Thoroughly impressed by Hauntii! It's an under the radar indie gem that surprisingly punches well above its weight with its exploration-based gameplay, a strong, well realized aesthetic and a great take on afterlife/purgatory. It features an optimistic yet melancholic narrative thoroughly sprinkled with lighter undertones so it never feels excessively sorrowful.

Gameplay-wise, it's structured similarly to Super Mario Galaxy. The game consists of open world zones, each with their multitude of levels. Each map has you doing different tasks in order to get stars, which allow you to level up and progress further. The minigame variety is surprisingly big. Lots of fun and delightful objects to "haunt" (the main mechanic of the game where you take control of stuff like trees, animals, bells and even trains) and tasks ranging from straight to the point "destroy waves of enemies" to climbing trees with a ladybug and even shaping your own roller-coaster track!

The actual twin shooting gameplay can get very repetitive and could've done with a bigger variety of enemies and aura types. Still, the minute to minute collectathon dynamics guarantee you'll never feel bored. There's no incentive to get every star, yet I ended up getting them all just because it was fun - Hauntii is always nudging you towards exploration.

Huge props to the insanely talented 1-bit visual style and the fully orchestral soundtrack, which ranks among some of the most beautiful ambient tracks I've had the pleasure of listening for a while. Both definitely inspired by Hollow Knight.