I really enjoyed playing this game!

In terms of style, it is clearly a mix of oldschool Zelda and Dragon Quest, but feels reminiscent of Pokemon as well, and it also feels a bit metroidvania-like because of the open-ended map and ability gating.

The overworld map was the perfect size for me - I get lost and dejected if it is too big, but the map here was open enough that I always felt excited about the different ways I could go and places to explore, without ever feeling like I lost a handle on it. A lot is open to you at the start, but without certain abilities, you can't progress.

The ability design is really cool and each one felt like it was opening up new possibilities for exploration. In practice, the effects of each one are slightly limited to specific areas/puzzles, but it didn't really feel that way, it was always exciting to get a new one.

The battle system's greatest strength was in its design - the battle transitions, music, enemy sprites (particularly strong) and overall UI of them is really well done and makes battles enjoyable, even if I could get through most of them by just mashing attack. The spell system seems cool, I just didn't really ever have to make use of it...

I like the dungeon and puzzle design a lot. The puzzles are complicated enough that they don't feel like total pushovers, but they're simple enough that you can solve them even if you aren't very smart (like me) or don't want to spend tons of time on trial and error. Dungeons have lots of branching paths, but most of them lead to keys or switches or rooms you need to revisit, so you get a really good sense of exploration - by the end of a dungeon, you've learned how all the different paths work together, which is a very satisfying feeling.

The soundtrack isn't, like, super amazing, but the tunes are all fitting, nice to listen to in game, quite catchy at times. I had a few stuck in my head throughout the week as I was playing. Definitely a few I will be adding to my playlist.

The story is really simple and not very well developed. Dialogue sort of goes for that cutesy self-aware style but I always find that a little awkward. There are some sort of twists and interesting concepts, but not ever explored enough for me to really "get" what it was going for. I did really like the bonus dialogue you get from all NPCs when you enter goblin form though, that was really cute.

The crafting system was sort of unintuitive and underdeveloped. You really don't get many materials (without grinding), and there's no way of knowing what to do with them. I spent the entire game with basic wood and leather equipment, and from looking at videos online, it was apparently possible to get better stuff, but I had no idea how. It didn't matter anyway, didn't run into any difficulty problems (until the last boss, who was overpowered compared to the rest)

It's really cute how monsters don't "drop" items, but instead come back and give you stuff, but it effectively isn't any different. You don't get a lot of gold, and the only stuff to buy with it is basic potions and status cure items, which I never really needed to do. So the item system was overall not very satisfying.

My only other criticism is I would have liked it if random encounters would go away in puzzle rooms; it could be quite annoying to try to solve some of them with enemies appearing every 15 seconds.

Ultimately I really enjoyed the ride even if it had a few underdeveloped or unsatisfying parts, it was still very fun to play.