Feedback My First Hour (and a bit) with Timespinner

Normally I'm not a huge fan of platformers, but seeing as Chucklefish was kind enough to give me a free key, I figured it was only fair that I offer some feedback. So far, my impressions have been pretty good, with a few issues.

Controller-Based Input Prompts: This is the most critical issue I've encountered so far. I'm playing the game with my keyboard, and so far it's controlling okay. But all of the tutorial dialogue and prompts are for Xbox controllers. I get that plenty of people use them on PC, and I imagine this game either has or will be ported to Xbox. But these prompts have made it much harder to work out the control scheme. It took me several minutes to work out how to do a basic attack. Everything else I've been able to work out, but I'm concerned that I'll end up misusing a single-use power or item further down the line because I misclicked, or that I won't be able to use it since I can't experiment with how I activate it. This is definitely something I'd need to see addressed before I spend too much more time with the game.

Navigation is Hit-and-Miss: I've managed to get lost a few times on the first level, as it wasn't clear where I was supposed to go. I also left behind several areas which I couldn't figure out how to get into since I assumed I could come back later with the necessary items. Doesn't look like the case now. That's probably my fault for overlooking something, but it's still annoying.

Combat and Platforming are Fine: It's pretty good. I think. Honestly, I don't have much experience with platformers. The only other one I've even played much in the last decade was Dust: An Elysian Tail. I'm playing on medium difficulty, and I'm doing okay. Some of the platforming gets tedious, and the combat sometimes annoying with respawning enemies (which I understand are a necessity for several reasons) and the first boss.

It seems like you're not supposed to be able to defeat the first boss the first time around. That's fine; it's a good introduction to both the respawn mechanic and your first familiar. But that didn't stop me from using up half my healing items in the process.

For the most part, though, it's enjoyable. There's a good drip-feed of new items and powers so far. I'm eager to see what else the game throws at me.

The Plot's Pretty Good: It certainly gets the game going, but I honestly don't know if it's anything to write home about. We get a whirlwind introduction to the village, which is attacked offscreen before we dive into the portal and watch the protagonist's mother die. It's not bad, necessarily, but a lot of it is quite by-the-numbers. Still, I'm invested in seeing where everything goes. The stuff concerning time travel also seems to stand out as well. There's plenty you can do with that.

The Setting and Atmosphere are Fantastic: Lately, I've been thinking about how I'd like to see more in the way of Dune-esque science fiction where it's so far removed from the modern day that it's practically a fantasy world. Lo and behold, this game scratches that itch perfectly. I've been fascinated by what I've seen of the world so far, and I'm eager to see more of it. The music complements it wonderfully, and even the enemy design has me intrigued. On that note...

Scariest Cleaning Robots Ever: I've given myself a fright at least once or twice by stepping on cleaning robots in Deus Ex. The cleaning robots in this game put those glorified Roombas to shame.

I'll probably continue playing this when I'm in the mood, and provide updates if anything else comes up. But overall, I think this is a pretty solid game, even though it's not my usual fare. The controller input prompts are probably the main thing I think absolutely needs to be fixed. Otherwise, though, I think the game's turned out pretty well.