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I will now comment on this game. I do this because I have played the game. It is not necessary for me to complete the game for me to do this, but I have done this. Completing a game involves playing it for a long time.

...Jokes aside, This was quite a interesting game. I don't really know what the message is, but It's a pretty funny thing in retrospect. Less so in action, but that's kinda the point. Despite how ironic the whole thing is, I did end up feeling a bit sad about the characters fates and how [Spoiler!] all the years spent on the quest were kind of pointless due to the prophecy never even starting.. The way the protagonist repeated what their mother told them was quite bleak...  I was doubly so by the fact that I could of just skipped it all! You do have to go through the credits that feel like they're as long as the actual game either way, so I suppose it's fine.

I do feel like some of the story elements of this game could be pulled of unironically, but I get that that's not the point. What I will say is when I looked at the pages link I got SO DAMN PISSED.

Nice little thing, even if it's really nothing.

I'll just start with the obvious: This game has style in STRIDES. It's music, artwork and, heck, even the simplistic character designs are some of the most cohesive and consistent I've seen a indie project have in a LOOOONG time! You get a peep at one screenshot? A slice of a cutscene or a sprite sheet? You can tell what It's all about, a grungy dystopia filled with quirky assholes just trying to get by. Not to mention the quality of it all! Every background is loaded, almost all tutorials are neat and diegetic, And the characters have clean designs yet detailed motions!

...That's probably what’s been said plenty, yeah? Well, I have some thoughts on the story and gameplay loop, and they ain't as pretty.

For the gameplay, It's nice within itself. A snappy, quick witted platformer with cartoonish combat and simplistic puzzles in wide open levels. A very good showing of lax systems that have the potential to be made harsh.

But then there’s this small thing next to that gameplay, And that's a pair of counters that go completely unused. Now, I get why they are most likely unused, with how it's set up, you can probably start spending on your third run in with Eldriarch. But I can't help but feel like this small choice has so many ripples to it that I can't help but say:

NOT HAVING AT LEAST A DUMMY SHOP INVALIDATES ANY WEIGHT THE DEMO CHOICES HAVE, AS WELL AS THE POINT IN FIGHTING.

Every minor and major choice apart from the last involves giving or taking money, opportunities to make money later and chances to give it away just... mean nothing if it has no value in the first place. Same with Schroeder taking it all. What, am I supposed to be upset at the loss of my nothing? Now obviously this will matter in the full game, but here and now? My shits are zero.

There's also the fact that combat is so easy to avoid up until Brassfist, that the only reason you would ever fight them is to get those blue drops they give you. Which, y'know. You also can't spend. This is a bit less of an issue since it's mainly a platformer, but that's still something that's supposed to mean something giving nothing.

...Also, just saying it here, but the game crashed a lot after beating it once and replaying it. No clue what's up with that, but it was mainly with mushrooms and Fuscolo. Just thought I'd say.

Now, the story. I ain't saying I don't like where it's heading, foreshadowing and color connotation give off good promises, but what's directly given in chapter one is... a bit ass, to be frank? So if I'm getting it right, after a flashback[?] and dream sequence, you leave your house in order to get doped up. You go to the market and get the soul by a '''Lucky number customer promotion'''. Yeah, right. Afterwards, you are told that you can't actually go out the exit, and gotta leave through Lovebox. 

Once getting through Lovebox and back home, you... try to leave for some reason? Through a wall Eldriarch set up, for some reason??? Then you just kinda bum around for a bit until Schroeder mugs you, kick the shit out of Brassfist, have a breakdown and get lored-up. Roll demo credits.

Now, I don't know if I missed something, maybe I mistook a NPC's background exposition as a direct objective... but??? South has zero reason to do any of the shit they do in the middle chunk of the game? Fuscolo only tries to get us signed up on the contracts AFTER we beat up Brassfist, so that's off the table. And judging by all the machines around there's not much reason to go on such a hike for a fix. So. Why the fuck do we head into known cult territory if we have our fix and no grudges. 

And then there's the CHOICES you make in this choice based game, hoooo boy! You get two that actually matter one after another, and I'm not too sold on em, mainly with how they interact. So up first is "Do you spare the life of the man who just mugged you, or do you get your [Worthless] cash back?" This... would probably be a fine enough choice in the full game, a la selling off Terry Hintz at the start of Lisa: The Painful. But in the demo? Why would I ever kill this innocent, clearly unwilling man?

...Without knowing what happens next?

Now after the choice is the Brassfist fight, and its pretty nice. BUT. Once you beat it, sparing Schroeder comes back to bite you. If he lives, the fight ends then and there. If not, you have to fight the second phase of the fight thats ACTUALLY HARD AND INTERESTING? WHY??? What reason is there to make phase 2 route exclusive??? It's not like you lose soul upon killing Schroeder... like, why not make it so that Schroeders hit just makes Brassfist drops you, thus letting the second phase still happen?

