OH MAN!!!! Too bad you weren't able to make just omore levels, that was super cool!! I loved the art.
The fighting is a little buggy but can easily be fixed. This is a solid base for a castlevania, why haven't I seen this before!! great entry!! If you had made like 4 or 5 levels I'd definitely see it as a top contender. It feels so satisfying to jump-slap the enemies and see the mask breaking, super cool concept, great job!!!
I acknowledged it is unfinished (only one level and it's a bit buggy), but it has something special.
You have to understand where I’m coming from. Jams tend to be crowded with unoriginal and boring puzzle platformers that have nothing interesting to offer, even if they are "finished", even if they have decent art or add a crappy CRT monitor shader to make them look more interesting than what they really are. However, yours truly had something special. Jumping and smashing down enemies felt unique and super fun, the animation is great. I know it’s a stone mask, but I feel like a hammer with legs, super powerful. I've learnt to watch past the unpolished or unfinished stuff and find what makes a game truly fun.
You also went the extra mile to add a few more mechanics, the will-o'-wisp, the whip at the end... Even if it is unfinished, I found it a lot more refreshing than other "finished" platformers where you have to get keys, open doors, and collect reskinned power-ups as "masks" to forcefully fit the theme.
In any case, that was fun. Too bad you didn't have more time to add more levels and polish the mechanics, or that you probably felt tired or unmotivated to finish it, because I found it really fun and if you had pushed a little more you could have had a top contender.
Good job anyway!!
I definitely think it might have legs of its own, maybe even smashing the environment to break floors or a sideways dash to break walls... or hit columns to shake them and make something fall down. It's all about how creative you get. I'd ditch the mask stuff and the whip, and I'd go for a character called "hammer head" or something like that and base the whole game on that fun mechanic. In any case, good luck with that!
