Elsie Review (JIMROD)
The game currently feels like it's almost ready for early access. I've played friends' alpha builds of games that have more complete UI and menus, and more responsive text boxes than this game. It's just not ready.
It's pretty fun. The primary challenge in the first 2 hours is training your eyes to recognize enemy attacks and indicators through the constant visual noise. Once you get used to that, the tuning at the start of the game is just way off. High damage, multiple dashes, and a very forgiving parry system make it feel like you're flying through the initial levels without stopping.
Bosses so far vary; the design doesn't seem very intentional. Some feel like they forgot to give the boss a full move set, some feel like they couldn't figure out how to produce a challenging pattern, so they just added extra layers of attacks over it. Which isn't necessarily bad, 30XX takes the more traditional approach and some of its bosses become a real slog once "solved", but at least they're fun to fight. Essentially, I think it's impossible to balance a satisfying boss around the amount of power you have in this game. I feel like I can be anywhere on the screen whenever I want, and if I DO send myself into an attack, I can just tap parry.
Promotional material shows a lot of bosses I haven't come across, and a lot left to encounter in the game -- and look, it really is this simple: not taking the time to get the menus and UI working correctly, to me, sends a strong signal that this game just is what it is, and it's not going to start getting better after the two hour mark. I could be wrong, but there are a million other action platformers out there waiting for their turn.