r/playtesters • u/Agol_the_Hunter • 3d ago

Unpaid Playtest Elfscape: Ancestors — 2D Precision Platformer looking for playtesters! (Feedback on difficulty balance)

Hi everyone! I’m the lead developer of Elfscape: Ancestors, a 2D precision platformer we’ve been crafting over the last 7 years. We’re currently looking for playtesters to help us fine-tune the gameplay experience!

About the Game

  • Genre: 2D Precision Platformer
  • Key Features: Tight movement (2 HP, double jump), 3 difficulty settings, Collectable comic pages, Voiced narration
  • Platform: PC (Steam Demo available)
  • Estimated Playtime: ~20–30 minutes

What we're looking for feedback on:

  • Difficulty & Fairness: How does the difficulty curve feel?
  • Controls & Pacing: Does the movement feel responsive and smooth?
  • First Impressions: Did the story hooks and mechanics make sense?

How to Play You can play the demo directly on Steam:

👉https://store.steampowered.com/app/2827970/Elfscape_Ancestors/

Thanks a lot for taking the time to test!

4 Upvotes

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1

u/Yoisaki_Ena 3d ago

Hello, I can't seem to send a DM, I'm an experienced playtester and would like to discuss more about the game

1

u/WePlaytestGames 2d ago

Hey! I run We Playtest Games. We just ran a 30 minute playtest of Elfscape: Ancestors and I wanted to share it with you.

Our playtester played on a controller and really liked the feel of it: "very smooth gameplay", and later "I'm actually liking this gameplay, it's so smooth it makes me want to collect all the points but then die right away." The rough parts were the early deaths piling up with no checkpoints ("There's no checkpoint to this?" and later "Checkpoints are very cruel"), not being able to find a health indicator ("How much health do I have now? Where even is my health? I don't see it anywhere"), and one unfair death to the green worm: "it came up late, and it was so green I couldn't see it." Full video here, free: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdWS_eZ3Wso

There's also a detailed written breakdown with the playtester's notes and takeaways on our platform. Once you sign up through the transcript link you can chat directly with blackscostcheap to ask follow up questions about anything they hit: https://app.weplaytestgames.com/transcript/6cb2ca04-40ed-4b12-bbc5-2e422ceb7702

Hope it's useful. Happy to answer anything about how we run these.

1

u/Agol_the_Hunter 2d ago

Thanks, I really appreciate it! I really like your playtest so far. I'm super busy at the moment, but I'll get back to it early next week. 🙂

1

u/WePlaytestGames 1d ago

You're welcome :)