Either way, once Brassboy is on the floor, you get you're second choice: "Kill this cult leader that's only been shown to be bad so far?" You get this choice both ways, which just makes me question it even more. Even then, this choice, despite being so simple...kinda sucks? I understand you are doing some Dedan shit with him, making it so that they are more blatantly a mixed character morally with hindsight. But with what we get in the demo?

WHY THE FUCK WOULD KILLING HIM TAKE SOUL AWAY??? THEY LEAD A FUCKING CULT THAT MANGLES PEOPLE AND FORCES ITS MEMBERS TO ROB PEOPLE HOW THE FUCK IS THAT GREY????? Like there has been not one NPC that paints him as a decent guy, with even his supporters being so off mentally that its more creepy than conflicting. There is zero reason given that killing him would not be a public service.

Except for, y'know. The fact there's no reason for us to give a shit.

If you believe in vigilante justice then yeah sure kill em, but for the people playing this as intended, no route in mind? Why give a shit. We're just some druggie who gets nothing from killing them, unlike future targets, when we are paid by the kill. There is straight up zero reason to emotionally care either way about this choice apart from the strangely brutal way South ends them.

This leave both demo choices as... kinda hollow? It's all just routing unless you know about the second phase, and we get zero consequences for killing anyone. Granted, the demo ends near instantly after the fight, but it is what it is. This isn't the best showing from a game basing itself on moral choice, survival versus soul. Like at best, with how much warmer Brassfist seems if you let Schroeder die, the choice is "Who do you get chummy with, if anyone?" and even then that’s assuming Brassfist will have any relevance after the demo, compared to Schroeder's guaranteed role.

All in all, while the gameplay and style is top tier, I feel like this isn't the best showing of the games selling point... this IS the first chapter, and will likely ramp up after we become a contract killer, but right now? It isn't as bad as Mass Effects ending, but it ain't no Undertale yet.

8/10, will certainly check it out and try playing it on release, but might not put too much heart into it if it stays at this level of dilemmas.

Good job with the 1.5 update, new mode seems real promising. This whole project is starting to shape up as a proper game folks would play just for fun instead of just being "Fat Fetish Bejewelled". However, got a few things to say.

1. Sometimes, when I refresh/shuffle the board, it prevents me from playing full stop. not sure if its just on my end through.

2. Some of the descriptions for skills could be more clear. while I near instantly understood that "On match 5" wouldn't work in V.S, it took me ages to understand that Overfeed only lets you move tiles while full in solo, with it  just letting you eat the chain-matches in V.S

3. Fancy Eater is just unredeemable. I know that skills are meant to be balanced by their SP cost/ tour rarity, but this one just seems like it can only hold value to absolute beginners due to the fact you can easily make a 3X+ combo on accident, not to mention that C.T.E blows it out of the water as a "Easy Combo" skill. It should either be reworked, rebalanced, or removed.

4. Don't forget to remove the AI art at some point. Yes, I know that you most likely did this to save on time that you could use for other projects (A more ethical than usual use of it, may I say!), but in the current art environment, this could end up as something that could easily bite you later. That, and the AI mishaps in them make them unsightly.

5. Events could use a bit of sprucing up, as right now, they are either something that doesn't really change too much, something that helps you move a step or two forwards, or a event that just straight up kills your run. it might be nice to change it so you have choices, so you can either play it safe and get a minor boon/bane, or risk getting no benefit/ a major hinderance for a chance at a large help/ no form of loss. a better map would also be nice, but far from needed.

6. The "Free Meal Ticket" event has a minor bug or two. If you were to have less money than you would need to access a food tile without it, you will not be able to go there with it. Also, if you were to go to another event instead of a restaurant, that will still use it.

7. While I understand that cola is meant to be the sweet version of beer, the "refresh" effect seems to be a lot weaker than the "shuffle" one, due to the fact shuffle wont erase other super foods, and has a somewhat better chance at retaining combo due to quicker proc speed and keeping food amounts. in its current state, one might prefer to avoid cola's super and preserve their combos, especially when the "Instant Reset" skill does its job better due to its timing. a change you could make is that the super refreshes the opponents board instead, throwing them off guard and interrupting their combos instead.

8. You might want to reconsider donuts place in Tour mode. with how it is right now, it will always end up summoning a doughnut on the board of a enemy with its one counter (another doughnut).

Overall, there's still some issues, but this game has some real good bones, and could possibly end up having a competitive scene at some point in the future, even if its source material prevents that from being a big one.