What amazing graphics! The neon effect looks absolutely stunning, really beautiful. And combined with the entire game feel? I’d say it’s a fantastic polish job. I believe that was the main focus of your project over these 10 days. Great work on that!
From the very start, the menu shows good quality. It presents the basic settings in an easy and intuitive way, without the need for anything overly complex that would interfere too much with the gameplay.
I understand the game is meant to be more frantic, with each death making us stronger through upgrades, but I would really love for the enemies that shoot to have some kind of anticipation animation. Maybe a different pose, a sound cue, or even something visual to prepare the player to dodge at the right moment.
I’m a huge fan of particles in games, and I think if we had a bit more exaggeration in this one, like during damage-taking or attacking enemies, the combat would definitely feel much more satisfying (though, as mentioned earlier, it’s already quite satisfying as it is).
A bit of variation in behavior from the green enemies would also be interesting. It seemed to me that they always do the same thing, which slightly breaks the sense of progression, even though the levels are visually different from each other.
I understood your idea for the theme of breaking the loop, although I felt its use was a bit sparse. Maybe having some levels where we’d be forced to die and come back stronger to later win could be a good way to enhance the feeling of a loop, while still breaking it when we reach the goal.
Power-ups in the environment would also be a great addition to make the combat more frantic and interesting. It’s already really good as it is, but things like shields, projectiles in all directions, and mass destruction could be fun ways to take out enemies too. Maybe even use some elements from the map itself, like mines or lasers?
The boss was also incredible! His attack effects were really well done, and using familiar enemies was a smart strategy since it didn’t require creating overly complex movements, while still keeping things familiar and maintaining difficulty at an acceptable level.
Really, great game. Although I found the theme a bit distant, it still managed to hook me. Congratulations and good luck in the jam!