This game has soooo much potential, there’s many things that it nails, but unfortunately in the end it isn’t really doing it for me.

I began very impressed with the colorful art style, fun combat, and really well done level design that reminded me a lot of dread. Your taking a quick tour through the whole map, but only briefly to return and progress in the original area, which is just really neat design.

But things really started to fall apart a few hours in for me:

Number one - I do not like the puzzles in this game. They feel clunky, simple, and just kinda tedious compared to the excellent combat.

Number two - the streamlined level design in the first couple hours completely falls apart. Multiple times I became completely lost and found myself running in circles, and when I finally find a path forward it doesn’t reward me. I would get through the puzzles and confusing layout, only to find there no new ability to explore with or even fun incremental power ups like gun speed or power upgrades. If I’m lucky there’s just a single health upgrade, then it’s back to the drawing board.

Number 3 - exploration is so underwhelming. Remember in Metroid when you find a secret room with a nice missile upgrade? Here, the secret rooms have non interactive sprites that reference some random thing supposedly the devs are fans of (like Sonic, or Sans). This just sucks the fun out of even trying to find hidden rooms.

I really think the game could easily have been great. Reward the player in ways that are actually useful and meaningful. Make the level design a bit more clear and purposeful with clever wayfinding. And stick to combat and exploration - the puzzles just aren’t working here. I will keep an eye out for the devs next project, but since seemingly I’m the only reviewer with any complaints, I fear it will be more of the same.