I enjoyed it!
I liked the divide between the village and dungeon and thought how the village was broken into different spaces was engaging. It reminded me of several older games but I haven’t seen a game do that type of space layout recently. I also thought the skeuomorphic menu was interesting.
I did feel like I could have used more feedback or guidance on how to play. This is not a genre I play a lot of, so there are doubtless things a seasoned player would immediately get that I struggled with a bit. Like, in the dungeon I wasn’t sure if clicking E on the compass rose meant my character moved east or that my character turned to face east.
Similarly, the combat button layout felt rather novel to me but maybe it’s old hat for dungeon crawler fans.
One thing that I wasn’t sure about was the announcements mid-battle that would say things like “You are ready to make your move”. I wondered if there might be another way to communicate that without slowing down combat as much?
To me, it felt like a major draw to the game was probably the player character transforming in various ways as play goes on. I felt like the game made me really work to get to that content.
I liked the two women who share a body and run the hotel a lot and found myself looking forward to getting to know them better, moreso than the flame person in the parlour.
As for overall vibes, doom definitely hangs heavy over the player character and it seems like a traumatic past is hinted at. The village, too, felt like it had seen better days. The dungeon, as far as I got, was surprisingly un-gruesome and almost peaceful by contrast.
I wondered if the player character’s past would stay vague or become more important to the story as play progressed; I expect the trauma backstory would resonate with a percentage of trans players.
Good luck with the Steam release!!
