My copy was provided by the dev*

Please note, the main feedback I want to give is related to content, exploration, and objectives, because those are the areas that I think need improvements the most. That said, even though there is not much to spoil, part of a charm of this game is not knowing what content or quality of content it has, even if it may not be exactly what I was hoping for.

So, I was actually really enjoying the game, until I realized there wasn't much happening in the 'overworld', that feeling of wonder and mystery I had for many hours was completely gone because I was looking forward and grinding to things that never came. There are very few relevant features on the map, not much to reward exploration aside from doing more dungeons, and that is perhaps my biggest issue, the illusion of world-building and depth. To be fair, right now the game is more faithful to the retro design, providing mostly surface level interactions with the world and the characters, making it more traditional. There is essentially little to no lore, the few conversations you get are related to the tribe affinity, and even those are not created with much thought. I found 3 different endings, they are very basic in context, roughly 7 to 10 hours to get 3 endings, less individually.

Now, I don't mind if you want to keep the game simple and not go crazy with objectives, but I still think it can benefit from more things in the overworld that would catch your attention, such as side activities or quests, secrets or hidden bosses, I promise people will look for them (even if they are not in the game), I did, and I saw a few people in the forum that also pointed out something along those lines, something about this game does not feel exactly right, and that something is me looking for things to do that are not there.

Yes, the game can be extremely difficult, almost like a SAVE/LOAD simulator, but also there are a few cheesy ways to negate most of that difficulty, if you are lucky enough to find those tactics early on. One thing I find a bit unfortunate, the dungeons are probably way too hard to just tactically approach them at the start of the game, even the easiest dungeons will kill you 5 times over, so really a lot of this game is just grinding the same trash enemies until you can confidently brute force the content, otherwise you will be wasting time getting killed for negligible rewards. Generally the "objectives" in this game are like, find 1 item in this dungeon, use it in another dungeon, and you get one of the endings, so very basic.

There were so many times where I was exploring the overworld and I thought, there might be something interesting hidden over there, maybe I should dig around, look for hidden path, maybe find some side quest, but pretty much 99% of the time the game didn't reward that line of thinking. There are very few points of interest on the map, and you will be stuck grinding around merchants or the tent because it's the most logical thing to do. The looting in this game is something that also needs work, the merchants often have better gear than random things you find in the dungeon, so I am like, okay but why suffer a dungeon that has like 5x difficulty spike if I can just gear up over here and then blow through the dungeon. The game also has this affinity type system where you can befriend different tribes and recruit various creatures, it's pretty surface level and really didn't have much use, mainly because the overworld does not have much going on otherwise. I mean it's a cool idea, if you actually expand on characters that like your affinity toward certain tribes, it could be worthwhile if implemented well.


+ Maybe not a perfect analogy, but I think you made a good skeleton of a game, you have a good structure without much happening in between, the RPG fundementals are fine, but we still need the actual motivation to explore, I like that you require stats to interact with certain game features, I like that game supports some affinity toward tribes, I like that it's very resource and consumable driven, those are good base concepts for an RPG, but we actually need those side quests and proper overworld exploration full of secrets to take advantage of it.

+ I am sure there will be a lot of complaints with UI, I have some myself, but for me it's relative, I played many similar games that put less effort into it, so I think the way you interact with features feels decent, just could use more polish

+ Personally I liked the simple approach to the soundtrack and visuals, maybe not for everyone, but overall I liked the look of the map and the variety of the dungeons, as well as the sprites in general


Improving Hollow/Uneventful Overworld - consider things like side quests, affinity based side quests that would use the align mechanic, hiding more special things around the map, having more map events like optional bosses and secrets, hidden paths, more merchants, things of that nature. I felt like you find 2 merchants and you spend half of the game around them. Map in general could be a little bigger, more island perhaps.

Dungeon Loot should be exciting - One suggestion I would add for the gear, maybe the items from the dungeon chests should have a high chance to roll additional bonuses, and keep the items in the store with base stats only, that way the loot from the dungeons will be more exciting than just shopping, otherwise it feels like the store is better than exploring on average. Something like armor that can role 1 to 20 to max life, weapon that can roll 1-5% more crit, weapon that heals you for 1-2 hp per attack, things like that.

Lacking overall objective - so for the overall goal in this game, in addition to those 3 endings, what I think would be good, add the "final" dungeon that requires something like 4 crystals, one from each dungeon, and the player will be like, I need 4 crystals to open the door because you can show it on the sprite or whatever, and then you complete the whole content, explore the hardest dungeon as a final challenge, fight a final boss, and get the true ending. I think it makes more sense than what you wrote in the notes for hoping to do branching paths. Also, perhaps consider adding a final boss before each ending.

