Let's be honest, this game has a ton of flaws.

The fast travel system works in a terrible way that makes the first few hours an absolute nightmare.

Progression and mechanics are poorly explained and presented. Towards the middle of the game there's a part where you almost need to buy an expensive item in order to level up and make progress. And if you've spent that money... well you're out of luck. Grind, idle the game, whatever. Does discarding items make you earn more money from the fountain? I'd like to know but I can't check that tutorial again. But actually... if you know that you can freeze water, you don't really need it. But maybe you try to freeze with a subweapon and it doesn't work and you give up... because you don't know that it's random whether you freeze it or not, because it requires a critical hit! Or maybe you grab one of the 100% guaranteed to freeze seeds and fail because you throw it directly on the water and it doesn't activate unless it hits a wall or the floor and it explodes. So, you get stuck on this one section.

Then the HP levels (at least on Veteran) are terribly balanced. It's impossible to try to fight the bosses with your main weapons only because you won't get anywhere, but then if you rely on subweapons you'll beat them with little effort, not having to learn their patterns, especially if you make super powerful broken setups. They're simply unfun no matter what you do, and it's a shame because with a little tuning they could be challenging, interesting fights like the ones in the first game.

Speaking of that first game... I like Kirika and Masha well enough, but the characters and the writing here never reach even a fraction of the charm of the first game, sadly. The best moments in the game in general are when the Kamizono sisters are on screen and that shouldn't be the case.

Requirement for true ending is pretty annoying and needs better transparency.

And yet despite all this... the game is actually really fun. General movement and exploration is good enough and all but once you get the super dash the game changes because it's just stupid fun to run around the whole map blasting everything and finding every little thing. The way movement upgrades are given out by levelling up is unique and interesting. If I've seen another metroidvania do it then I certainly don't remember.

It's a very fun game that got its hooks on me and also managed to infuriate me, so at least it made me feel something and I kinda value that a lot nowadays. It's better than a boring safe middle of the road metroidvania that makes me feel numb while playing it and doesn't inspire a rant this long afterwards. Take that as you will.

Let's be honest, this game has a ton of flaws. The fast travel system works in a terrible way that makes the first few hours an absolute nightmare. Progression and mechanics are poorly explained and presented. Towards the middle of the game there's a part where you almost need to buy an expensive item in order to level up and make progress. And if you've spent that money... well you're out of luck. Grind, idle the game, whatever. Does discarding items make you earn more money from the fountain? I'd like to know but I can't check that tutorial again. But actually... if you know that you can freeze water, you don't really need it. But maybe you try to freeze with a subweapon and it doesn't work and you give up... because you don't know that it's random whether you freeze it or not, because it requires a critical hit! Or maybe you grab one of the 100% guaranteed to freeze seeds and fail because you throw it directly on the water and it doesn't activate unless it hits a wall or the floor and it explodes. So, you get stuck on this one section. Then the HP levels (at least on Veteran) are terribly balanced. It's impossible to try to fight the bosses with your main weapons only because you won't get anywhere, but then if you rely on subweapons you'll beat them with little effort, not having to learn their patterns, especially if you make super powerful broken setups. They're simply unfun no matter what you do, and it's a shame because with a little tuning they could be challenging, interesting fights like the ones in the first game. Speaking of that first game... I like Kirika and Masha well enough, but the characters and the writing here never reach even a fraction of the charm of the first game, sadly. The best moments in the game in general are when the Kamizono sisters are on screen and that shouldn't be the case. Requirement for true ending is pretty annoying and needs better transparency. And yet despite all this... the game is actually really fun. General movement and exploration is good enough and all but once you get the super dash the game changes because it's just stupid fun to run around the whole map blasting everything and finding every little thing. The way movement upgrades are given out by levelling up is unique and interesting. If I've seen another metroidvania do it then I certainly don't remember. It's a very fun game that got its hooks on me and also managed to infuriate me, so at least it made me feel something and I kinda value that a lot nowadays. It's better than a boring safe middle of the road metroidvania that makes me feel numb while playing it and doesn't inspire a rant this long afterwards. Take that as you will.