This review is coming from a big fan of Cosmos Bit. Ultimately, I had fun but I think it’s worse than it’s predecessor. I recommend it with some caveats - a few tweaks would make it much better.

It is a very combat focused Metroidvania. Basically you are just clearing rooms of enemies to find the next save point, which gets a bit repetitive. It CAN be tricky sometimes to survive, and that tension is the main thing that keeps the game engaging.

One of the game’s main weak points is the bosses - they only have one move and are super easy to cheese (there’s always a safe zone to just camp in). The EDM dance music for these fights also really makes them a low point…

My biggest complaint though is the exploration and overall linearity. The only reward for searching nooks and crannies are digital trading cards - basically just a picture. This really should be tweaked - give a higher jump, faster movement, new attacks, etc. I also think a map redesign to allow multiple paths forward instead of one critical path would help - it only vaguely feels like a Metroidvania at this point.

The pixel art is quite good, and lives up to its genre forefathers. It also is a good bang for your buck - it took me 6.5 hours to get 100%. I think the game has a lot more potential, a few tweaks really would make it an easy recommendation, but it remains to be seen if the dev decides to implement any changes.