I feel like that talking fully about Everhood with the respet it deserves its almost impossible, but I'll try anyway. Some people would call it pretencious, but that would implie that the game pretends to be more than it really is, and Everhood has a lot of interesting things to say. It feels proud to be a videogame, with all that carries: being a happy experience and a sad one, funny and scary, relaxed and challenging... And it tackles the theme of death and how it gives meaning to life, albeit being a pretty common theme in certain movies and books, unlike any other game I've seen.
Does anything I'm saying make sense? I don't know, nor I care, but please, play Everhood, even if you don't end up seing its themes and story the same way I do, it's still a fun an unique experience, on that should be at least tried by everyone.
Also the gameplay it's incredibly fun, challenging and the music is out of this world, I almost forgot to say that

One of the rooms in this game has the shape of a heart and is full of capybaras, and if that doesn’t prove to you that this is the clear GOTY of the year of the decade of forever so far then I don’t know what will.

Despite being a highly anticipated game for me, probably one of this year’s releases that excited me the most this year… I had no fucking clue what Animal Well really was. By that I don’t mean that ‘’I didn’t know what to expect’’, there have been a ton of games I didn’t have expectations of what they would be prior to playing them, but at least I had a small idea what they were about, their mechanics, and overall ideas. But with Animal Well, I had no clue about how it could even play like.

It was supposed to be a Metroidvania? Is it Puzzle-Platformer? Or perhaps an immersive-atmospheric experience? Maybe a highly experimental take on open spaces and secret finding? I didn’t really know before I hit ‘’start game’’ to be honest, and yet, even before that point there was something that called me, that fascinated me. This world of blues and greens seen through the lenses of an old CRTV is an aesthetic I didn’t know I missed this much, or maybe is that it’s done so effectively here; the surround sound and flickering lights that accompany such abandoned yet beautiful looking structures and the nature that melds perfectly with it… I don’t know, it reminisces of feelings and memories I don’t think I can properly put into words, but still filled me with a desire to explore this rabbit hole.

Well, I finally played it, and I have finally found the answer to all of those questions that once plagued me:…

…Yes.

Animal Wells is an experience that feels like it takes inspiration from a million different places and ideas, and yet it molds them together to create something unlike any other game I can think of; is the idea that surrounds the ‘’Metroidvania’’ genre distilled in its purest form, yet it’s far from being simple.

The well is a place of few words; none of the areas have a proper name, there are no NPCs to chat with, and it’s not like the small slime-like creature we play as has a mouth to begin with. The only text present is one found in menus, small one-word prompts, and the name of the items, and that’s more than enough… because the rest speaks for itself. Each area and the animals that live in them chant a different song, each room a part of a puzzle of their own; I didn’t know for them to have a name for places to stand out vividly in my mind, like the Lake of the Cranes, or the Giant Bat’s Cave, or even smaller locations like the Peacock’s Palace or the Disc’s Shrine. The world of Animal Well may be quiet, but everything speaks volumes, like visting an abandoned virtual zoo: every encounter with a new-found critter, whether friendly or aggressive, every new interaction like distracting dogs using the disc, or every major tense moment like running away from the Ghost… Cat? Dog? I actually don’t know which of the two is supposed to be, nor do I need to know that the entire sequence and puzzle is an amazing highlight and super satisfying to overcome completely on your own… No wait, that’s also the rest of the game!

Managing to create a world that feels so well thought-out and designed so every puzzle feels intuitive, while at the same time offering such fun to use and multi-purpose items that can break open the game completely and taking ALL THAT into account is honestly worth getting up and applauding. The Bubble Wand is the clear star of the show for me; being able to create temporary platforms is already a game changer, especially when pairing it with fans and wind currents, but then you realize you can ‘bubble hop’, as I like to call it, by pressing the action and jump button both at the same time and completely bypassing many parts and sections that otherwise would have required other actions, and best thing is that even if it seems that it breaks the game at times, the dev clearly accounted for it since some rooms have passages too thin for you to maneuver or create bubbles or even animals like hummingbirds that immediately pop them once you make one. I normally wouldn’t like when a game makes a tool completely useless for the sake of a puzzle, but in here it makes total sense and balances out the moments were you make out your own path with pre-designed puzzles this amazing, and it’s not like that’s the only tool that lets you get creative anyway.

