The visual style is good and is going in the right direction whilst a lot of improvements need to be made I'm sure your artists is well aware.
Blurring the background is nice but I'd also change the saturation to make some more contrast between the foreground and background as well as adding a lot more depth.
A lot of the UI elements over use gradients which ends up making them look cheap, maybe some more textured elements could look better.
The wolf attack pulls you forward into enemies which also damage you on collision, this attack needs knockback to feel good. At the moment it is very awkward to use and the wolf does not feel more powerful than the hare who can easily avoid enemy damage with the goomba stomp.
After unlocking the gate as the raven the world collisions broke for me. I stepped back from the gate and fell through the ground and I was stuck outside the map.
After failing the jumping on enemies puzzle the enemies didn't respawn and I couldn't retry the puzzle.
As others have mention the foreground elements hide the player, although they add a good sense of depth the player needs to be visible with some kind of outline through them or they could fade out slightly when overlapping the player/enemies.
I'd also add some vertical paralex on the background so that when you get higher in the tree tops the background moves down so that it actually feels like you've gone higher in the world.
I'd also like there to be more difference between the forms, movement should feel different for each one. It felt to me like both the wolf and the hare were moving at the same speed but I expected when I switched back to the hare I would bounce along the ground and move faster. Perhaps more unique animations for their walk cycles could help differentiate them more and give them some unique personality each.
Very nice start so far and the concept could be great if you keep working on it.
Thanks so much for the thoughtful feedback it really means a lot and you've picked up on a lot of things we’re actively thinking about.
Right now, the game is built using a modular system to see how far we could push visual fidelity while maintaining flexibility. We've managed to hit a pretty high bar, but as you pointed out, there are trade-offs. Our plan (if funding comes through) is to use this system to build levels quickly and then I’ll go back in and fully paint over each area, treating them like bespoke illustrations while still keeping key modular elements to preserve consistency across zones.
In terms of UI the only element that's more or less final is the animal wheel. Each animal form has 20+ unique pieces of artwork tied to it, and we’re really proud of that design. Everything else UI-wise is just placeholder right now quickly polished to look serviceable but nowhere near our intended final pass.
For the animal forms: totally agreed. The raven’s changes have really helped it stand out, and you’re right that the wolf and hare still feel too similar. Realistically, being four-legged land mammals, their core movement will always be somewhat alike but we’re working on adding more flair and unique animations to differentiate them better. We also have stretch goals that include new forms like a spider and a chameleon both of which should open the door to much more interesting traversal and mechanics.
We also have a lot planned for how the forms will evolve over the course of the full game. Each animal will unlock unique abilities for example, the wolf will get bite combos that can heal your forms, and a leap-dash attack for breaking through enemies. The hare will gain abilities like a power slam, wall-jump, and a slide to give it more momentum-based mobility. So while they feel close now, the full progression system will create more defined and varied playstyles.
If you’ve got any interesting ideas or ability suggestions for the forms, I’d genuinely love to hear them we’re always open to smart mechanical input from people who’ve spent time with the game.
Thanks again for the kind words and constructive feedback we’re going to keep building on this foundation and push it as far as it can go.
Awesome to hear your plans for the future, sounds really great! Best of luck with everything, I'll be checking out the progress as the project comes along.
Came here from Reddit, and really liked it! The art is freaking AMAZING! Better then anything I could ever draw! Although, removing the black tree silhouettes in the foreground may be the way to go since those kinda obscured the platforming. Also, the wolf's Q and E abilities could be explained better, but other than that, I really liked it! W game man, and good luck working on the full game! :)
Hey, thanks so much for the kind words and for taking the time to leave a review really appreciate it! I put a lot of work into the art for this project (we all did, honestly), so it means a lot to hear that it’s landing well.
Yeah, the foreground trees are definitely a bit much right now totally agree. In the next update, we’re planning to either remove them or make the player much more visible through them. For the final version of the game, we’ll likely only use them very sparingly, if at all.
Thanks again for playing more improvements coming soon!
