itch.io

I played for about 10 minutes. Overall, the controls and combat felt smooth and responsive, and the strategy became apparent pretty quickly.

Tutorial / controls

I had some trouble recognizing what was part of the tutorial versus just normal gameplay. The controls are almost intuitive enough on their own that I wonder if the game could rely less on a formal tutorial and instead make interactions/current control options a little more obvious through highlights, symbols, or contextual prompts.

That said, the tutorial did a good job explaining the main options like shooting, melee, and dodging once I understood what it was showing me.

I never figured out what Z did, so that may need a little more indication.

Combat

The combat felt good. Shooting, melee, and dodging were responsive, and I could understand the basic strategy almost immediately.

The AI also seemed fairly robust for the amount I played. It appeared to use different tactics appropriately—closing into melee when in range, keeping distance and using ranged attacks, etc. That made the fights more interesting than simply reacting to one predictable behavior.

I also liked finding the other weapons, and the grenade was especially fun.

Presentation / possible additions

The underlying game feels well developed mechanically. At this point I think additional artwork and/or a cleaner, more polished UI could have a fairly large impact on the overall presentation.

I could also imagine environmental mechanics adding more tactical variety—dangerous zones, hazards to avoid, or things you could push opponents into, for example.

Overall, the combat foundation felt solid and fun very quickly. My biggest friction was understanding the tutorial/interface rather than understanding the combat itself.

Fun little clicking game! I played around 10 combats and cleared the second Forest adventure. I played it in browser, which I assume the UI sluggishness was at least partly due to this likely. It feels like there’s more tactical depth here than I was able to understand from the tutorial/descriptions alone.

Combat / strategy clarity

The elemental trade-offs and different ability/card types seem like they could create interesting strategy, but I wasn’t always able to understand what was happening well enough to make deliberate choices. I read what each did, but understanding why or when to use which seemed difficult.. a color or symbol quickly identifying the type would be really helpful: Summon, Damage, Buff, etc.

I don’t understand why cards appear and disappear. Is the available selection random? What determines which cards appear, and does the player have any control over it besides picking their deck cards? Because they change/disappear, it was difficult for me to plan ahead. I might consider keeping them visible unless that changing hand is an important part of the intended strategy.

Mana also felt less important to me than the response time of the card UI. I could usually cast as quickly as the card menu became available, while I only actually ran out of mana once or twice. Because of that, the speed of the drawer/UI animations became part of the combat pacing. Smoother/faster UI interactions could have a surprisingly large impact on how the game feels.

I also had trouble distinguishing my units from my opponent’s, and I often couldn’t tell whether I was winning or losing. Some clearer indication of battle momentum, outgoing vs. incoming damage, or whether an elemental choice was effective would help me understand if my decisions were good.

I also saw minions become scared and run away, but I didn’t understand what caused that.

Flow / usability

Hitting Practice started a matchmaking queue. I expected Practice to immediately start a fight against AI, so this confused me.

When starting an Adventure level, I clicked the level, saw its intro, was returned to the map, and then had to click the same level again to actually fight. I think clicking the level → showing the intro → immediately starting the fight would flow more naturally.

I also couldn’t find a way to quit/leave a non-human battle once it had started.

Possible bugs

Canceling from the matchmaking queue didn’t appear to cancel properly. The battlefield briefly appeared and then the game exited the match.

I cleared the second Forest adventure, but the third adventure didn’t unlock/progress for me.

Overall, I think there’s more strategy here than I was able to fully understand during the playtest. The biggest improvement for me would be making the combat state and the reasons things happen more immediately readable, along with smoothing out the UI response during battle.

Thanks so much for the incredibly detailed feedback! I got a lot out of watching the video, and I’ll be working a number of your suggestions into fixes and polish over the next week. The skill tree issue that stopped the run is at the top of my list.

Your combat UI suggestions especially made sense. I’m still a little torn on the treasure-after-combat point, but I’m thinking through it. I also really enjoyed your dialogue reading and exploration of the game, and of course seeing you recognize some of the game references. More than anything, it was just really fun watching and hearing someone else experience the game. Thanks again!

Thanks so much for playing and for the comment! The Item relic is meant to let you use consumables during combat, but I clearly need to make that more intuitive. I’ll work on making that clearer in-game. Really appreciate the feedback!