The moment you get any item, about two seconds is all you need to realize the possibilities it can offer, yet, as in the rest of the caverns, nothing is ever spelled out; you yourself and your own imagination and problem-solving are the ones that need to overcome the challenges this wildlife imposes; I’ve never felt so rewarded in such a long time than when using the Yo-Yo effectively, learning the code to fast travel to the main hub with the animal faces —which remind me of a certain game, I think it starter with ‘’Super’’ and ended with ‘’2’’… can’t put a finger on it tho—, or skipping completely the Ostrich escape sequence and its puzzles, near the bowels of the map, by using the Spring, Yo-Yo and myself. It honestly comes really close to feeling like the levels in Mosa Lina, now that I think about: you have incredibly useful tools that serve a clear purpose, but ones you can also use whichever way you like to, only with the difference that Animal Well is an already built, profoundly engaging and interesting world, and using all this arsenal while interacting with the animal and the curse that seems to affect the well is amazing, and little things like fall or water damage aren’t taken into account to incentivize and reward experimentation even more than it would have otherwise.

If I had to point out a flaw, and one that may honestly be a ‘’only me’’ thing, is the inconsistency with how it handles some switches and shortcuts. While I get and really enjoy some gauntlets of puzzles, he fact some of them reset, like the ‘’On and Off’’ switches, reset every time you teleport or get out of a room, just makes things a tad more annoying, in contrast to how the yellow door switches stay activated even if you don’t press them all or die, which makes other rooms kind of a joke and strips them from the tension found in the boss encounters, for example. I understand that this won’t be that big of a deal for many people, but when the rest of the game is so impeccably designed and each room amounts to so much, these little annoyances are noticeable.

A game that otherwise… I still don’t think I can say I've come close to experiencing all of it. In a way, it’s kinda interesting to have played this so close after beating Fez for the first time, because while both of those games have a similar sense of wonder and are brimming with secrets, that game created its mysteries through the tools you can find within a same room and code-finding through a fragmented world , while Animal Well is an ecosystem on its own, with the complete freedom that entails. Even after finding out what dwelled at the bottom of the well, it's insane how much there’s for me to find, not only the Eggs, but I’m convinced there are things that I haven’t even seen yet, and I know for sure that there are far more items than it seemed at first.

At this point, it shouldn’t be a secret that one of the things I love the most in games, or in any form of art for that matter, is when they give so much food for thought, letting the imagination run wild and feel so massive and grand even if their locations are small; Animal Well is only a 30 MB game, and it’s the perfect representation of all this, the wild desire to explore, to have fun, and to fear the unknown, even when it's scary as all hell.

I’m obsessed with Animal Well, and its ambience, roars, and silence speak to me in a way few games do, and I’m happy to see that’s a sentiment already being shared by so many people.

Hit credits after about four hours or so and thought to myself "this was a nice short little game, I wouldn't mind grabbing the rest of the collectibles before moving on". Like five sessions, ten hours, and several pages of notes and ciphers later, I can confidently say that I've had my fun here - and that is to say that there are still more things left to find!

This game's got layers, man.

If you like games like Super Metroid or Tunic and are looking for a densely atmospheric puzzle adventure, this is not a game you should be missing. With a few more fast travel points and a little less platforming precision in some areas (if you found all the bunnies, you'll know what I'm talking about), this would be an easy five star for me. But even with those few minor shortcomings, it's on my 2024 Game of the Year shortlist and I am confidently inducting it into my indie game hall of fame. I can already feel that this'll kick off another wave of indie game fever for me like Outer Wilds did a while back, too.

TL;DR: Animal Well is a fantastically unique experience from start to finish and it is absolutely worth all the high praise you've been hearing.



...still can't believe a donkey published this game...

After years of drift towards third-person action, survival horror finally returns to its roots: dunking your entire arm into every single trashcan you can find and showing disobedient vending machines and lockers the righteous fury of your boot heel.

Thank God the indie market is so robust these days, because the increasing homogenization of the modern big budget game and shrinking genre space therein means you wouldn't get proper survival horror otherwise. Crow Country and others like Signalis have been filling that void, but despite clearly playing to the charm of PlayStation era horror with its visuals - especially with its character models, which look as though they've been unearthed from an old Net Yaroze kit - Crow Country is no tired pastiche. It's safe rooms, puzzles, and resource management might harken to a design ethos that was at one point more commonplace, but these elements feel authentic and borne from a place of appreciation and understanding.

