A very clever, creative 2D platformer that does a lot with its unconventional controls. I've seen a few people say that if you could just jump normally that it would make things easier and better but I don't really get that point, since the game is literally designed around its unique control scheme and is integral to its pseudo-puzzle platforming level layouts. I'm particularly fond of the way that not being able to immediately jump feels almost like an evolution to the intentionally sluggish controls of Castlevania, where there's just as much importance placed on strategic positioning and planning as there is on just executing everything well after the fact.

There's also some pretty great variety to the level design as well, with the elements of verticality especially playing well into the grappling mechanics and leading to a lot of surprisingly fast paced, tense moments in between the more meticulous planning. Not really a fan of gaining more max hp by grinding though, feels like a very odd thing to implement in a 2D action platformer that makes the balancing feel off from level to level and is also just, very tedious to properly play with. The lives system along with a few purely inconvenient elements, such as needing to have certain colours of communicators to even access the terminals, leading to some pretty pointless trial end error, further contribute to making the experience feel quite rough in certain regards, with the end game being especially nasty. Even so, I still had a good time, might be one I feel a bit more patient towards when I let it sit with me for a while as well. At the very least, it felt like a bit of fresh air even if it still obviously played into a lot of the conventions that would be typical for this type of game.