If I had a nickel for every game in this jam where I had to fight a chochin-obake, I’d have 2 nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.

There’s potential here for sure! I see you’ve already done a lot of self-reflection about things you could’ve done better, and your thoughts actually align with mine pretty well. It’s good to think about what kind of game you want this to be, if you do want to keep working on it.

One thing I noticed at some point in the game, was that there’s very little point to actually fighting enemies. They are quite slow, and the rooms are huge, so it’s easy to run past them, and there’s no reward for fighting them. It might be good to have HP drop from enemies (and at save points?) instead of regenerating, or maybe just having some locked arena rooms to force the player to engage with them. I also got lost a bit at the start, as I mentioned in the Discord, because there’s quite a few immediately interesting places (the rocks, the cave, the spider web, the path back) put onto the player’s mental stack before you get to interact with them, making the only actual intended progress path (the well) easy to miss.

Very stylish and cohesive game for sure though, could be something special with more polish and content!

I had a great time with this game and I honestly think you should give yourself more credit! Visually, it's definitely one of my favorite 3D entries I've reviewed so far. I also don't know if I'd agree that it's "too Pseudoregalia," because my first comparison was actually to Dark Souls, with the overwhelming sense of loneliness and a more methodical pace of exploration.

The atmosphere is top-notch, and while perhaps unintentional, I think the scarce enemy placement actually adds a lot to the desolate and haunting mood. The only area that truly struck me as "too big" was the big cave with the spider webs and electric generators, and I think it was less so the size itself than the lack of landmarks. (Personally I don't think large areas are necessarily a problem, but large areas with not much interesting to look at may be a problem!)

Aside from the atmosphere, I think the player character is definitely the biggest highlight of the game. I absolutely adore the design, from the helmet and the clothes to the weapon, and I think the movement, the animations, the combos, and the sense of feedback from hitting things, are damn near perfect. The only thing I'd perhaps change is making the dash a bit faster and more "punchy" - but even then I'm kinda torn on that one, because I think the somewhat restrained movements play into the idea of being just a regular person with a bit of training and a bit of magic power, as opposed to some kind of a godlike ninja. Also, I guess due to the time constraints, it doesn't seem like buffing your weapon has any effect on combat?

I think the enemies are cool enough and they fulfill their intended roles well, although the kappa do feel like they duplicate the job of the lanterns a little bit. I know this probably wasn't possible with the time limit, but if you decide to work on this further (which you should!!!), I think the kappa could do with a more "annoying" moveset to fit their mischievous lore. For example, pushing you away if you get too close, or being able to dodge out of your combo and punish you with a quick throw if you get too greedy with your attacks.

However, if there's one thing I think could really tie all the different enemy types together, it's a tanky "bruiser" style enemy. Think Infested Barbarians from Dark Souls: scarce, hulking, close-to-mid-range, manageable when alone, but potentially lethal when surrounded by lesser enemies. Again, not something that was plausible within the time limit, but definitely something I'd love to see in a future version!

Either way, if I haven't made it clear yet, I really hope you continue to work on this game! While other games I've reviewed may have been built from the ground up to be a short experience, or you could tell where the developers ran out of time, I think this game felt the most like a "demo" in the best sense of the word, because it left me wanting so much more. The whole time playing, I had this persistent feeling that a far bigger world could be hiding just behind the corner - and I hope one day, that world can become a reality!

My fellow yokai enthusiast! As expected, I really enjoyed the look of your entry. The N64-like artstyle is well done and immediately pushes my nostalgia buttons (though the SSAO does detract from the look a bit). The enemies are great, including their animations. I loved the Kappa grabbing rocks from the ground, that was a nice touch. Though I felt the player's animations were a bit stiff and combat lacked impact.

Otherwise the game was intriguing, but the environments are way too big. I got very lost in the cave beyond the marsh. It was all long stretches of nothing that took forever to walk through. At some point I unlocked a shortcut to the first cave but I did not identify any other way forward, or any powerup to justify being here, so I went back to try other paths but it was just too tedious. (Also, there's no collisions on houses in the village, but you probably already know about it.)

I love 3D Zelda-likes so I will be curious to see where it's going if you chose to keep working on it after the jam ;)