Nowhere is this more strongly felt than in the park's layout and the way in which the player navigates it. The amusement park theme allows for neatly defined areas with their own theming and unique attractions, with hidden passages, back rooms, cast tunnels, and a subterranean network serving as the connective tissue between each "land" in a way that feels appropriate for the setting while serving to make the park feel highly interconnected. Crow Country is great at providing a sense of space while conveying where the player should go and what to do next. I never felt lost or completely stumped by a puzzle and was consistently engaged and encouraged to revisit old locations to explore - the part of my brain that starts processing how I want to route my way through a game activated pretty early, and as far as I'm concerned, that's a sign that a survival horror game is living up to the promise of its genre.

The setting is also small. Crow Country is less Disneyland, more Santa's Village, so one way developer SFB Games succeeds in making repeated loops through the park threatening is by gradually introducing more enemies and traps to familiar locations. As the time of day progresses, rain and darkness further obscure the player's vision, and boobytrapped pick-ups begin to litter the map to prey on the sense of trust they've developed with their environment. I sprinted my way through the opening two hours, juked most enemies and picked up any crap I saw laying on the ground. By hour five, I was walking everywhere, stopping frequently, side-eyeing boxes of ammo, and finding that I actually had to conserve what I had due to the increased expectation that I shoot some damn "guests."

I also appreciate Crow Country for telling a complete and coherent story, something I think a lot of horror games have pushed away from. I think the Five Nights series has poisoned the genre and led a lot of other indie horror creators to believe a complex and intentionally vague narrative is the best way to ensure franchise longevity. Keep posing questions, provide no answers. I get it, sometimes it's best to let the audience fill in gaps, you don't want over-explain horror, but in the hands of a weak writer, the "unknown" can just be a euphemism for "nothing."

That's not to say Crow Country fails to raise any questions of its own, rather that in true PSX survival horror fashion, you're given all the clues you need to form the big picture through memos, context, and dialog. How well you do that is entirely dependent on how much you're paying attention, and whether you view Crow Country as being so cliched that its horror can be explained by way of Resident Evil and Silent Hill. I was extremely satisfied by the ending, which leaves just enough unanswered that you'll still have something to think of without feeling like you'll need to consult a YouTube series or read like, seven fucking books and play a dozen more games. An indie horror game with a conclusion that is both cogent and earned, thank christ.

So make the most of your Memorial Day weekend and bring the whole family down to Crow Country. Come ride our newest attraction: The Seven Seas, and discover new types of bacteria. Remember, vets and children under 6 get in free!

Another Crab's Treasure is a mascot action game that feels truly like a Gamecube game brought to the modern day. All of the bright and colourful environments and characters of the era, with their mildly crass humour working to give off the same sort of feeling you get going back to watch old Cartoon Network shows and realizing how rough and edgy their content really was. There's loads of stuff to like, from the themeing of the world being mostly garbage, or the solid combat giving way to tense moments, and the general vibe being so lighthearted that it's hard to feel too oppressed at any singular moment while playing. That all said, I think for the first time in this weird non-genre of soulslikes, the thing that sticks out for me most is: the story.

On top of that, though, the team at Aggro Crab have created something that does the 11th hour narrative rug pull and sits the player down to really tell them how terrible the world is for people that aren't them. Another Crab's Treasure starts off as a very upfront narrative about how creatures in the ocean have learned to live with the life-threating garbage that we pollute their homes with. It's their currency, their lifeblood, and ultimately their shelter. But it's killing them. And that's sort of the core of the plot. But, without spoiling anything, I think Another Crab's Treasure might be the first story I've seen in a very long time to do something more with an anti-capitalist message than suggest that perhaps we should improve conditions slightly.

While you'll start ACT thinking that you might be the bad guys, by the end of it (if you're willing to truly listen to what it's saying) you will come to realize that the only reason you should feel like a bad guy is because you're letting the real bad guys get away with it. I was not expecting to feel that way about this kind of game. Well done.

Everything that's been built inside of this experience makes it the perfect introduction for anyone looking to get into the survival horror genre. It takes the many virtues of the classics and strings it together with such a strong sense of identity that given enough time, I think this could be seen as one of the best indie survival horrors in terms of its aesthetics. It’s a love letter to the fans of these games but also a great way to start for any new players.

