It uses its mechanics ""elegantly"" (as in, it's very simple and efficient for the player to understand and use), yet by the later half of the game, its kinda held back from its limited mechanics. This also impacts the boss mechanics: While it makes use of all of the players toolset, some can feel relativitly janky (see lava slime boss). It doesn't help that the bosses dont feel like bosses, but rather like "short super-meat-boy like puzzle levels". By that I mean the player is just trying to quickly go through the first 30 seconds of the encounter and try to hit its weakspot without dying. Doing so otherwise complicates the fight unnecessarly and just makes it way too hard and tedious than it needs to be.

It's an alright game with a cool hyperfocus on one mechanic, but that is pretty much it.

Jotun is a boss rush game filled with padding and boredom. The meat of the game - the bosses - are damn disappointing gameplay-wise and don't really feel like big epic bosses.
For a game focused on combat, the player offers little to no actual tactics to employ; you can only rely on your basic, slow, attacks and a pityful dodgeroll. Each boss usually revolves around going close to them (usually right underneath them) and just attacking their feet until they die. The filler between the bosses are just so goddamn boring and only serve the purpose of stretching the playtime.

The animations are solid with alot of telegraphing, but overall the gameplay is just a goddamn disappointment.

Don't play this game.

The best part about this game is the voice acting.

The art style is all over the place with the only good thing about it being the boss animations.
The combat is clunky and frustrating and the exploration practically non-existent.

The game consists of 5 areas containing 2 levels and one boss fight each. Don't start this game with the hopes of playing a boss rush game like Titan Souls, you won't.

Each level has a gimmick that is extremely overused. I think the intent with this was to create intriguing puzzles, but all of them have the same solution. To put it short, the levels are drawn out, boring walking sections.

The boss fights have some potential, however, combined with the awful combat system they just become very frustrating. I ended up almost finishing a fight, only to get one-shot randomly and having to restart it way too many times.

Not a single part of this game was even in the slightest fun to sit through.

I wanted to replay this game, since I was so fond of it back as a 10- year old.....

.....20 hours later, I now know why I never finished it. The game is just a pure grindfest, as every progression is tied to the resources you need to collect. During my entire playthrough, I had to resort to a 10 year old GameFAQs guide to get all the ressources, since I couldn't be bothered to remember all the places where they are located in. The building aspect becomes more of a chore later down the line, as every quest requires more ressources. By the end, I was happy that I even finished it.

INSIDE is a 3 hour 2D plattformer. The gameplay is deceptively simple, the puzzles are almost trivial and it is a very linear experience. Despite all that, it is such a strong experience that I always come back to. Playing INSIDE for the first time is like looking down into a dark hole: You don't know where it leads to, but you feel compelled to just. jump. in.

The sense of the unknown is what makes INSIDE just work. For three hours, it confidently knows what it wants to do and be and does it perfectly with insane amounts of polish. Play it.