow boilerplate templates). For me, attack with Gamepad Face Right felt super weird and I kept using the no-damage axe instead. I still finished with 100% so not a big deal (and you supported gamepad at all which I thoroughly appreciate!)

Eternal Echo (Dragon Forge) from this jam, has a template https://github.com/dragonforge-dev/dragonforge-game-template done as a series of plugins so it’s easy to just take what you want. Another popular template: https://github.com/Maaack/Godot-Game-Template Any my own: https://github.com/paco-orwin/godot-starter-cookiecutter All support control rebinding with minimal fuss.

The reality is this is so polished, these sorts of details are what’s left; it’s crazy this is just for a jam! Keep it up, would love to see more!

That's so adorable awawawaw

Everything here is just so cutie cutie, even the walking sound effect is lovely, and I really like all the little animations like dying and the fact the air moves are all just some sick flips x3

The enemies are also so huggable, I want one of those bug guys as a plushie, they're just some silly little goobers. The way every enemy actually reacts to your presence and there's exclamation points and everything is also something I just love, I always find those kinds of enemies the absolute best ones, because you know, they feel like they're alive, as they should be!

Artstyle and music are really top notch, there's really nothing to complain here, just to enjoy.

Gameplay was also super smooth, all the mechanics flow really well, and I specially love the picaxe since it's quite unique and creative. I also love how you implemented pogoing, usually this kind of game lets you just spam downslashes for free, but here there's a timing to master if you wanna stay on top of enemies, and that was a very appreciated change of pace.

I also always appreciate some little lore, I'm always curious to see what flavor text the next item is gonna get, even tho admiteddly this game doesn't really go deeper than just the "stock metroidvania lost civilization" stuff, but hey, it's better than nothing!

And now, I must fulfill my role as this jam's official number one spacebar hater: WWWWHYYYY???  TwT

W is like, sooo freeeee!! Sure, it interacted with stuff, but c'mon! Interacting is such a situational input to be wasted on such a good key!! I actually had so much difficult adjusting to all three JKL inputs because I had  to keep my thumb on this damm bar and I kept messing up because I had to focus on my thumb instead of the actual inputs I needed. Yeeesss, I know, I know, it's just personal preference, and it doesn't actually affect the game in any meaningfull way... But still, just coding the jump to happen on both buttons is like, a single line of code thing, there's really no reason to limit a 2D game to spacebar jumping unless you have a REALLY good excuse to. (And if phasing down throught platforms is an issue with W, I always prefered them being phased by double tapping S instead as well)

Anyway, rant over, aewsome game x3

I really liked this one! I do have a couple of notes though:

- I think the walking speed could've been significantly faster. It just feels a little sluggish sometimes

- The ending feels rushed. I get it though, most of the time probably went into making the rest of the game as high-quality as it is

- I wasn't able to find a certain upgrade. Would've appreciated it if the map indicated connections to rooms that you haven't been to

- Combat was kind of clumsy for me. I don't see a good reason for not being able to attack upwards while standing on the ground (or underwater), and there's a bit of start and end lag (preventing you from moving or jumping) for every attack which really threw me off.

- I found it odd that checkpoints don't heal you and you have to pay for health regeneration. It's fine because you get more than enough coins though.

- Here's a tiny nitpick: You don't enter the crouch state if you hold down while in the air before landing

And that's about it. I think the visuals are the strongest part of this, I personally find the art very pretty. Music was nice too. Good job on making this!

Here's my gameplay footage:

I've been looking forward to this one! Woo! Finally made it to yours guys'.

Some seriously smooth effects here and great lore building. Also nice use of micro-reward to keep me hooked towards my overall goal.

I think my own personal hell would be a room with an army of red lizard dudes.

I got stuck after getting the pickaxe and couldn't get out of the room.

Enjoyed the game. Played all the way through. Gamepad feel was good. The underwater sections stressed me out when I was running out of air. But in a good way. :D Thanks for making a great game!

Amazing setting and really good soundtrack.

Definitely invokes that Metroidvania vibe.

I didn’t like how the dash went sideways even though I was holding W. This got so annoying that I had to leave it be for now. Got the mask and got to one of the shops with the golden mask.

Never really figured out how to fight the snails. Also fighting against the lizard type creatures resulted in me losing a heart almost every time.

It would be great if going to a checkpoint healed you. Or if there where more vases to break. So that the player could heal easier.

Impressive work!

Wonderful little game, i really enjoyed it. I loved how almost all the abilities had multiple uses (my favorite was the drill, you did a great job on the drill platforming parts) i loved the visuals to, it reminded me in some way a bit of animal well (at least the environment). music was on point to. only complaint i can give is that towards the end it was a bit annoying to just run around and look for the gems, especially if you had forgotten where the blocked passages leading to them where, maybe put some stronger indicator there so the player remembers it easier? Anyways you did a phenomenal job on this game well done.

I got stuck really early on. I got the sword, and another heart, and I can't figure out what to do next. I wanted to give it more of a chance before voting. Any hints?

BTW, love the old school feel.