I loved it! My first playthrough took about 2 hours total - excited to see what New Game+ brings! The characters were well-designed and well-written, and I enjoyed getting to know them. The gameplay was fun and the whole game felt really cohesive and thought-out. Definitely looking forward to the Hermana Lumen-focused followup!
If you are interested in this game at all, I highly recommend you try it : )
I like the general gameplay, and I like the ability to change the color scheme and background (though the original color scheme is still my favorite!).
I found the controls a little clunky at first, but I definitely prefer them to faster controls that might lead to more mistakes, and I got used to them pretty quickly. Good job on that! A lot of games like this have controls that make it really easy to make (frustrating) mistakes, so HUGE kudos on making tile-setting more deliberate.
The only thing I'm not a huge fan of is that when I've selected a tile, all available spaces for me to set it down on flash. Having them change color to make it more clear to the player which spaces are open isn't a bad idea, but the flashing is distracting and hurts my eyes after a bit, even though I plan where I want to set tiles before selecting them to minimize the time in between selecting and setting down a tile. I wish there was an option to turn it off - if there is and I somehow missed it, please let me know.
Overall - quite nice. I like the several levels of opponent AI and simple but strategic gameplay, and the controls are great.
I didn't get very far with my rogue - I managed to max one skill (strength) and bump up a few more but couldn't finish it in one sitting, so, with no save abillity, that's as far as I got.
The only feedback I have in addition to what's already been said + what's already in the "Next Step" is that I actually found it a little too easy. My potions bar never went below six (most of the time I had around 11), and toward the end of my playtime I was just waiting for it to get harder - all the enemies I encountered dealt very little damage when they dealt damage at all (they would often be stunned for most of the few turns they got before I killed them).
Making enemies deal a little more damage, so I actually use up my potions, would be nice, especially with the higher-level ones, though I know balancing the too-hard vs too-easy line can be really hard (and based on other feedback I've read, it seems some people have had the opposite problem with enemies I haven't encountered).
Also starting out with less potions/gold or having more things to spend gold on might make them a more meaningful resource.
That being said, overall I found the game very charming. Regardless of whether or not you add more in the future, I enjoyed playing it and I love the art style.
I appreciate your response, and I can absolutely see where you're coming from. Los Duros & El Sanserissimo reminded me of stereotypes (especially as an American, we have - especially historically - a lot of shallow, stereotypical representation of Mexicans that roughly amounts to "sombrero + mustache + maybe a poncho + spanish accent + spanish words randomly thrown in with english sentences = Mexican") but now that you've explained I entirely see the ways in which they were intended to & did undermine those stereotypes.
Thank you for being open to my criticism and responding thoughtfully. Underhero is otherwise a wonderful game and I'm looking forward to seeing future work of yours : )
I like every part of Masked Kid's design - from the mask & general look to the fact that Elizabeth just decides to call them "kid" and gender doesn't really factor into the game or your character at all to the adorable journal they keep that gives them a lot of character despite them not talking at all - A+ character design there.
I like the music & sound design. I like the level design, I like the puzzles, I like that the game is linear (I found backtracking to be very minimal & justified, filled more with suspense for whatever you're going back for than boredom).
I love the combat system - keysmashing combat is never fun for me, so I like that there's a level of strategy and space to think - I didn't understand the description of 'turn-based combat... without the turns!' when I first read it, but it absolutely has the best parts of turn-based combat while also having the tension & urgency of non-turn-based combat. There are plenty of enemies, while still not being too much considering that you have to remember specific hints for each one of them. It was easy-going and unpunishing with nonviolent alternatives to most fights, while not being boring. Boss combat was always harder & more interesting than usual combat, but doable without too many frustrating failures + every time I failed, I felt like I knew what I did wrong and knew how to do better next time.
I love the design of the Moth Queen and Stitches. I wish all games were so creative with their bosses & characters in general.
I love the humor, I love the storyline, I LOVE the twist(s!). Games with good stories are always my favorite and the story here is amazingly done. I love that instead of getting pre-set status upgrades when you level up, you have to decide what's most important to you. I stuck with this game all the way through to the end (which I loved, even though the very last battle's controls didn't work well enough for me to complete the game... that being said, the controls in the entire proceeding game were stellar).
BUT...
The Monkan society... was bad. Monkeys, dressed in leaf loincloths & colorful masks, that are being 'kidnapped and enslaved' by El Sanserissimo... their chief talks in broken English that is reminiscent of racist stereotypes about Jamaican accents and AAVE... Elizabeth constantly calling them savages, remarking how 'surprisingly civilized' it is for them to not support child marriage... the bit where the chief says something about eating Masked Kid, then reassures Masked Kid & Elizabeth that he was only joking, and she says '... sure you were.'
I'm sure you weren't making them with racist intent (including this in the Racial Justice Bundle makes me guess that you care, at least to some degree, about racism), but in making this 'savage', 'uncivilized' monkey society you invoked a lot of racism (it's worth noting that 'savage,' 'civilized,' and 'uncivilized' are all inherently racist terms/concepts, & while not everything I listed above are racial stereotypes about Black people, they are all racialized in relation to savagery: the idea of 'savage' African & Native cultures participating in child marriage and/or cannibalism, espcially as a result/proof of their savagery/inferiority, is one with a very long, very racist history).
The rock enemies (can't remember their names - the ones on Pica Pica Island) reminded me of those "Mexican" halloween costumes. El Sanserissimo also felt like a stereotype to me.
As far as more nitpicky stuff goes...
The first Gray Kid fight was, to me, a lot harder than most of the game before and after it, which felt off - her attacks were timed in a way that made her really hard to parry.
The very final boss fight, while I appreciate that it flipped the game on its head in a way that was very exciting, was also extremely hard: I knew what to do, I was doing it, but it wasn't working - those controls were difficult to fight with in a way that wasn't fun.
Hopefully this feedback will be helpful to you in making any future games.
(Edit: to anyone thinking of getting this game, I do want to emphasize again that overall I really did love this game. I initially put off writing this whole comment because I didn't want to put anyone off the game, especially since indie games tend to take criticism harder than big companies and I definitely want to support Paper Castle in making such creative, unique games. The Monkan society was very jarring to me when I first played this game, but I hope you'll play this game because it's legitimately one of the best games I've played. I really, really do recommend it - every criticism I have made comes from a place of love. It's rare that I fall as deeply in love with a game as I did with this one. It's absolutely an "indie gem" and I think it's definitely worth your time.)
