Hey Aaron, saw your post about this on LinkedIn and gave the demo a spin. I played it to completion.
The Good:
- Variety of Enemies
- Ambiance (sounds) were persistent and came on strong
- Low-poly PS1 horror was largely nailed artistically
- Environment layout / level design
- Presence of a boss fight
- Melee felt tight and satisfying to use for the duration of the demo (probably would be a bit tiring without change for longer).
- Demo was sufficient in length and drew me in well.
The Meh:
- The first enemy (torso) made me laugh due to the nature of its attack. Detracted from the atmosphere.
- Ambience (especially in start of school level) was cranked up to 10 with nothing happening - pulled out of immersion since I could no longer think it was related to a threat.
- Character motivations and how the story involved the player didn't seem to be explained or elaborated.
- Lockers, too many to open with nothing in them (opened like 50 and only found 3 or 4 with something inside).
- Interactables didn't have a outline when hovering over them.
- I couldn't tell how much damage I could take from a given enemy. I was able to take 5 hits from a torso before dropping to 'OK' - other enemies seemed to drop me down a level in 1 hit.
- Boss fight felt a little too simple for me.
- Could not throw ball, literally unplayable 0/10.
The Bad:
- The enemy with a sword did not feel telegraphed to be immortal at all. Burned all ammunition and health kits on it.
Introducing an immortal enemy when all other enemies are killable needs some really special recognition - perhaps just consider making it killable as I can't see what real benefit making it immortal does otherwise (just make it tankier than your average).
Best of luck with your endeavors :)