So, what about specifics? Well, talking about the inspirations, this game is clearly BATHED in a variety of mechanics that makes the Resident Evil / Silent Hill franchises work so well. Resource management, environmental traps, puzzle solving, save rooms, it’s all here and all of it works fantastically. There's never really a section of the game that feels dragged out and throughout its short run-time it does a good job at giving you little pieces to the broader mystery that surrounds the abandoned ‘Crow Country’.

But why are we at Crow Country? It’s your goal, Mara Forest, to find the owner, Edward Crow, after the well known theme park shut down 2 years ago, for unknown reasons. But why is she tasked to look for him? It’s these questions that arise the further you explore the abandoned theme park, looking for any sense of clues that might tell you what happened, that keeps you hooked the most. You’ll also encounter other characters throughout the park, which not only add more questions to how deep this mystery goes but also how many are involved. Some don’t let off more information than they want to tell, hiding in secrecy, and if you connect the pieces yourself, you’ll realise what's going on before the twist, and I think that's what makes it all the more enjoyable! I also liked playing Mara as a protagonist (women protags in survival horrors my beloved), she's equally deadpan quippy as she is serious and the way she interacts with the world is so cute.

And let me tell you, they nailed the exploration. Each area looks like they put so much thought and care into making sure each one distinctively stands out so as you don’t forget where something was. Even if it's just a hallway, there's little secrets to be found everywhere, whether it be extra ammo, first aid kits or even story notes to read. It’s also great to finally see a theme park setting for this genre, which I think helps the memorability of each area, from haunted crypts to rusted aquariums. Once a couple hours have passed, I already knew the place like the back of my hand, but it was always nice to revisit an area and see what secrets I may have missed the first time entering or what puzzle I couldn’t complete at first, there's some aspects I’d even compare to metroidvanias.

The atmosphere is helped immensely with the soundtrack by Ockeroid. Distant crows cawing, the wiring of machines, all whilst a distant piano melody echoes. Just like the many survival horror soundtracks before, it's equally pretty and eerie, but also knows when to play it silly to lean into the nature of where you are, being at a theme park.

This is even further improved upon by the visuals, going for this PS1/Final Fantasy VII rubber model look, which I’ve never seen achieved before, sure a general PSX look but not this specific style. If you slapped this on a 4:3 CRT you could’ve possibly convinced me it was released in the late 90s, though granted there are some areas that have been modernised, such as the options for analogue controls instead of the tank controls of old. And I think the top down camera placement is perfect as well, it makes you want to turn and scan every room to see if there might’ve been any cubby holes or items you might’ve missed.

Weapons are mostly just the standard survival horror tropes, however mixed in with the environmental traps it can make for some interesting scenarios where, let's say for example there's an explosive barrel and you could just shoot to kill a tougher enemy in the area, but you might want to save it for when you come back later and there's more enemies so you save more resources. The creativity of the puzzles can’t also be understated. For the most part they’re quite easy to solve, but I don’t think that ruins the experience for me personally, and I still admire the ways they make it work inside different rooms, like having to shoot certain marine animals in a submarine to unlock a new weapon, or having to get certain scores in an arcade so you have to play various mini-games, they’re all fun and unique in their own way! There's also some optional secrets you can decide to do which grant you upgrades to your weapon or healing items, which is a nice addition considering how often you re-run through areas and something changes.

That being said, I do think this game can be a little too lenient when it comes to how many resources it gives to the player, at least in terms of when I played it on the standard "Survival Horror" difficulty. I’m sure this was most likely done so that maybe players don’t get stuck with running out of ammo, but I always had a ton of everything throughout my first playthrough, and even more-so when I replayed it for the higher rank. Though this is remedied by the inclusion of a hard mode (Murder of Crows) added just recently which does give you less to work with and makes enemies more volatile, so maybe one day I’ll try it out. I also like the option of adding a exploration mode that removes all enemies and makes it more about the puzzles themselves which, if somebody just wanted to dabble in the genre but doesn’t like the spooks then they can also enjoy it that way, I really like how open that is to newcomers who may find these games daunting.

There's also some replayability to be had as, depending on your final rank, for future playthroughs you’ll unlock extra gear like the crowbar, a crow rocket launcher (I'm not kidding) and some wings which help you fast travel between save rooms. I’ll always respect shorter games putting in ways to get you to try the journey with a fresh coat of paint, and whilst nothing here is substantial, it's a decent inclusion nevertheless.