Lore - you don't have to add lore to every character, but what you could do, place a few hidden characters that would be dedicated to optional lore, and maybe you can double up on them with a side quest they offer in one of the dungeons. I would also expand on the dialogue you have fro the tribes, as well as the endings, it's not even just that I don't like the dialogue, but it often feels like a placeholder, something you wrote, not something characters would say or how they would interact.

Random small notes - make it easier to see exits on the map, don't use the same map tile for floor stairs and small stairs. Is there a way to get another boat if it's parked in the wrong spot? A button to 'Escape the Dungeon' might be useful, maybe with a penalty if you want, otherwise you can literally get lost in some of them. Maybe tent should have 250 chargers or something, just a thought. The game crashes every 90 minutes for me, it even resets my icon size and mouse speed on the desktop.

Overall Thoughts: EA 1/17/2025

So yea I don't dislike the game, I just want to see you reward exploration better, make better dungeon loot, and improve objectives, additive features, just more of what you have.

TLDR: Just play it!

This is very fun to play. I love the old school graphics, especially the 3d dungeons, you can even change the color scheme if you wish. There is this nice sfx of the burning torch as you explore. A nice little touch of immersion there.

But what I also love about this game is the amount of options you have, you can interact with some npcs or enemies whom you can align with and ask to join your party. However they often are hostile to other factions so you cannot have a mixed group. And not every enemy can you talk to (esp if they hate your current allies in your party) or attempt to ally with of course. And during combat you can use an ally to do the next round of combat, they need to level up the same way as you do. But at this point in time, as in not implemented, you cannot give them better gear or bandage them. However- like you, when they level up they replenish their health. I often let them deal the killing blow to an enemy to help level up. You can trade with them as well if they can afford it.

Also you can talk about key words you learn about the lore of the game and enquire about them with an npc, which will have a brief paragraph just enough to tap into the lore and your imagination without being pages long.

You don't have to manage food or water, just make sure you got a few torches and some bandages when you go into a dungeon, your torches do run down per movement when in a dungeon. But besides your health you need to watch your sanity meter aka your wits. Every so often when searching for traps you might lose a point of sanity, you can gain it too like when opening a chest and other ways. It does pay to save often. If your health is low you can attempt to sneak past dangerous foes or flee which if successful will have you in the first room near the exit. Or if in dire straits you can opt to yield and lose some items and allies but live. Flee is a great option when you are lost or very low in health, no wasting time trying to find your way back to the exit. If that makes it too easy for you, don't use that option. But its great that it is there. But you might press on and try your luck or just save often.

There are items you can buy that make things a little easier, such as a tent which can be placed anywhere on the world map, be aware enemies respawn when you exit out of a dungeon. But you can only have one tent at a time, but can revisit it as many times as you want to heal and restore wit/sanity. Its your home away from home. Some might think that makes the game too easy, but you cannot use a tent or place one in a dungeon. A compass can be brought that gives you a direction on the dungeon mini-map which is very useful to know which way you are facing. Speaking of the map there is a larger map you can open when in a dungeon, you can even switch the map between floors if you have explored lower down.

Another thing I like is the game has a built in manual.

There are treasure maps to find which give you lat. and long. coords on the world map to find some buried treasure which I believe you need to buy a shovel. There are traders on the world map, one is very obvious to find others not so much but that taps into the exploration aspect of the game. Speaking of traders new items can appear with traders every time you exit a dungeon. Some items do not count towards inventory slot limitations which is nice. But regular consumable items do take up space and you can easily get a full inventory. So you are not going to have inventory management hell like some other games.

There are other things such as capturing enemies with a net you can buy, but I haven't found a net yet.

There doesn't appear to be quests, yet. Maybe there are a few main ones later on, idk. But your main goal is to get out of this realm, the game is focused on exploration and not running around completing quests. Although some optional side quests to gain a unique item or ally might be fun if that was to be implemented later.

So it seems this game is designed for fun and not hardcore play which in my books is great. Some games you can get so frustrated with it, you never play it again. This game is fair. But I could imagine in the future there being a hardcore mode added for those that might want such a mode.

I am not sure what the dev has in mind for future development but i am loving what I am seeing. Good job so far!

Very charming little game with a neat style and atmosphere. It was a little confusing to get the hang of at first (thank god there's a manual) but once I managed to get a tent everything clicked. I will absolutely be playing through again to get the other endings and trying out some of the other encounter options. Definitely worth a shot if you're a fan of this old-school style.