An interesting start. I did not play Lords of Imagination, so I can't speak to that game. However, if this is meant to be a standalone game, it fails on one front: it's confusing. There are too many people and places and things thrown at the player in the first release that we don't know about (unless, I'm presuming, we've played LoI). It's a bit much. If you're going to introduce players to an entirely new setting/world, with its own established history and rules, you need to make those clear to the player.
The worst way would be a prologue/narrative that just tells the reader everything from the front. It's boring and it never works as intended. Instead, feed us bit by bit with new details to help pain the picture as to what is happening in the world you're in, but do it in a way that isn't overwhelming. Unfortunately, this game so far is pretty overwhelming when it comes to information.
I like the premise quite a bit, or at least what I think the premise is, because it's still a bit murky. The dialogue is solid, which is probably the hardest thing to get right, so that's a huge bonus. The renders are a little weak. Lighting feels completely ambient and there's no real sharpness to anything. Those will improve in time, as long as dev is willing to take chances with it, experiment with lighting and posing. Right now they're middling at best. Not the worst renders I've seen, but definitely the weakest part of this release.
I'd like to see the next update and make a real decision then on if it's worth committing my limited time to playing long-term. For now, I'm cautiously optimistic, but there's definitely some improvement to be had here.
As for Nyra, sure that can be done but purple light would just end up looking distracting.
