Great! Liked it more than the first.. Which I played a good few hours of on the 3DS. That game was a more straight-forward, proof of concept for this game: How to dig up dirt and the occasional gem in 2D and make it interesting. Where the first game was very simple, this adds a whole layer of "metroidvania" skills and tools to help mix up exploration and gameplay that I quite enjoyed. It is very soothing to just head down into the mines, hack through a bunch of dirt and stone blocks to fill up your pack, sell it for loot, grab an upgrade you want, then head back down for more.

There a few "dungeons" of sorts that also help break this up that are more standard Metroidvania puzzles and exploration. Nothing too exceptional in terms of gameplay but the art direction is crazy good. Where the world initially looks like a desert wasteland, you quickly find old ruins, acid swamps, and technological nightmares not too far down in the deeps...

There's an attempt at a story and characters, and while nothing is grand they are certainly functional. The robot townsfolk are cute with their beeps and boops, there are some surprise human characters later on that hint at a dystopian backstory and Dot's (the MC) search for her uncle (the character from the first game!) is interesting at least. She makes friends with a floating light who likes to be a jackass and blow things up, but he and Dot become friends and that leads to a touching 'end' between the two that sets up a third game.

A giant leap over its predecessor and a simple but fulfilling game loop plus a dash of great art... make this a worthwhile purchase.

Final Grade: A-