Rusty Sketch Book (Gamejolt Edition)

just finished my first ever run in the game and i have to say that it's awesome!) it's a very nicely done, classic RPG with dungeon crawling elements that has a great artstyle, tough, but fair and fun fights, a great battle system that presents the player with a variety of options that expand the further you go into the run, and also sports a great, retro-esque sound design with very nice music that serves well to accompany the fantastic gameplay!)

now, i'll go over all of the positive things more deeply while also touching on the small, but, nevertheless, great details about the game that made the whole experience all the more worthwhile!) first off - the presence of the keyboard config is very welcome!) the distinct style of the game pops up right in the menu and continues being awesome throughout the whole game - the in-game graphics part of it are very nice and the UI looks very professionally done while also performing just as great!) the character change screen is awesome and the way you unlock each of the new characters by playing the game feels rewarding and also sets a clear target for the players to achieve early on!) the Hub world has everything you need to play the game - the ability to start a run, a blacksmith, a food vendor and the character change options, all of which are compactly placed inside one room - i really like this design choice!) next, the seemingly random encounter with the Owlbear merchant was really funny, and also served great as a pit-stop location of sorts - making points like these is crucial to a good pacing, which this game absolutely has!) same goes for the "squik-ing" rat in the Helheim and the stranger-vendor!) the battle backgrounds look very nice - i love the blend of the minimalistic style that the game has going for it and the real-life textures/photos that the backgrounds use as their backdrop!) simply stylish. the darkest castle has you actually pass it by to later do a little backtracking to it - it's a slight deviation from the usual "go to place, kill everything, repeat" that i absolutely adore!) the dark paladin and Avicus giving you a choice before fighting is pretty cool stuff, and i also love that Avicus actually has two forms - he's a pretty tough opponent and is very fitting for the role of the final boss of the run!)

with all that said, there are some problems, bugs or text erros with the game that, although, don't make the game unplayable (save for one very nasty bug that i left for last in the paragraph) or overall bad, still need some attention to them and if fixed, would improve the overall experience!) firstly, while the battle ui looks very nice and the battlers are well-drawn, i think that you should change the Combo in the damage number pop up along with the numbers themselves and make them a bit more bright - dark letters on a black background don't look all that well, in my opinion, jajaja!) next, upon being defeated, The Dark Paladin says "...and belevie me!" - you should replace it with "...and believe me!". then, in helheim, i think that the bomb rats' ability to explode is working improperly - they just blow themselves up without dealing any damage to your character... weird... and now, i might be wrong on this, but i think that you misspelled the name of the Ice Grott - it should have an "o" on the end, like Grotto. while on the topic of the Ice Grotto, i think that making a portal to exit after acquiring the red key would be great) before starting the shopkeeper minigame Sean goes on a short speech that has a pair of text errors - firstly "you tell me" should be replaced with "you told me" and " you did your job correctly" should be replaced with "you do your job correctly". and, finally, the most disrupting and literally game-breaking problem of them all - the game crashes upon finishing a run. maybe this is a demo thing, but still, would've been nice if it didn't finish like that, jajaja...

all in all, the demo for Rusty Sketch Book left me with a good first impression!) while there are some problems with it, the good points still outweight the bad ones and, so, the game is definitely worth playing!) the minimalistic and rather cute style encaptures the player and draws in, and the well-done mechanics along with some good old dungeon crawling make them stay in) Myrick.Inc - you did a great job, and wish you and all the other peeps that worked or helped with the game best of luck in both continuing the development for this game and all of your future endeavors!) take care!