I love the fact that all your games usually have this very clear concept and idea going on, and this one is no exception. Fantastic interpretation and implementation of the theme and genre. My only gripe with the game is the player's movement itself, it feels clunky and inconsistent (especially when jumping). Apart from that, fantastic work.

A very cool and cleverly unique Metroidvania, although I would say one that is in real need of polish.

The concept of being stuck in a painting is obviously cool, there’s some really good pixel art on display for the character, and I was impressed that the powerups you get are rather unique, even your double jump has a unique gimmick to it. The map functions very well too.

The audio and the music are a bit grating (I was on the download version). The jump, dash, the bouncing sounds, they’re all so shrill and loud, which I read in an earlier comment may be due to your hearing problems. Definitely good to get a second opinion on this earlier in development, haha. Aside from that, I also think the character controller could’ve used some work. It feels a bit stiff, perhaps some buffers and a variable jump would’ve helped a lot.

Still, a neat little Metroidvania with plenty of unique stuff to it, good work!

I really like this one. The enemies are bizarre, but neat, and there's a lot of thought put into the level design itself. The powerups do feel meaningful too, and it feels great being able to get past obstacles that used to be a pain to avoid. With that said, there are a few small issues that I'll echo.

Getting hit can sometimes feel very punishing. There were times where I would get hit by a brush, knock back into the air, and then fall onto the brush again to get hit, over and over until I died. Knockback is simply too large, and the lack of invuln to getting knocked back again means you can get thrown way back or take a lot of damage for one mistake. I gather this is why you added the healing ability. I do like the touch that the upgrade board 'hurts' you so that you can recover again.

The water rising puzzle feels like it is a bit tight, probably because you need to double jump at the very top of the first jump arc to clear the last platforms and reach the lever. It also wasn't clear to me that the reason the music changes was because water was rising until my first death, although it was very nice that it respawns you at the bottom to try again.

The jump sound is a little too...Idunno, squeaky? Maybe high pitched or loud? You get used to it, but it was one of the things that got on my nerves at first.

I think the button prompt to activate checkpoints only shows the controller button, and not the keyboard key. However, you do list the corresponding buttons on the page, so this is minor.

I forgot I had a map until the end, but it is a very nice feature. In a way, that's a sign that the level design was very clear and not repetitive, as I didn't need to use it much to figure out where to go next.

Despite my criticisms, I want to reiterate: this is REALLY good. Keep making games!

Enjoyment 4/5: This is probably my favorite TeePeeDee MVM entry yet.

Execution 3.5/5 rounding down to 3: That knockback is horrid and a couple times felt a bit glitchy.

Sensory 3.5/5 rounding up to 4: The music is there, the visuals are on point. The music was very loud and I couldn't turn it down effectively (at least quicklyy) due to fullscreen

Metroidvania 5/5: Exploration and movement upgrades that make a difference? Check

Theme: 5/5: Being lost in a world of abstract art was a really good call for this one.

Hell yes, I needed this. Playing it I thought the backgrounds really look like a Mondrian…. oooooh! As has been mentioned, that knockback was brutal. The only sequence that started to frustrate me was the dash through the spikes BUT the skill at the end was so good.

I don’t know what it is, but the jumping feels off, like there’s a slight delay. Not terrible but, like I said, it felt off. Flip side, actually walking up the stairs was nice.

I really would have liked a fullscreen option on the download, my pc is also hooked up to my tv but since it’s only fullscreen, I couldn’t actually move the window to the tv so just played the web version with glitchy audio, but it was worth it!

Pretty cool concept for the minimalist art style, and I really liked the shift mechanic. Very good overall!

I think the only issues I found is like someone else said the knockback on getting hit was too extreme, and instead of helping not get hit again, it more often than not bounced the character against another obstacle/enemy. And also the bouncing ball sound effects were really grating, to the point that I had to mute the game despite everything else soundwise being good (I played by downloading it as you recommended)

I wasn't expecting to enjoy this one as much as I did. The visual style of the world feels weird and trippy and I quite like that. The abilities themselves were also pretty cool; getting the ability to destroy spikes that were previously such a nuisance felt awesome. I also really liked how, when you activated the colored blocks while you're inside one of them, you get shot upwards fast. That felt really satisfying to use. I also appreciated having a map to navigate with, and how you can toggle it on or off so it isn't always taking up part of your screen.

There were a couple things I didn't like so much, though. The jump felt really awkward to use at first, since it seems to have a set height no matter how long you press the button. Also, there is this high-pitching static-y sound that seems to only play in the rooms with the bouncing balls that got really grating really quickly.

Overall though, the game was very fun to play. So uh... good job.

I think that the visual are great, although I also do understand the criticism of some comments that some sprites are stylistically not matching, but this is a jam game after all. As of now I dont see any reason why crouching is in the game, since the player sprite does not really change in terms of size, although as a player I am not able to see the corresponding colliders. The overall take on the topic is extremely cool, but the knockback of some enemies really was immersion-breaking for me.

Nonetheless: great Game!

I really liked the sense of progression and the fact that new upgrades really change how you see and move in the world which is a core tenet of the metroidvania genre. The only flaw I found was that controls were not too much responsive, sometimes jumps would not trigger, and the physics overall felt a bit too "floaty", and sometimes the big knockback that enemies give can feel frustrating.  I suppose I got the "normal ending" (it seemed from the end screen that there could be some other ending), but I definitely enjoyed playing this and all the upgrades felt very original and a good twist from how they are usually implented.

Interesting game. I don't know if the audio was meant to be like this but if it was then it adds a unique sense of dread as you go through the world, which is quite fitting to this abstracted and incomprehensible world.

I do think the character sprites are not a good fit when taken in conjunction with the rest of how the game is presented - I don't know what the process for these were obviously and perhaps it was done for visual clarity but they just don't mash well enough. I think the enemies are an example of how to do this well - I clearly know one when I look at one, but they also look good within the game's world. It was also quite good structurally speaking, backtracking was intuitive enough to stop me from being completely lost but it was not too obvious to the point of feeling stale. Blocks being able to push you into directions was also a good touch.