On face value this is a straightforward and short puzzler. What makes it special are the 3 years of development videos by Mark Brown. The game becomes better after watching them. Plus, the hint system is genuinely great. They're actually hints!... instead of just the solution.

Selfloss suffers from what I'll call 'double vision'. Multiple classes of mechanics are doubled up, or just redundant. There are 2 health bars and 2 ways of healing. In a game this light on combat you only need 1. There's a run button that never gets used mechanically.. just make the character run faster by default! This is really noticeable since the default walk speed feels like moving through molasses. Almost all the puzzles and combat focus around the old man's magic light staff, great! But for some reason there's also this melee sickle attack which frankly feels bad to use. Get rid of that sickle! The game as a whole I think would be better if it simplified and focused on fewer mechanics. This would probably help with the game's general lack of polish. Stuff like scene transitions, animations, and story feel incomplete.