Sorry for getting this review out to you so late, and thanks for requesting the review and hanging out in chat!  I'm very behind in posting these so I'll keep the text portion short.  I love the depth and feel of the game.  I definitely felt myself just slip into the game and forget about the time completely.  There were a few times I found it difficult to identify what type of enemy I was dealing with at a glance, as some of them are very similar looking.  Turns passing outside of combat feels odd, and entering combat without the full move speed feels a little arbitrary because of how sudden combat phases start outside of the large boss arenas.  Moving in and out of combat does feel rewarding though, and allows the player to feel very clever for doing so.

The VOD for the review is linked below and will be available for 60 days (as a note, the game is specifically muted in the VOD to preemptively prevent any DMCA issues):
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2887760711?t=1h27m25s

 Hi Blackforkgames!

Great game you have going here, and I can see that you put a lot of thought into the balance and diversification of the gameplay with the different classes. I can see you have placeholders for even more coming in the future so I won't really talk about what you could potentially do so much as what I liked and didn't like in the existing game.

First off, we spoke about the music and how it could be something more during my stream. We also agreed it's not really the main priority at the moment, but at the same time the overall experience and feeling of the game could benefit from the mood set by the music too. SFX were okay, nothing that hurt the gameplay, and they fit all the movement and notifications. I didn't mention it while I was playing, but the audio for the tension accumulating was pretty useful and maybe could be slightly louder for players to notice when other sounds are going on.

The colors in the game didn't really hinder my gameplay, especially since the enemies, even though they are color-coded, also had names and stats on them. This was enough to help me identify them, so I appreciated that. Even the environment items, such as the poison and the red blocks with the X's on them, were easily visible and identifiable for me. 

We spoke already about the tutorial system needing some work, and I'd like to reiterate that I personally feel that if you nail that down, then the game in its current state is pretty solid. I think most of the flaws, strategies, and struggles players might have with your game melt away once they understand what and how to do what they need to. It's kind of like a Sudoku puzzle; once you know what you need to do, then the learning of the techniques to tackle it falls into place and feels great to discover.

Oh and one last item that I'd think to improve is that maybe put a minimum spawning distance from the entrance to each level in a way that doesn't feel too overwhelming at the start of a stage. That was part of what killed me going onto a new floor (aside from my lack of understanding of some mechanics).

Lastly, just a reminder to consider showing block damage with a little shield along with the existing damage dealt as an indicator that would make players aware of the damage they are doing with or without tension even. 

I want to take some more time trying out the other classes without rushing, but it's a game I'd like to come back to, as I found it pretty fun. As it is now, I'd probably even consider picking this up when it's more complete. Awesome job, and keep me in mind when you release your new updates!

Thank you for joining the Jam and for having me play your game!

Regards,

- Glim
GlimMusic.com

• Youtube Link / Twitch Link
• Graphics : Definitely needs to drop the AI stuffs, what's here could go numerous routes of art design/style like Gemcraft.
• GUI : Mostly fine but can definitely do with a touch-up 
• Performance : Really wasn't all too great, it was playable but enjoyment was greatly impacted.
• Music / Sfx : Not keen on audio direction as a whole
  • Music : Lackluster, can get cut off abruptly, bosses have no more presence musically than you heading to the bathroom.
  • SFX : What's here is a bit lackluster , movement is a weird little squeak, the attacks and death are hardly a thing , lightning strikes are completely silent , being spotted by an enemy is nothing, killing a boss and getting a blessing is no more cause for fanfare than any other bloody thing, etc etc.
• Gameplay : A somewhat novel idea for a roguelike, I think I played something similar back in the days of flash but I'm not certain.
• Notes : 
  • Circle feels pretty powerful on his own
  • Level ups feel pretty powerful mostly but some options are questionable , e.g. momentum doesn't feel particularly useful when compared to just a bonus action WHENEVER , the momentum option just seems like a downgraded 'faster rolling'
    • "Rejected options can appear again later" , from what I remember, there was only the three options, it really does feel like there needs to be more choice and filler so you don't just become a 20 damage dealing, 20 action point moving god, but maybe that's needed later on?
  • How much of this is actually AI, I'm fairly certain you've been in enough of my streams to hear my distaste of AI in general. I know you're replacing the art with human made stuff but for future stuff, it might be better if you even just do placeholders as MS paint stuff, if you use any AI whatsover , many artists (that I know) will outright avoid working with you due to their aversion to being associated with AI or otherwise.
• Final Thoughts : Overall I do like the idea of it , but I definitely want to see the AI stuffs scrubbed from it , I hope most of the code is human made and most of what the vibecode was just minutia that was just a bunch of small tedium.

I know you were there in chat, but just wanted to drop the recording here in case you need to reference anything: 

Nice game congratulations :)