As you can see, I had a great time with this game! it really does showcase how much indie games are carrying this industry in terms of new concepts being mixed with old. I can see how potentially somebody could come out of this being underwhelmed due to the inspirations it does wear on it sleeve, the difficulty and the story not being as psychological and intensive as what games like Signalis and Silent Hill 2 did respectively, but I’m very much pleased with the overall package this offers and how well made everything feels. I really hope the devs end up returning to this again in the future, because they really understand what makes the genre good.

I’d recommend you to maybe take a trip to Crow Country one day, if you so please…

Now I take games personally enough that I'm not above comparing one to a religious experience if I feel like it deserves it. Rain World is the most recent example, and I can't think of the last time I've felt so immediately certain that a game belongs in my personal canon as one of the greatest and most remarkable games to ever exist.

You know how people will say that certain very difficult games games are Hard But Fair, but it's almost always bullshit and when you point that out, they try to gerrymander it into being this intentionally Secret Genius move to be unfair or bad in service of its tone or narrative? Rain World is actually kinda full of that, but in a way that feels truly authored. Rain World isn't primarily concerned with making a fair experience for the player; it's primarily concerned with making an immersive and believable ecosystem, where all the creatures and interactions feel as lifelike as possible, and that's why it breaks a number of fair design rules: You will die in ways that feel like—and often are—just plain bad luck. But it's all in service to that mission statement.

I really fucking hate how the internet has completely ruined Dark Souls comparisons, because this feels like a scenario where it applies very strongly: Rain World is nothing like Dark Souls, not in terms of genre or structure, but it attracts a similar kind of person and promotes a similar personal experience. Such a game is understandably not going to be for everyone, but if you can come to appreciate it on its own terms, you might find Rain World to be your next religious experience, too.

Tremendous in its concept, execution and atmosphere. A puzzle game that combines open world-ish puzzle solving with the "open up paths" gameplay of something like Resident Evil 2 Remake leading to an absolute masterpiece.

Lorelei's genius comes from its structure: the Hotel & its surroundings are your play area for the entire game and are all interconnected. One of the first puzzles I encountered while playing the game was solved 12 hours deep as part of the ending sequence.

You'd think that this vast availability of options would lead to confusion as to which path can actually be taken, which solutions are possible based on current information, but it really doesn't because the game operates on the following principle: if you're looking at a puzzle and are confused about how it works, then you probably don't have the resources to solve it. Luckily, the game has so many avenues open that you can always jump to another question you have, slowly ticking off puzzles, opening doors and going further and further.

A real life notebook is required for this game. It took me 13 pages of notes to finish the game and that's with very conservative use of space. The in-game information menu is fantastic in its own right but cannot be accessed during puzzles and therefore only convenient for fixing your irl notes for the most part.

Aesthetically, the game rocks. Its art direction is gorgeous and so peculiar that it makes its most interesting pieces of imagery really pop. The music is fantastic as well.

Lorelei is definitely 2024's "off-radar" standout so far and continues a very, very strong indie release year along with Balatro, Pacific Drive and Animal Well.

8.7/10

I think the impulse to describe Crabs Treasure as merely a Soulslike is understandable given the somewhat divisive nature of the Souls style difficulty curve - but in truth Crabs Treasure is just as much a PS2 era 3D platformer as it is a challenging action RPG. This fusion is so unexpectedly seamless that its actually kind of difficult to distinguish at first, but when youre unlocking an ability that lets you break purple cubes that have been blocking passages in the past 3 zones and now youre backtracking through levels to collect pink upgrade crystals the experience is unmistakable.

And unlike most contemporary Soulslike titles that determine iteration on the genre means stapling more systems onto the side of the combat experience, Crabs Treasures combination of genres genuinely synthesizes novel gameplay experiences unseen or unrealized even by the Souls games themselves. You ever wanted a boss that truly roams an entire level and acts as a stage hazard in addition to a thrilling Souls fight? Well guess what nerd, the silly crab game is the one that pulled it off - and it might have even pulled it off because its a silly crab game thats slightly less beholden to the confines of realism.

Bonus Thoughts:

- The humor here is kind of tone deaf. Balancing serious with funny is for sure challenging but Aggro Crab makes their gambles with just emphatically bad jokes half the time.

- Swomps not in the game

- Slightly less serious Soulslike means slightly less serious about making sure things like input buffers are tight and unobtrusive, and therefore an occasionally more frustrating game to take seriously.