It's seems really good so far. It's just when I tried to do the ultimate test of jumping, the bats die and don't respawn or at least in the same screen. I could see an aquatic animal go underwater in the future for swimming. I could also see there being a bear animal that can pickup and throw monsters at other monsters. I'm unsure on what the level ups change about the character. I jumped on the mushrooms when I am level 1(hare) and it took 3 hits to kill them but when I was level 2(hare) it only took two hits to kill them. After I leveled up some more, there's no real difference that I could find. Maybe the player has more health? The health bar could be longer or show numbers to tell the player they are getting stronger. It would be also nice to have a pause button. I hope this helps.
We’ve definitely been toying with the idea of an underwater animal though we’re not sure we’ll go with a bear, since it might end up feeling too similar to the wolf in terms of role and silhouette. That said, the idea of picking up and throwing enemies is very cool, and something we honestly hadn’t considered yet so thanks for that!
The next two forms we have planned (as part of our stretch goals) are a chameleon and a tarantula, and we’re hoping those bring some fresh and fun mechanics into the mix. If the game does well post-launch, we’re planning to explore new zones and additional forms through DLC and yes, potentially a whole underwater biome with a dedicated swimming form!
As for the level-up system right now it’s super basic, just affecting damage scaling and some hidden stats. But we’re planning to evolve it into something much deeper kind of like a simpler version of Final Fantasy X’s Sphere Grid. So as you level up, you’ll be unlocking new abilities and stat boosts specific to each animal form in a way that gives players more choice and progression clarity.
Thanks again for playing and for the solid feedback it’s always exciting hearing how people engage with the ideas we’re building out.
Really enjoy this demo, the visuals are awesome and a nice change from everything that uses 3D Modelling these days. Having various forms to switch to keeps the gameplay loop fresh and engaging currently, enough for a few short playthroughs at the moment. Looking forward to seeing where this game goes in the future, and interested to follow the story and find any hidden lore if the developers add that type of thing in there! :)
I have played your demo a bit. Some suggestions/notes:
The atmosphere and graphics of background and characters are very good, for monsters a bit less so.
The running animation is not quite synchronized with character movement
Black trees on front plane are extremely frustrating. I understand and commend the artistic intention, but they are way too irritating for actual gameplay. Maybe make them half-transparent, at least around the character
The hints confusedly sometimes, but not always, re- appear when walking over the same spot
It is somewhat disappointing to see that wolf is less powerful than hare :)
The game said something about raven being able to snatch things, but did not give me actual raven form? I stopped playing at this point, since probably this will not allow me to progress.
The hit area when falling on enemies is *slightly* "unfair" at the edges, I suggest to increase it a bit,
Switching between forms is awkward during combat, maybe make hotkeys for quick switch (1-9?).
Thank you so much for playing the demo and taking the time to share your detailed feedback — it's incredibly helpful!
Visuals: We're glad the atmosphere and character art landed well for you! Monster visuals are something we're looking to refine further, so it’s great to know where we’re strong and where we can improve.
Running Animation: You're absolutely right — the animation sync is a known issue and already on our fix list for the next build.
Foreground Trees: Thank you for this — we’ve heard similar frustrations. We’ll be testing a version with dynamic transparency or a vignette mask so they don’t obstruct the player’s view as much.
Hint Re-triggers: That inconsistency is a bug and we’re working on a more robust hint system for the next version.
Wolf vs. Hare Balance: Haha — yeah, the hare currently outpaces the wolf in mobility and sneak, but we’ll be tuning form balance so each has a clear and useful niche.
Raven Form & Progression: Ah! If you stopped before unlocking raven, you actually missed a big chunk of the demo — there’s a whole second area! On the level with the locked gate, that’s actually an obstacle that gets revisited later. If you explore a bit more in that same level, there’s a hidden path that leads upward — once you head up, you'll reach a new area with a mini-boss fight. Defeating him unlocks the raven form, which then allows you to return and open that gate. Past the gate is the path to the second zone: the Spirit Ruin Temple, which has some of the most atmospheric and story-rich parts of the demo. We’d love for you to give it another go if you’re up for it!
Enemy Hit Areas: Great point. We'll be tweaking hitboxes to feel fairer and more satisfying.
Form Switching in Combat: Agreed — we’re currently testing a hotkey system (like 1-3 for quick transform) and a more responsive UI for faster switching. But what we do have currently is a fast transform If you tap the button instead of holding, you transform into the last animal you used.
