Very solid entry, it improved a lot from the time I playtested.

I'm giving full points on sensory and metroidvania, as I think they're deserved. I especially loved the SFX at times, like in that one area with the plants growling before trying to eat you (magical biology).

I do have a few gripes and nitpicks. The first boss killing me in one shot actually made me explore everything thinking I was missing something, until I realized its unique weakness (not dealing contact damage), which made it go from basically impossible to beat to extremely cheesable. I feel like it might require some balancing.

Another thing is her hair power. That was often frustrating. I feel like the window to attach is small and picky, as I'd often miss the attach points while feeling like I had done everything write. Add to this inconsistency the fact you were usually punished with spikes for failing to attach and having to restart sometimes very far, it made the whole forest area a pretty frustrating experience. Gotta add that going downwards often meant going blind and risking to not catch any attach point. The trees don't actually give any clue on where the attach point could be, as it can be anywhere on the tree.

As closing thoughts, I think the weak points are around the execution and level design; the visuals, audio, atmosphere, and even little story, are amazing and I am giving full points where they're due.

Excellent work! I’m not certain, but I think I noticed the floor-trap tell, and if I’m right, feel like a champ skimming the other comments (though several did get me). Big thanks for gamepad, this was great to play on the couch. I really dig the music, though as has been noted, sometime it went away oddly, then game back in full force, which wasn’t really probably but didn’t feel intentional.

My main complaint that I don’t know if I missed something or not. In the bottom left corner, one room right, is an area with a worm entrance that I couldn’t use. Related, sometimes my hair ability didn’t work (in that same area).

The ending was abrupt but it was an ending, which is more than I can say for myself! Would love to see a more fleshed out version, I can see some fun storytelling/drama as the queen turns to beast but you further meld yourself.

This entry is a strong contender for me, I "finished it" or at least I got to a "the end" screen, but it definitely feels like a bad ending, not sure if that's lack of collecting every item or being overly murderous to the various critters and denizens  of the big maze, or just what you were limited to finish within the jam (hopefully not as I plan to come back and see what I missed). 

The game feels rich, if this was ever a full game there would be You Tubers explaining and theorising the meanings behind all the symbols.

It's strength is definitely more within the world building than the gameplay itself (not that that's bad), and given that aspect some of the insta kills (spikes) feel like they would be better just  resetting you - but I loved every miniute of it... and am keen to get back and see if I missed anything to get to a better ending.

One of the few entries so far I've managed to complete!

I loved the little intro, it had some nice dialog and timing and I was invested in clearing my name and exposing the fake queen for what she was... though I'm not sure what really  happened at the end so it felt  a bit unresolved. I didn't expect to learn much about Venom my symbiote friend but the powerups were nice, especially the worm-shape that felt thematically adequate.

The art style was pretty good and felt a bit more involved than just equating minimalism with simple visuals, which I appreciate. There were a few instances in the village where it was hard to tell what was a wall or a platform, but otherwise it was pretty clean and the biomes were memorable. Dynamic lighting was subtle but nice and I enjoyed the little details like the eyes in the forest. The bell-flying animation was  a stand-out!

The music and audio was also quite good, though music stopped during most of my time in the forest and some actions lacked a matching SFX, like collecting items/runes (by the way, I have no idea what the "green shell" upgrades do?).

The biggest issue I had with this entry is that it felt a bit unfair at times. Many of the traps are either invisible (eg:  completely obscured stalactites) or very hard to spot (the breaking grounds) with no grace period if you trigger them. There were a few points in the forest where you need to drop down without being able to see what's under you, and chances are there  are spikes that will kill you in one hit. Likewise with a room that will instantly kill you if you enter it sliding... I almost gave up in the forest due to this difficulty spike. It didn't help that the latching points trigger felt too small and I never really managed to use the jumping mushrooms reliably. The first boss being able to kill you in one hit was frustrating and the heart-shaped one not flashing when attacked was super confusing. 

That being said, the level design was great. I never felt completely lost or out of options and it all looped back on itself in a very satisfying manner.  It definitely felt like a proper metroidvania! (Though some rooms in the map never appeared even though I kept traversing them...)

