This game was great. I know it got a mixed reception on launch but now its super clean. Movement and exploration are great. Upgrades are meaningful. Enemy diversity is there. I liked having a ranged attack I could use. Biomes were nice. My only complaint about the game is how much dialogue there is but thankfully you can skip it. I wish there were map markers for people to talk to for quests though. Finding some of them were frustrating at times. Took me about 6 hours played to 100% the game.

So... I kind of finished the game in two sessions. The latter half was approximately 2/3 of the game. I just...
Couldn't stop. The story advanced at a very good pace. The constant drip feed of new...
EVERYTHING, kept me hooked until the end. Every new mechanic was introduced and when you were perfectly
Confident with it, grown very accustomed and intuited it perfectly, another was given.
It was excellent. I was constantly pushed along, and while I did explore a lot of the side paths, most of
The sidequests, and just randomly ran around every now and then, I just couldn't let go of the game.
The short cutscenes, to the other characters in other parts of the world, so see what plot was unraveling behind
And along side us, was thrilling and it kept going at a perfect pace.
So I just was inflicted with "just one more checkpoint" syndrome, familiar from Stellaris and other strategy games.
The pacing, as was mentioned previously, is one of the games greatest achievements. While it was rather brisk,
It never felt like it was rushing. Perfectly placed cutscenes and savepoints. Excellent traversal options.
The core gameplay, platforming and combat, are excellently in sync. While the more important aspect was
Obviously combat, the platforming was also very well integrated in the levels and into the combat itself.
The bosses could have had more platforming in them, but I quite liked them.
I "might" have been a bit overlevelled, as third to last, and second to last bosses were.... push-overs.
Almost a disappointment, but I suppose it was because I did take advantage of the stagger system.
That system makes excellent "side goals" during the bossfight, where you have smaller objectives to accomplish,
Alongside winning, but which obviously benefit you greatly, making the bosses staggered for a long opening.
While this is not a new system per se, Hollow Knight had it as well, though invisible, it made the fights so dynamic.
The music I felt was very nice, it really supported the atmosphere of each area EXCELLENTLY.
And it all culminates together in the most glorious aspect of the game. THE VISUALS.
I very much favor pixelart. Limitations breed creativity, create contrast and it stimulates imagination.
But regardless of the fidelity, the pixelcount, the most important aspect is details.
And my god, this game OOZES details. EVERYTHING has details. Every animation, every screen, every character.
If I had collected every notable details in the game, the pictures would number in hundreds, if not thousands.
Without exaggeration, this might be one of the most heavily detailed games I've ever played.
It feels as if every single pixel has a meaningful, purposeful placement,
which in truth it does, as is the case with pixelart generally.
There is much to love in the game, and much to rejoice.
This will definitely be a replay worthy game as well, though mostly it will be for collectibles... unless there is...
A secret...

wife in a large hat