Pep's Detective Deep Dive - Game 11
This was a joy from start to finish. While unfamiliar with Shu Takumi's work, I have Ace Attorney Trilogy on my "to-play" list and Ghost Trick has made me very excited to play it - in fact, I may just play it next.

Ghost Trick just oozes charm. With a cast of great characters, all beautifully designed and exquisitely animated, the story rolls along at a breakneck pace packed with twists and turns. The "ghost" and "trick" system is easy to get to grips with but as the game rolls along, the puzzles get more and more fiendish. There's a lot of trial-and-error involved, but the game almost expects it out of you, and half of the fun of the game is trying different "tricks" and seeing what happens.

If I had any minor complaints, it would be that at the very end of the game, the story gets a little convoluted. I also figured out the mystery of just who "Sissel" was way before the game's conclusion, and I'm not really sure that was the game's intention.

Now that it's free from the confines of 3DS jail, I definitely see Ghost Trick becoming one of the underrated gems of Capcom's pantheon.

PS: Missile? Best boy. Lynne? Best girl.

Once I started playing Animal Well, my next week was dedicated to it. I simply couldn't stop playing it. At a surface level its audio and visuals instantly hooked me. Its neon-tinged cave seeming cozy yet foreboding; its delightful sounds already laying the groundwork for Fez comparisons. Seconds into playing it I could feel all the attention to detail that went into every animation and effect. As I collected items and realized they were all toys, and saw their unique physics interactions, I was filled with joy for multiple reasons.

After hitting credits once, I immediately kept playing, continuing my egg hunt. I can be somewhat hasty in games filled with secrets to give in to external hints too quickly (see my Void Stranger review), but I was determined here to hold out as long as I could. Time and time again I felt so much satisfaction as I found more hidden eggs, until finally my collection was complete. I should also say that this sense of satisfaction also happened during the main playthrough of the game multiple times as well. This sense of discovery is truly something Animal Well excels at.

Though the game requires a lot of backtracking to try to recontextualize places to reveal secrets, I always found myself happy to return to the search, because I kept feeling rewarded for it. I find this quite a triumph, as I know that I could just as easily have considered this lazy padding in a game where it wasn't as well executed. The fact that it kept me running around its map, convinced I would be able to discover its secrets on my own, and entertained all the while, is really the highest praise I can give it.

I'm tempted to hold off on review because I hear the postgame is so robust, but I have to many thoughts, so here I am after hitting credits. I apologize for the unstructured ramble; I'll update this review when I've done postgame stuff.

Metroidvania is the genre that I think I like way more than I actually do like: I used to call it my favorite genre, and I STILL have plenty of games I consider favorites and replay over and over. But in truth, I feel like I'm in love with an idealization of the genre that rarely gets met by any game not called Super Metroid: Sequence being only a suggestion, with alternate paths and sequence breaks accomplished not just by glitches and wall clips, but mastery of mechanics and their nuances to master the environment. For whatever reason, the whole genre seems to have collectively decided that abilities, a persistent map, and collectibles are all that matter, with most of them feeling like tightly linear affairs pulling you on a string through a world that feels like it's begging to be truly trekked through, but disallowed by the developer for a myriad of reasons that I probably understand but think are silly.

Animal Well is Super Metroid 2. Not the only Super Metroid 2, but certainly one of the rare ones. (I would not be surprised if the solo developer was VERY inspired by my favorite Super Metroid 2, by the way. I'll leave it unnamed and see how many people guess it. Hint: It's not even a real metroidvania.)

The atmosphere? Moody. The ability upgrades? Unique to the point that I'm not sure I've seen a single one of them in another metroidvania, AND most of them with multiple hidden uses. The handholding? Nonexistent. The "intended" sequence? Hell if I know; I legit could not tell you how much of what I did on my one run so far was the path of least resistance or a sequence break.

There's just so damn much in this game that encourages you to get creative with what you have to see what works, and chances are if you can logically conceptualize something working within the bounds of the game's rules, it will, indeed, work (with or without tons of retry and maybe some luck). The result is the best metroidvania I've played in an absurdly long time, meeting my idealization of the genre in a way almost no others do.

And the fact that what I describe seems to have been a near-universal reaction among people playing it, that this game that doesn't tell you anything and expects you to get creative to progress is based? Man, oh man, I really hope metroidvania developers take note.