And the "mouse over character brings up pause menu" is SO OBNOXIOUS. This just disrupts gameplay. I know you have a thing for mouse only, but seriously. Use a key for that.
Sometimes the randomness of it is really frustrating. There's no telling if 15 are gonna spawn in the same place, and then their growth outpaces anything you can do. Or if you're gonna just get total crap powerup things.
You know, if you're gonna have quality options, they should apply to EVERYTHING. My frame rate went way way up when the background wasn't visible and way way down when I got near those orb things.
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 "Culmination"){kind=icon}