Aww! Such a sweet game! 

I really liked the design and animations, wonderful pixel art. The story is very touching, for some reason it reminded me of the Charmander episode from the Pokémon series. 🔥🔥

I didn't always understand what the different stats did besides HP. I guess I missed the explanation.

loved the style and world building with the snow and darkness vs the fire spirit!The walking in the cold animation was nice! (I got tired of it after the 6+ time, but I assume if you had more time you could have had some other ones. Yet even tired, I kept trying to analyse it, and feel the cold, so I guess it worked as intented in world building.)

I found interesting the narrative path you went for, the cryptic symbols and later rewarding your training for choosing beneficial paths, but after 2 "next areas" I kept spamming the "click next" button without reading much (thank you for including the quick option! I would have given up way earlier!)

Awesome aesthetics!

The sound / art fitted really well with the story.

Great environment and story!

I liked the evolutions too! :D

Having to wait though the transition animation so frequently was a bit a of a bummer, especially with a lot of the transitions not doing anything, so you just kinda go to the next one.

The main element that stood out to me as being a reference to the original was that you changed character over time, otherwise there didn’t seem to be much resemblance, but there was some!

Was the game fun to play?

I think for me the fun comes from the storytelling. I particularly liked the phrase “before you lies the vast pale - an inhospitable stretch of snow and wind”. I would have loved to see the story expanded further, particularly at the camps but there is enough to tell an interesting story. I managed to return my embyr from the crater to the citadel and I hope we get to see your character return to the stars in the next round. 

Did the game include the core elements from the original?

Yes. I think choosing a flame for a character to look after is a novel idea and I liked the look of the 3 phases where it gets bigger and I particularly like when it smiles and blinks. Feeding it with tinder is a great alternative to food. There’s also stats and resources on the main page that can go up by using tinder to heal and it can take damage from the cold. 

Was there a clear path of progression?

Progression is very well defined. Taking a fallen star on a journey is great and seeing where you are on the map is a good indicator of your progression. I also like that there is at times a different route to take. Also, the story progresses nicely over time and the end goal of reaching the citadel is clear from the start.

How good was the audio and sound FX?

The 8 bit sound effects were charming and I think the short tune at the end is very good. I feel like the game could benefit if there was some background music that lasts a little longer to fill in some of the silence though. The beeps were clear for when you can and cannot do any more healing. I think being able to feed while the stats page was open would be a good thing too. 

How well implemented was the UI?

Being able to name the character is awesome and I am surprised this is the only game I have come across so far that has done this. The letters A,S and D worked fine for me but the 7 letter limit could perhaps be more generous. The typewriter effect is great and I like that you can click to reveal all of the text at once. For the stats, I understand that HP is health points but I wasn’t sure what FP and DP (defence points maybe?) meant. I’d love to see some further clarity on what the 3 coals (volatile, smouldering and dense) did and what the starting coals (energetic, cautious and brave) did. The UI on the map was great and it was clear where I was and where I was heading. I also like that there is a restart button at the end. 

I think a few things here and there could use clarity, but overall you've told a great story with relatively little gameplay. That's a really tough task to acheive. Great job!

Such a cute little fire, called mine lilguy. a thematic adventure indeed! good job!:)

Nice entry!

It felt like a mix of slay the spire navigation and Oregon trail.

I enjoyed the narration, but including a way to skip the travel/arriving scenes would be nice.

Good job!

Edit: Forgot to mention, you should hide the itch.io fullscreen option, it blocks the unity one and doesn't fullscreen your game's display.

Wow we made it to the Citadel that was some journey. Top notch entry very nice and such an original theme. 

The art is great, and the tamagochi feeling is there.

It's cool and cozy ❄️☺️

I loved the artstyle. The progression loop is well made.

Appreciate that you made it mobile friendly 🙏

Nothing to add really you checked all the boxes perfectly! Smooth and enjoyable 👍 well done!

The art and sound effects where very well made and it showed similar elements to a tamagotchi. Well done!

Great game with a great style, I think you nailed the challenge. Well done!