A simple and good idea well executed
Simple, yet addictive. I played it three times so far. The first two times I got stuck
You get 9 instead of 10, partly because the ending wasn't much. Sorry, but I expected a different fight, or an epilogue or something (though the last fight was definetly different, I won't spoil it for the others). Or at least a "congratulations, you win" screen.
I loved facing swarms of goblin, as that was the challenge of this game, and few games challenge you this way. It had to make you think "how will I get out of that one?" (especially if you tried to do it with style :P ). Most techniques were needed to stay alive, although unarmed combat could have been more useful (I found it's combo hard to pull off and not that rewarding, compared to arial assaults). Rolling and backflips are great (who needs to turn around? :P).
As for stun-lock, let me shout this one out once for everyone out there.
THE STUN-LOCK IS NOT, I repeat, NOT IMPOSSIBLE TO GET OUT OF:
nor do you need to stand around whilst half you health leaves. It might still happen if you are unlucky or have poor armor, but it's really not as common as some people seem to think.
You can still move, amongst other things, so get out of that goblin crowd ASAP (left or right arrow key... just don't go in a corner :P ). Hold down Z so you can shield as soon as you find your safe spot. Try to jump (it worked for me...). Heck, on my third game I started jumping and slashing downwards at the horde even whilst stun-locked... it worked most of the time, though I suspect my armor might had something to do with it.
Also, if you are having difficulty, make sure you'll have the cash for the final armor for lvl 10. You'll need it. That's basically what allowed me to finish the game.
Swords are neat, but there will be weak goblins around that count for your kill count for a long part of the game, so it's not an absolute must.
Now, stuff that could be improved
The only boring part of the game for me is that arial assaults come up as the solution to most problems, way too often. If you make a sequel, please add other solutions to thick hordes of unsynchronized goblins. Ideally, you shoudn't be able to pull off the same tricks over and over, either.
I made it my fun to find other solutions most of the time, and the final sword helped in that, but sometimes it was a bit of a stretch.
Things that could be nice is a temporary longer-reach ability (other than the hand to hand combo).
Extra or different weapons could be interesting, like maybe a long spear that can only hit a goblin at a time, but from farther away (if it can be done without changing the game to "roll, stab, roll")
Having goblins less in the same blob might be fun. Since they all follow the same tactic, they will always end up at the same spot on the screen. Some of them could, I dunno, try to outmaneuver you and try to get behind you or something. Or charge at you, then turn around and charge again?
I'm hoping for a sequel (if you can't guess) :P