Looks cool. No link?

The link sent me to an itch.io error page. Hopefully you can get it up and working!

The link provided doesn't work. You probably forgot to set the game to public (publish it, basically) on Itch. It is private by default, hence nobody can access it.

@fabula-rasa @stickle @manadream Sorry, I updated link today. Thanks!

Concept seems nice. Would have liked a little more feedback or gameplay instructions.

The concept is really nice and creative, but it needs a story or something that will keep the player actually playing and enjoing the game.

Cool game! As @bkmld said, some instructions would have been nice. I loved the graphics. Some sound I feel like would have made the game feel more alive.

It's a really cool concept. Graphics are great, the mechanic itself is nice and the overall feel is pretty good. It lacks a bit of balancing, because after a little while, hp scales really high, which makes it a bit too easy, but I really enjoyed it. Also, after room 9 or 10 (I can't remember) I couldn't play no more. It got stuck.

Anyway, great concept, great execution and congrats!!

Neat and simple little game. The progression was nice but I wish there was more in the soul chests then just stat boosts, abilities would've been cool! The visuals were simple and well executed, I like the classic style a lot myself. Good job overall!

Nice dungeon crawler.

I wished there was more strategy involved in deciding which path to take. As of now, it is easy to just go for the potions and swords without having to worry about anything.

This problem could be fixed by e.g. needing a certain amount of souls to pass through some floors.

Got to room 15 and all my stats were in the triple digits so I figured it it looped from there on in. Overall, I love the presentation and I think the concept actually has a lot going for it. I think perhaps the core gameplay loop needs something extra. You expend your attack or occasionally health points to kill monsters and get essence but then all you can spend that essence on is a random chance for more health or attack. I feel like having more rewards, scaling enemies much further so it doesn't get too easy and also making the position of where you go matter would add a lot of depth into this game. However, the graphics and concept are still really good so you should definitely be proud with what you got done!

The simple gameplay is quite fun at first but gets somewhat boring. There is no overarching story, no aims, no danger - so it feels like you are just clicking the same stuff over and over. I got to room 13 and saw no point in continuing. Some direction or and end goal would be nice. Why am I crawling through this dungeon? Will I ever get to the end? Should I be gathering the flame or is it okay to spend it on chests?

Some audio would definitely add to the atmosphere as well. I didn't hear any. But I see that you didn't opt-out of audio category, so maybe it was a bug and there is some effects/music. If so, I hope they are cool :).

I also don't see how it relates to the theme - what am I keeping alive by crawling through this dungeon ;)?

Great work and concept. Just needs to be a bit harder. Maybe adding an extra column or two of enemies with occasional blocking walls and treasure chests could make it more interesting?

This caters to the min-maxer in me. I really liked it and played for much longer than I would have imagined.

The game was simple to pick up without a tutorial.

I don't agree with people who would like a story for the game. I would say, keep it focused on the mechanics, but tweak them so that the choices are more meaningful and there's a difficulty curve and win-state.

I would also limit the randomness to the level's encounters and make the after-level upgrades a meaningful choice.

Great job! I think you should flesh it out after the jam.

Between levels I would say display your stats so you can see what the chests outcome effect has to stats overall.

There are some good examples of similar style games out there which might help with some of the difficulty aspects:
* Only allow to go no more than one left or right step going down corridor
* Boss monster at the end of each level
* Sub-boss monsters (center path so player has to take it)

Minor tweaks might include:
* When reward is given from chest, immediately allow sacrifice again to speed up purchasing
* Increased speed at which monsters get tougher
* Once special double attack/heal bought remove it
* Blank tiles so not every tile is reward

I think with a bit more development this could be a really fun little game.

I like the aesthetic! As it is right now, it could totally be a mobile game to kill a few minutes with every now and then. I bet it's also a good starting point for a more fleshed out game.

This is really cool, it sort of boils down the genre to its basic elements. Unfortunately it doesn't really become challenging at any point. If the difficulty ramp continued I think this would be really compelling gameplay - as it is I've played to room 25 and I kinda want to go back for more.

Great aesthetic as well, very clear communicative iconography.

I'm sure it goes without saying that some audio would improve the sense of reward for the player's actions and increase the longevity of the game.

I hope you build on this because I'd love to have it to play on mobile.

Solid entry! You got all the elements of a tight game loop going on. As many people mentioned, some balancing to the difficulty to make it ramp up faster in later levels would make this shine. Good job!