If you do play again and get to experience the later, much harder level, please let us know if you have any more feedback from them too we will love to hear it thank you so much for your support. Please feel free to follow us here or our social to keep up to date with our progress. Warm Regards James Young Wild Thorn Studio Director
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The visual style is good and is going in the right direction whilst a lot of improvements need to be made I'm sure your artists is well aware.
Blurring the background is nice but I'd also change the saturation to make some more contrast between the foreground and background as well as adding a lot more depth.
A lot of the UI elements over use gradients which ends up making them look cheap, maybe some more textured elements could look better.
The wolf attack pulls you forward into enemies which also damage you on collision, this attack needs knockback to feel good. At the moment it is very awkward to use and the wolf does not feel more powerful than the hare who can easily avoid enemy damage with the goomba stomp.
After unlocking the gate as the raven the world collisions broke for me. I stepped back from the gate and fell through the ground and I was stuck outside the map.
After failing the jumping on enemies puzzle the enemies didn't respawn and I couldn't retry the puzzle.
As others have mention the foreground elements hide the player, although they add a good sense of depth the player needs to be visible with some kind of outline through them or they could fade out slightly when overlapping the player/enemies.
I'd also add some vertical paralex on the background so that when you get higher in the tree tops the background moves down so that it actually feels like you've gone higher in the world.
I'd also like there to be more difference between the forms, movement should feel different for each one. It felt to me like both the wolf and the hare were moving at the same speed but I expected when I switched back to the hare I would bounce along the ground and move faster. Perhaps more unique animations for their walk cycles could help differentiate them more and give them some unique personality each.
Very nice start so far and the concept could be great if you keep working on it.
Thanks so much for the thoughtful feedback it really means a lot and you've picked up on a lot of things we’re actively thinking about.
Right now, the game is built using a modular system to see how far we could push visual fidelity while maintaining flexibility. We've managed to hit a pretty high bar, but as you pointed out, there are trade-offs. Our plan (if funding comes through) is to use this system to build levels quickly and then I’ll go back in and fully paint over each area, treating them like bespoke illustrations while still keeping key modular elements to preserve consistency across zones.
In terms of UI the only element that's more or less final is the animal wheel. Each animal form has 20+ unique pieces of artwork tied to it, and we’re really proud of that design. Everything else UI-wise is just placeholder right now quickly polished to look serviceable but nowhere near our intended final pass.
For the animal forms: totally agreed. The raven’s changes have really helped it stand out, and you’re right that the wolf and hare still feel too similar. Realistically, being four-legged land mammals, their core movement will always be somewhat alike but we’re working on adding more flair and unique animations to differentiate them better. We also have stretch goals that include new forms like a spider and a chameleon both of which should open the door to much more interesting traversal and mechanics.
We also have a lot planned for how the forms will evolve over the course of the full game. Each animal will unlock unique abilities for example, the wolf will get bite combos that can heal your forms, and a leap-dash attack for breaking through enemies. The hare will gain abilities like a power slam, wall-jump, and a slide to give it more momentum-based mobility. So while they feel close now, the full progression system will create more defined and varied playstyles.
If you’ve got any interesting ideas or ability suggestions for the forms, I’d genuinely love to hear them we’re always open to smart mechanical input from people who’ve spent time with the game.
Thanks again for the kind words and constructive feedback we’re going to keep building on this foundation and push it as far as it can go.
Awesome to hear your plans for the future, sounds really great! Best of luck with everything, I'll be checking out the progress as the project comes along.
Came here from Reddit, and really liked it! The art is freaking AMAZING! Better then anything I could ever draw! Although, removing the black tree silhouettes in the foreground may be the way to go since those kinda obscured the platforming. Also, the wolf's Q and E abilities could be explained better, but other than that, I really liked it! W game man, and good luck working on the full game! :)
Hey, thanks so much for the kind words and for taking the time to leave a review really appreciate it! I put a lot of work into the art for this project (we all did, honestly), so it means a lot to hear that it’s landing well.
Yeah, the foreground trees are definitely a bit much right now totally agree. In the next update, we’re planning to either remove them or make the player much more visible through them. For the final version of the game, we’ll likely only use them very sparingly, if at all.
