At this point, I've played through this four times. I'm in love with what's being shown here. I'll admit, it took me a bit to get used to the camera turning mechanic and the fact that Fech drop almost instantly the second you let go of the jump button. But once I got the hang of it, the second half of the demo became an absolute joy. Speeding through is a blast here. The tight controls and the insta dropping allow you to make rapid precision jumps with ease. The insta dropping was a mechanic that grew on me as the demo progressed. At first, I was a little annoyed, but as I got further and further in, I began embracing it. I never had to slow down to make multiple jumps as a result. And I adore the fact the more is added to the music as you hit higher levels of speed.
I will say, the complete inability to stop running whatsoever until you press the Dash button again was baffling to me. Not detrimental in any way, but I figured it out by chance and it just felt like a bizarre design choice. I do, however, appreciate that you're able to stop on a dime at all though. I'm not going to bother commenting too much on the visuals. I liked the simplistic look of Fech and the plains. The water areas weren't stand out in any way, but I'm assuming the majority of the demo space was made mostly as a playground to blaze through with Fech's speed and wall scampering so I wasn't the least bit bothered by that. The rhythm sections were a fun little diversion from the "playground". Music was bumpin'. I feel like a bit more platforming and/or maybe some other obstacles to avoid would spice them up a bit, but as a basic proof of concept, I like them.
I do have one major gripe though. The tutorial section about climbing. That bold pink color was physically painful. And I mean that quite literally. That hurt my eyes the entire way through and some gaps in platforms were hard to see near the beginning because of the color choice. Please, fix that. The sudden change from that section back to the cool blue colors of the water area actually forced me to pause the game so I could rest my eyes for a minute. I've played through this demo multiple times, and I do enjoy it, but I legitimately dread that section every time...
My last criticism is the poor conveyance on where you're supposed to go. On my first playthrough, there were a few places where I had to stop and look around to find out where I was supposed to go and where I had already been. I had also managed to go in a complete circle on two occasions. There was one part in the water section where you actually placed arrows on the walls. That was very helpful; there are definitely other places that needed that kind of signposting though. There are also those little hamster wheels that let you raise and move blocks. I only ever needed to actually use those on two separate occasions in the demo. On my first playthrough, I used them a bit thinking they were crucial to progress. Especially the last one that I failed in the end and couldn't get back up to. Found the second rhythm section shortly after and completely forgot about that section high above me. Now I can bypass all but the first hamster wheel and another one somewhere after it. Not sure if that's intentional, just thought I'd point that out. And one last thing about the hamster wheels. They usually pan the camera a bit to show you the object you're manipulating, which is great. But that camera pan is dependant on the direction your camera is initially facing upon entering the hamster wheel. I've hopped on to a few only to have it pan out to show me nothing of value so I had to hop out, readjust the camera, and then hop back into hamster wheel to see what exactly I was manipulating with the hamster wheel and why. The camera should pan out and rotate to specifically show the object it is manipulating rather than panning relative to your camera's current position.
I'm already sold on Fech the Ferret. He's adorable and his speed and jumps mechanics make blasting through and platforming at high speeds super fun! I want to see more of this. I want to see what else Fech is capable of. I can happily say, like one other demo I've played this year's SAGE, you already have my money. I am eagerly looking forward to this game in the future.
Then, thanks a lot for the kind words I really appreciate them!! It's really interesting to see what is that you enjoyed the most, I feel like - besides bugs and tutorials - I might be getting an idea on what to focus on.
On that matter, if you wish to, can you check this feedback form? It's just to get a fuller outlook on what was the general experience for those who played Fech during this SAGE
https://forms.gle/USDm5EzL4ZYHXkGq8