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The idea could work, but not this way. It's just a "pick 5 cards, hope they're better than the boss' " game -- and they usually are.

it's a good idea, but needs more depth.

The idea could work, but isn't developed at all and you can easily circumvent the challenge by just shooting at the floor, close to the enemies... This way, it's very easy to calculate how the projectiles will bounce.

Great game, but the character movement is a bit unpredictable when it's walking on an object being pushed by another object.

It's a well-made game with a good idea at the base. It also has a good premise and scope, and an atmosphere which is functional to that; the various game elements feel very cohesive. I like it overall. 

There are 2 big flaws for me. The first one are the randomized, endless levels. I would have much preferred an adventure mode with "handcrafted" levels which have a beginning and an end, as this would allow for a more refined difficulty and a more sofisticated level design, which, as it is, is far too simple.

The second one is that the fundamental game mechanic doesn't allow for a much deep gameplay, it's too simple and more suited for a mobile game.

3/5.

I like the idea, but the realization isn't very good. Should have started with a single turret and less bullets, then increase the difficulty from here on. Maybe with moving turrets, faster and slower bullets, exploding bullets, etc. 

But less turrets. Less than 4 for sure, because this way you're just forced to focus on avoiding bullets and don't really have time to try to direct your shield towards the turrets.

I completed the first 2 levels, then gave up, as it felt too random. 3/5.

I don't understand this game. You have to collect all loot (so you have to be a thief), but you also have to activate all security systems (so you have not to be a thief)?

It's not a stealth game, it's a collect-a-thon.

Great concept, but I'm not sure if I would still call this game a platformer. The difficulty of a platformer lies in timing your jumps correctly, here, because of the controls, the timing aspect is completely absent. It's actually a puzzle game. 3/5.

Pros: It removes a lot from the Metroidvania genre while still managing to

• recreate the atmosphere of a Metroidvania game perfectly, exploration and discovery included
• include some backtracking
• add power-ups
• add an interesting boss fight.

Cons: It removes too much from the Metroidvania genre, to the point that it's a different genre.

Overall: If you're familiar with the genre, you'll appreciate this game A LOT, because you'll recognize all the traditional elements of these games translated into a new, peculiar form. If you're new to the genre, you will miss much of the Metroidvania experience, but all the fundamentals will still be there. You will still be able to enjoy the GREAT atmosphere this game has and its sense of exploration and discovery.

Experiment succeeded, 4/5.

Difficult but fair controls. Great idea and execution. Game is well made and introduces new enemies/hazards at a good pace. So far the best game of the jam I've played.

• Great style and presentation.
• At first I didn't realize I was moving at all, because of the lack of reference points.
• I don't understand the dodge mechanic, all I hear is a noise when I press Shift and I don't understand if it's doing anything at all, so I just keep spamming it.
• Green rays go too fast, it just feels random if you get hit by them or not.

• It's difficult to understand the range of bombs.
• I think that, in order for this to still be a "Shooter", there must be some shooting involved. And there must be enemies. There's none of that.

FOREWORDS:

Game completion: I played for around 30 minutes, collected around 5 keys, explored ~10 rooms (out of 21) and did not finish the game. Please understand: I wanted to review as many games as possible and didn't want to focus on just a single one too much.

The goal of this game jam (from my point of view; this is key in order to understand the way I reviewed this game): "you, developers, have to remove a fundamental mechanic of a genre and have to find a new, creative mechanic to make up for that". The important part of this challenge is actually the second one.

REVIEW:

[1/2] As a Metroidvania per se, I didn't like it.

• Jumping feels off (you jump too high too fast), camera is too close to the player;

• enemies attack too fast and are often placed too close to the room doors;
• the healing mechanic turns the game into a waiting game.
• Rooms look all the same, no secret paths (because of no breakable stage elements). Map is too simple with very little branching paths. Backtracking is almost absent.

[2/2] Then there's the new original idea, which the developers had to come up with in order to maintain the game genre intact while removing a basic mechanic. They removed power-ups and character progression and introduced... keys. But this is very problematic:

• No character progression means - if present at all - no meaningful backtracking, because you don't feel empowered when you revisit previous rooms, which detracts a lot from the Metroidvania experience (one could argue that you as a player become better at the game, but that's not the case either because the controls and battle mechanics are just not deep enough).
• The fact you only have one way to access new rooms, that is via doors opened by keys, limits strongly the map design. No secret paths, no puzzles, no exploration. Just go in all rooms, collect all keys, defeat the final boss. It's a 2D Platformer.

TO WRAP IT UP:

The developers removed a fundamental game mechanic (power-ups), which detracts a lot from the overall experience, and the idea they came up with (keys) is uninspired and doesn't make up for that. The "traditional rest" wasn't good, either. 

Needless to say, I didn't like this game. 2/5.