Unbelievably short but not in a bad way. I really like the fleshy aesthetic and the various creature designs are pretty cute, too; I think my main problem with the game is just that the controls don't feel particularly good or intuitive, and the metaprogression could use a bit of work. From what I've read the developer made the game in a rather short amount of time (longer than a game jam but not more than a month or two), and I find that impressive for how realized the game is. It isn't quite as fully realized as it certainly could have been if the dev time were doubled, but for what it is it works.
Again, though, those controls were iffy. Jumping and shooting in particular feels awkward as you automatically aim straight down if you hold the jump button at all, somewhat reducing the player's options for varied attacks in a game that already gives the player some restrictive movement. It made things feel much more difficult than they needed to be, spamming tap-jumps and timing the projectiles in a way that feels both too harsh and short of a window yet too floaty and generous of a jump in terms of momentum. Enemies, particularly those in the second section and beyond, seem to have much less restrictive movement than the player, leaving me feeling frankly jealous and even a little frustrated at how easily they could stop on a dime to avoid the player's hyper-precise bullet aiming options.
Meanwhile, the upgrades-between-segments style of progression doesn't feel like it works particularly well. Rather than simply unlocking hats for use in future runs by playing well enough to master the combo system, the game instead just gives very mildly upgraded per-run hats that often feel like a waste of time to get instead of the more practical extra bullet or even an extra heart. I feel that the game in general easily could have implemented some way of unlocking the hats besides the default one through gameplay instead of just having a few of them available at once with a secret or two and the aforementioned per-run hats. This would have felt at least a bit more encouraging to try new runs while still maintaining the low level of metaprogression that was likely intended by the developer.
In the end, though, I think the brief runtime and nice visuals make up for things to make for a relatively enjoyable experience. I found myself wanting to blast through the game in one sitting just for virtue of being a fan of the way it is in terms of sound and aesthetics. It's a cool little game that reminded me of my days playing small not-quite-tested-enough flash games at school during breaks both in terms of looks and feel. It was certainly worth the time put in, and I'm tempted to look into the developer's work after this one even if what I've found isn't as aesthetically pleasing as this one.
Again, though, those controls were iffy. Jumping and shooting in particular feels awkward as you automatically aim straight down if you hold the jump button at all, somewhat reducing the player's options for varied attacks in a game that already gives the player some restrictive movement. It made things feel much more difficult than they needed to be, spamming tap-jumps and timing the projectiles in a way that feels both too harsh and short of a window yet too floaty and generous of a jump in terms of momentum. Enemies, particularly those in the second section and beyond, seem to have much less restrictive movement than the player, leaving me feeling frankly jealous and even a little frustrated at how easily they could stop on a dime to avoid the player's hyper-precise bullet aiming options.
Meanwhile, the upgrades-between-segments style of progression doesn't feel like it works particularly well. Rather than simply unlocking hats for use in future runs by playing well enough to master the combo system, the game instead just gives very mildly upgraded per-run hats that often feel like a waste of time to get instead of the more practical extra bullet or even an extra heart. I feel that the game in general easily could have implemented some way of unlocking the hats besides the default one through gameplay instead of just having a few of them available at once with a secret or two and the aforementioned per-run hats. This would have felt at least a bit more encouraging to try new runs while still maintaining the low level of metaprogression that was likely intended by the developer.
In the end, though, I think the brief runtime and nice visuals make up for things to make for a relatively enjoyable experience. I found myself wanting to blast through the game in one sitting just for virtue of being a fan of the way it is in terms of sound and aesthetics. It's a cool little game that reminded me of my days playing small not-quite-tested-enough flash games at school during breaks both in terms of looks and feel. It was certainly worth the time put in, and I'm tempted to look into the developer's work after this one even if what I've found isn't as aesthetically pleasing as this one.