This could be a great game and I do understand that you only had 72 hours to make this, but it is lacking things and has problems:
- The game refuses to end unless you either help or kill everyone or at the least 3 out of the 4 people. (I killed the old guy, ignored the snail guy, buried the beach guy's family, but it wouldn't end so I killed the voodoo guy and I get the evil ending).
- On the screen where the snail guy is (the guy who wants you to get rid of the fire breathing snail), invisible platforms will sometimes be there for the player to jump on. Also, I've been respawned inside the platform, a little bit below where the player is supposed to respawn, forcing me to restart. Also, if you jump up to the top of the screen and go off of the top of the screen, you instantly die (the same thing happens if you touch the beach scene's far right wall).
- I've so far only found 3 endings and I don't see how another ending is possible (either you are consider good, evil, or obedient. I thought there might have been something to do with "not killing the animals", but it doesn't seem to affect the outcome).
- The fact that it's the same boss every time really doesn't help a game like this (even the subtle changes in the way the boss fights doesn't help). The only real reward is the text you get at the end of the game and it gets old quick when you are trying to unlock the other endings and keep the getting the ones you got before, forcing you to start over at that point.
- It is also kind of lack luster when the ferry guy treats the game like a play rather than an actually adventure "I will now take on the role of this". It really takes away from the morality of it all when it is presented as this and it really takes away from the ferryman's character as he is now just a jerk who plans on trying to kill you in choosing whatever you choose.
- I got a boss battle where an endless number of animals came to attack, but I can't seem to get that again. Concerning this though, spiders can pop up everywhere on the platform, which leave little time or room to dodge (by the time I notice it's under me, it's over).
- You put the old man's wheel chair in the direct path of the player, making it impossible to ignore either him or the archer guy, seeing as you can't drop the wheelchair once you get it, preventing you from just using the underground tunnel to get to the beach and bury the beach guy's family.
- You say there are two secrets in the game. The only thing I could possibly identify as a secret is the place where you get the cucumber at. Other than that, I think I've gone and pushed against every corner and can't find anything else (the "ha ha" cannon is a little annoying in that if you are on the platform above it and walk toward it, you die).
- I thought the "dark flame" was an interesting idea and I liked how it could destroy the fire snail and the rock blocking the easy exit to the beach, but outside of this, it does nothing, but make the game harder (it doesn't even seem to affect any of the endings. It just makes the final boss fight harder).
- The description says "Your choices will affect gameplay in subtle ways". They really don't. The music goes away when you kill someone, quest items disappear sometimes, and the boss battle might be a little different, but overall, the gameplay remains exactly the same.
- It would've been cool if the black flame could reveal a secret or it could be harnessed. It would have also been cool if the void butterfly could have an effect on the ferryman. It's just different things like that could could have made a real difference.
I like the idea of the game, I can certainly see that it was influenced by Undertale and Don't Look Back, and I can see that work went into it, but it's just lacking in general: it's lacking in interactibility with the game (you can only collect some things and kill), lacking in effective story telling and invoking emotion (though the music cutting out was a neat little thing), and lacking in replayability (the first time through, it is okay, but as you play through it hoping to find something cool you can do or some different way to affect the world around you, you find you can only kill, help, or ignore, and you can't even ignore the people completely).
I liked the art, music, and the platforming was solid. I really do look forward to your future works as I know you'll make cool stuff.