Hi! I was happy to finally have time to play the game. It was fun, although it felt a little like it was missing a hook... I don't quite know what. I don't want to come off as negative, but It just feels like it needs more of a "wow." Maybe there just needs to be more game, I dunno, I'm just a dude so it's very possible I'm just flat out wrong!
I took some notes while I was playing, so I'll add them here (please forgive the use of "pickaxe" instead of "mattock"):
- Spike plants should have a little more definition to show they're harmful. Presently, they don't really register as anything but background when you first see them, and they also don't even come off as imposing in general.
- Pause menu - instead of the slow fade highlight, maybe you should also highlight the selected option with a border so it is immediately apparent which item has been selected. Alternatively, as you only have the four options, maybe just make hitting the corresponding dpad just open the menu?
- The Start/Pause button shouldn't select a menu. When I had a menu highlighted, and hit start, and it went into the menu, instead of closing the pause menu. I think this feels odd compared to most games.
- I'm not sure if you're making use of coyote time, but if you are, it feels a bit strict. The 3rd jump in the platforming challenge before the pickaxe room seems especially difficult.
- Now, during play I didn't initially know of the upward slash, this created unwinnable situations where any enemy was above where I was going. Now that I understand it, and tried using it, why not make it the default slash attack, and reserve the sword locking mechanic for the up button. It doesn't have a different forward hitbox as far as I could tell.
- Additionally, making the diagonal downward slash performable during jumping would be very useful. It doesn't diminish the challenge of an enemy waiting for you, it forces you to consider your tools and use them properly.
- The ghost you encounter in the pickaxe room feels too close, should maybe be moved a bit more to the left. It feels like you're punishing a player for learning about the existence of floors that can break beneath you.
- I activated the sliding glitch after falling all the way from the top of the entrance (to save time, instead of using the ladder) to the pickaxe subsection to the bottom-most I could fall, not sure if that helps you debug the issue.
- I also encountered a glitch(?) where I was constantly looking left, and always had an active damage hitbox on both sides of me. Maybe I accidentally activated invuln?
- I found one secret! I'm bad at finding them, haha. Not sure if you're considering a late game expensive secrets map for fools like me.
(I understand any of the above may just be due to this being a demo, but felt it would be helpful to mention anyways.)
Please don't take the long list as being largely negative, I did have a good time, and I thought making the first boss not be a simple "keep hitting them" was cool, you had to pay attention to your surroundings! Plus, I felt the platforming besides the couple strict jumps was fun, the sort of go a bit forward to start at lower branches, then left and right to advance, very nice.
I look forward to seeing where you go with the game :)