Thanks again for playing more improvements coming soon!
No problem man! Happy to help a fellow dev playtest and get some QA!
It's seems really good so far. It's just when I tried to do the ultimate test of jumping, the bats die and don't respawn or at least in the same screen. I could see an aquatic animal go underwater in the future for swimming. I could also see there being a bear animal that can pickup and throw monsters at other monsters. I'm unsure on what the level ups change about the character. I jumped on the mushrooms when I am level 1(hare) and it took 3 hits to kill them but when I was level 2(hare) it only took two hits to kill them. After I leveled up some more, there's no real difference that I could find. Maybe the player has more health? The health bar could be longer or show numbers to tell the player they are getting stronger. It would be also nice to have a pause button. I hope this helps.
Hey! Really glad you enjoyed it.
We’ve definitely been toying with the idea of an underwater animal though we’re not sure we’ll go with a bear, since it might end up feeling too similar to the wolf in terms of role and silhouette. That said, the idea of picking up and throwing enemies is very cool, and something we honestly hadn’t considered yet so thanks for that!
The next two forms we have planned (as part of our stretch goals) are a chameleon and a tarantula, and we’re hoping those bring some fresh and fun mechanics into the mix. If the game does well post-launch, we’re planning to explore new zones and additional forms through DLC and yes, potentially a whole underwater biome with a dedicated swimming form!
As for the level-up system right now it’s super basic, just affecting damage scaling and some hidden stats. But we’re planning to evolve it into something much deeper kind of like a simpler version of Final Fantasy X’s Sphere Grid. So as you level up, you’ll be unlocking new abilities and stat boosts specific to each animal form in a way that gives players more choice and progression clarity.
Thanks again for playing and for the solid feedback it’s always exciting hearing how people engage with the ideas we’re building out.
Really enjoy this demo, the visuals are awesome and a nice change from everything that uses 3D Modelling these days. Having various forms to switch to keeps the gameplay loop fresh and engaging currently, enough for a few short playthroughs at the moment. Looking forward to seeing where this game goes in the future, and interested to follow the story and find any hidden lore if the developers add that type of thing in there! :)
I have played your demo a bit. Some suggestions/notes:
I wish you luck in development.
Thank you so much for playing the demo and taking the time to share your detailed feedback — it's incredibly helpful!
Visuals: We're glad the atmosphere and character art landed well for you! Monster visuals are something we're looking to refine further, so it’s great to know where we’re strong and where we can improve.
Running Animation: You're absolutely right — the animation sync is a known issue and already on our fix list for the next build.
Foreground Trees: Thank you for this — we’ve heard similar frustrations. We’ll be testing a version with dynamic transparency or a vignette mask so they don’t obstruct the player’s view as much.
Hint Re-triggers: That inconsistency is a bug and we’re working on a more robust hint system for the next version.
Wolf vs. Hare Balance: Haha — yeah, the hare currently outpaces the wolf in mobility and sneak, but we’ll be tuning form balance so each has a clear and useful niche.
Raven Form & Progression: Ah! If you stopped before unlocking raven, you actually missed a big chunk of the demo — there’s a whole second area!
On the level with the locked gate, that’s actually an obstacle that gets revisited later. If you explore a bit more in that same level, there’s a hidden path that leads upward — once you head up, you'll reach a new area with a mini-boss fight. Defeating him unlocks the raven form, which then allows you to return and open that gate.
Past the gate is the path to the second zone: the Spirit Ruin Temple, which has some of the most atmospheric and story-rich parts of the demo. We’d love for you to give it another go if you’re up for it!
Enemy Hit Areas: Great point. We'll be tweaking hitboxes to feel fairer and more satisfying.
Form Switching in Combat: Agreed — we’re currently testing a hotkey system (like 1-3 for quick transform) and a more responsive UI for faster switching. But what we do have currently is a fast transform If you tap the button instead of holding, you transform into the last animal you used.
If you do play again and get to experience the later, much harder level, please let us know if you have any more feedback from them too we will love to hear it thank you so much for your support. Please feel free to follow us here or our social to keep up to date with our progress.
Warm Regards
James Young
Wild Thorn Studio Director