Overall a very solid entry, good job! ;)

My thoughts while playing the game:

• multiple input options, nice
• jump feels floaty
• I went left first like a uncivilized swine
• attacks feel good
• death animation/transition is nice and quick
• dash is also good
• seems like there are a lot of rooms
• some enemies die to 1 hit, some die to a lot (the first skeleton dies to 1 but the others not?)
• can hit and be attacked over walls
• you can get to rooms where you have to use the down jump to return before it's introduced to the player
• i like the little guys with spear
• becoming the goop input is not introduced, it can be deduced, but the Input is not told in game like the others
• activating the save in the air

• oh, the goops gets introduced here, but you can't even get there without the jump pad and returning to the jump pad reveals the left passage that has no tutorialization:

• some hearts are too high or the character collection box is too low, sometimes it's possible to walk under them
• dying to the hazards is frustrating, maybe be more generous with the checkpoints or a system like hollowknight where you respawn at the entrance of the room and loose some health
• I'm tired, and I need to start keeping track of how long I've been playing the jam games, 
• I got about half-way through the forest, 
• I got a bit lost sometimes, a map would be nice, even a more abstract one that shows where each biome is located in relation to eachother would be a great help
• the first boss fight was a bit boring, he killed me in the first attack, then I came back, dodge the first attack and just killed him by attacking in the back before he could walk across the room 
• despite having sound in the menu buttons the game lacks sound feedback for gathering an upgrade
• how many heart pickups to get a life point?

A very beautiful game with upgrades that blend with the character in an interesting way. I loved the idea of using hair to reach greater heights; it's impressive how much is included in the jam version.

I only have two things to comment on: the first is the music, it behaves strangely when changing rooms; there were moments in the game where I went quite a while without music. And the second is that I think I got soft-locked? In a room with four enemies, it closes when the character reaches the middle. However, after killing all four, the doors remained locked and I couldn't interact with anything (at that point my upgrades were the attack and hair upgrades

Really good game! I really liked how you contextualize the abilities, and the world is very charming. I liked all the different areas you added.

Some small stuff, dying on one hit on the spikes felt a little bit too punishing, and on the heart boss you would jump up to hit it and at the same time a spike spawn on top of you so it would be really hard to react (maybe having some effect that shows when a spike is about to fall could help?)

Wow, there's a lot here! This is a cool game, well done. Unfortunately, the hair grappling ability broke when I was playing the web build, so I was stuck and unable to make progress. Once I downloaded the game, the issue went away.

Really solid metroidvania. Lots of content. I like that despite the limited color scheme, areas look so distinct and recognizable. Combat was easy but the puzzles kinda twisted my brain. I didn't finish it yet. I don't have any constructive things for this one. Everything fits and works well, at least as far as I played. Congrats!

it is one of the most beautiful games on the Jam, it is full of feature, fun, and challenge while still appears minimalist.

Neat game. Nice narrative bits and overall presentation. I was expecting a final boss fight, given the intro, but that’s the reality of time constraints. Controls a little floaty, but manageable. I did catch a bug: after exiting a pipe in slime form, I could walk through pipes in human form for a short time.
Aside from that and the aforementioned death pits, it’s a really nice game. I had fun playing it.

I finished the game and really enjoyed it! My very part was just the atmosphere, the surreal setting and character abilities, and overall vibe. The music did a lot of good work here too. And I really love the ole "drop you down a huge pit to start the game, then you can get back to some of those places later" opening. 

I didn't actually mind the aggressive traps and hazards (something I wish I had time to add to my game) , but I can see them not being everyone's cup of tea. I think they can be playful and kind of funny, provided you don't lose too much progress. 

I wish there was some kind of feedback when grabbing the pickups / runes, some visual and/or sound effect. Would have gone a long way to making that more rewarding. And similar issue when fighting the boss in the forest area, I wasn't even sure I was dealing damage until it died and the gates opened ( whereas the enemies have a hit flash). I'm sure this was all just from running up against the deadline though. 

Great job overall and hope yall continue working on it!

I played the game for a while and must say, that I really enjoyed the setting and the art style. The setting is very unique and sort unsettlin, but in a good way. I just read in another comment, that there is a map in the pause menu. Since I didnt even check out the pause menu I didnt really noticed that. But my major critique would have been a missing map, and that some checkpoints are far away. But this is also a "difficult" game design decision: you are currently giving the player the control over "where" to respawn under the condition that there is a checkpoint nearby. Which is better for skilled/experienced player who know what they are doing. However:  from what I saw from the game it would have been also enjoyable to have automatic checkpoints, e.g. like respawning at the previous screen. Depending on what you are aming for you might consider this as an option. Other than then I have nothing to criticize. Cool game. Awesome setting.

