This game was amazing, I can't believe I put it down 9 years ago and never finished it. I'm simply giving it a 4 based on my experience but I could definitely see this being a higher rating for others. Supergiant Games is always great at not only nailing gameplay but immersion and providing top tier audio tracks to go along with it.
My only knock was that the combat was a little strange for me when I first started playing it and when I came back to it the mechanics were hard to get a handle on. Mileage may vary on that part.

Maybe one day I'll play through it again start to finish without a 9 year gap to experience it as intended but I still had a very positive experience.

The mechanics were very fluid and I enjoyed the plot. I had a lot of major bug issues that crashed my game, it got repetitive at times however it's a very short game and I won't hold that against it. If I didn't experience game terminating issues I would have likely rated this a 4, due to multiple crashes I did not give the bits of readable lore more attention than the bare minimum.
If you have a few hours give it a shot but if it crashes at all turn off V-Sync and that /should/ solve the issue.

This game feels like a sequel to Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow which is my favorite installment in the franchise. Although it starts off a little stiff the game quickly becomes much more fun as you collect more abilities and equipment. Most enemies drop "shards" which give you different abilities and the more you collect the more customizable your combat and traversal becomes. There are also Techniques which are unique to each weapon/weapon type that add an extra layer of variety that is welcome here. If you like Metroidvania style games you'll probably like this especially if you like Castlevania.

This game is often compared to Pokemon and while the core is similar as a Monster Taming RPG. Everything else around it is so much more than Pokemon has been in a single game. The fusion mechanic let's you fuse your two monsters to create a powerful monster to get a leg up during a fight. Another mechanic worth noting is the Sticker system which is how each monster knows their movelist, this are easily swappable without having to worry about making the wrong decision on replacing a move.
The characters are endearing and the setting is interesting. You are there on a world between worlds just like everyone else so when you talk to people they have a different version of their home than yours. Sometimes it's something as simple as a band being named something different or something like how there was an Elf uprising.

I think that Cassette Beasts sets out to put you in a world that you are invested in the characters and how they plan to deal with their problems and it does that perfectly. There's a lot to be done in the Post-Game as well so there's more for me to do still but I absolutely loved this game. I have some bias because I streamed it and it helped me get through my first stream nerves so it'll hold a special place in my heart.

I absolutely loved the world this game created and the characters within it. Each character had a warmth to them that I really enjoyed. Combat was great and timing blocks/critical hits was a fun throwback to older RPGs. My only knocks on the game were that traversal could get a little annoying having to hit A at every cliff/jump and that there was a small amount of skills for each character but the combos more than made up for the complexity with the Lock System.
If you have Gamepass and you like RPGs go play this right now, if you are into RPGs go buy this (if it's in your price range) and play this right now.
I 99%ed this game and the final achievement seems too hard for me to go after so in my mind I pseudo-mastered it.

This game was great, the skill leveling system in concept seems so far ahead of it's time. Since I played the remastered version I'm sure a large amount of bugs were worked out to make it more fine tuned. The story was pretty straightforward with a few fun twists and turns. The music was phenomenal and the sound effects weren't annoying which is saying a lot for an older game.
The difficulty curve on this game was very weird and felt more like a Difficulty Rollercoaster. I ended up getting lost wondering on the map which led to me grinding a ton unnecessarily which made me over leveled and may have been the reason why I felt such a strange relationship with the difficulty.
I'm not crazy about the 4th character slot party decision but it was definitely more interesting than a full static party.