Christmas SAGE 2023 Havoc Fox - Christmas 2023 Demo

SpeedyBoi said:

On an overall level, this is a really promising game.

CONTROLS:
The controls are very easy to get the hang of. I'm not sure how important weapon switching will be in the final product but generally I'd say swap the 'dash' and 'swap weapon' keys since the dash is vital to nearly every encounter. Figuring out some of the specific combos you can pull off(such as jumping mid-dash as Grey) was very cool and often had me slapping my forehead for not thinking of it sooner. One in particular I am almost certain is a bug. If you do Grey's upward tilting attack the instant after you dash, you launch yourself far higher than is clearly intended. You can break one of the bossfights in the second level using this trick and it made me laugh quite a bit. The Venice character was definitely harder to understand, however. One thing that confused me at first was how the two melee attacks(one which goes directly forward and another which is slightly slower and angles upward) will interchange each time you press the melee attack key. Generally these kinds of one-two punches in similar games are reserved for tapping in quick succession, whereas if you tap the attack key once, wait, and then attack again, you will perform the first jab both times. However, Venice will alternate between them at every button press. This could be entirely intentional, I wouldn't really know as in this early build the only tutorial is the list of controls in the above article.

STAGE DESIGN AND BASIC ENEMIES:
Generally the game is strong in this department. Two concerns stand out: First, it is sometimes difficult to tell what is an enemy and what is part of the background. Especially in Venice's first available stage. Second, in Grey's second level, there are waterfalls in a boss arena which do not act like the waterfalls in the previous level. Some way to make it obvious that it doesn't work the same way would be helpful, although perhaps I am just completely blind to an existing one(I do have to wear glasses...). The stages themselves are very well done, with some quality pixel art and interesting mechanics to boot. I can't wait to see more :)

BOSSES:
These are a mixed bag. The boss of the first Grey stage is definitely the best one, with a really cool puzzle that uses the stage gimmick and requires the player to think on their feet, a well choreographed attack pattern, and is generally a good time. However, the fact that you can't get out of the weapon equip screen without closing the game does put a small dampener on it. The second grey stage keeps up the pretty good bosses, with the first mid-boss being really fun to dodge and figure out. The second mid-boss is a very cool idea but as I mentioned earlier the dash->upslash bug allowed me to get back onto the platform with the checkpoint and ignore the entire boss as it blew itself sky high. The actual boss of this stage is a great challenge and forces the player to learn their pattern or die trying. If it is earlier in the game I'd recommend slowing down its attacks by just a little, but as is it really did make me have to figure out the combat. The Venice stage one boss was a small nightmare in its second phase, Venice's more confusing controls mixed with fast projectiles and me not realizing the dash does not, in fact, have invincibility frames led to double digit deaths and mild frustration. Overall, not too bad!

Havoc Fox(The Christmas 2023 demo, anyway) is very well done and indie creators never cease to amaze me with their games. Play the game, it's really fun!


(Hope you got some good feedback, I really liked this game!)

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