Yo this is awesome! I think the controls are a little wierd, but that objective, maybe a controls tab would be good? I love the level design, and the parkour! I do think that more checkpoints should be set, because I had a lot of big runbacks, maybe I just missed them. Also a map would be good, but I get that, I ran out of time for a map as well in my game! The mobility is really fun, I think less health for enemies and lower attack speed for the player would just feel better though, spamming is kind of annoying even though theres hardly any cooldown.  All nitpicky stuff, its really solid work!

I love slide canceling!!

This is a neat game, I enjoyed it quite a bit. You managed to pack quite a lot of content into this, with a story, some very nice pixel art, several zones and bosses, which is impressive. While I initially found the character’s movement kind of frustrating due to its low acceleration, learning the slide jumps was actually very fun. That being said, moving her in the air still feels pretty frustrating, especially combined with the very finicky hair grappling.

Overall I’d say my main gripe with this game is a lack of polish, which, for what it’s worth, is very understandable for a gamejam game. For example, the first time I got to the black void area with the piranha plant that ambushes you at the crown (?) symbol, I died and I had assumed that the crown symbol was a fake anglerfish lure kinda deal, so I spent some time at the end looking for the final symbol, only to realize that, oh, no, that was a real symbol, I’d just already collected it. For being the main collectible you need to win the game, they’re collectable without any real fanfare, no particles or distinct sound effect or anything, which would’ve been quite helpful. I had a similar experience with the heart boss, where at first I wasn’t sure if I was even damaging it, due to a lack of hit feedback.

Going fast in this game feels very fun, but I died a few times from sliding into a new room and immediately falling into a hazard on the new screen that was a bit of a bummer. I also sometimes found myself skipping save points because you need to go through the save animation every time. While it is a cool animation, I kind of wish the saves would just automatically trigger when you pass them by, lest I need to interrupt my constant string of slide jumps.

I had quite a few things to critique there, but I don’t mean to make this review sound too negative, because I did really enjoy this game, I just had a lot of tiny things to nitpick, haha. I think your level design is very solid, aside from my little mishap with the black void zone I never really felt lost, which is impressive considering the scale. Really good job overall!

This game is so charming! The controls feel floaty but responsive and the exploration feels very coherent. I love how gating is implemented by abilities and by collecting these little symbols and having them light up depending on the amount. The ending kind of feels a little anti climatic though, considering the text foreshadowing what the queen really is. It kind of feels like there would be a grand(er) reveal. Anyway my only real complaints about the game would be the hazards, and the grapple mechanics. Dying in one shot to the spikes and being taken back to the last save point feels really mean. And the grappling window feels very tight and unforgiving, especially in the forest area. It took me several tries just to collect the symbol since falling takes me back all the way back. Still, I really enjoyed the game regardless!

Despite getting soft-locked in one part of the game, I really liked the concept, and from the little of the story that I was exposed to (I didn’t manage to finish everything), I had a lot of fun. I wasn’t expecting a symbiote-related story.

The visuals look great, and I liked the way everything was animated.

The controls are responsive and pleasant to use.

Thank you for sharing the project!

I found a lot of the vertical platforming sections in the green area to be really frustrating - I think the camera was the biggest culprit here, it tends to lag behind the player when moving vertically which makes it hard to see where you're going, especially when moving downwards. There was also just some general finickiness with getting the hair grapple points to activate, I found them to be rather frustrating in general at various points - the slight slipperiness of the player doesn't really combine well with needing to get specifically her head to contact the points. I also wish the runes other than the final set were shown on the menu as well, I had a hard time keeping track of them. Also the menu button could use adding to the controls list, enter was pretty far down my list of keys to check so I didn't find the menu until a good ways in.

Otherwise this is a pretty straightforward and solidly executed metroidvania, I don't have a whole lot to say about it. Map is fairly large and varied for a jam entry, and the visuals are appealing although I don't really get much minimalist vibes from them even with the limited color scheme. The music did feel much more minimalist and I really enjoyed how it kept the same overall structure the whole time just with different instruments coming in and out for different areas, was very clever.