So I was lost at the beginning for the same reason as Spirit, I threw the pets but wasn’t sure if it reached the monster or not. Apparently, I managed to do it once as the monster stopped attacking me, but sometimes it would turn into a snake form and move randomly instead… So I followed Bis35’s video (which corresponds to the dev’s advice about luring) and let the the animal plants follow me and stay behind me, then waited for me to be eaten by the monster, and it’s much easier and reliable.
In the end, I didn’t have to care about the second type of seed, nor using the plants as fuel (can be useful in emergency to recover stamina, after sleeping outside, though), and didn’t have to face the Snake form at all… It seems there were many things that were designed for the game that didn’t become as critical as they were supposed to be in the end.
My biggest issue was the current tile selector. It was difficult aiming right to plan seeds and water them, and while being attacked by the monster I had to time to aim right, so I couldn’t really have fun with the extreme experience of doing stuff at the last minute. So in my last run I just played safely, sleeping early, etc. but I’m not sure if that’s the intended experience.
Also, since you barely have time to plant and water your seeds in one day, you just stay in the same spot (preferably near the seeds); fortunately it’s enough to win, but if the game was longer we’d need more time for extra exploration each day.
That said, I’m used to these kinds of issues when testing jam games, so it’s okay. The concept/story itself was still interesting.