Might be contentious but this is probably my favorite in the series and comes the closest to what I feel Pikmin should be. I never fully felt like previous entries fully utilized the whole "you're a tiny and normal sized things feel giant" thing until this one. This game is beautiful and I found myself constantly just looking around due to the awesome micro/macro environments. The quality of life and mechanic changes REALLY improve gameplay and remove frustration. Controlling Pikmin feels smooth and you're not constantly worried about losing half your population in one mistake. Oatchi is a MASSIVE addition that completely changes the dynamic and makes the game way more interesting. That does mean the game can be too easy and too forgiving at times but I do feel like the trade off is worth it.

This game is still filled with the usual Nintendo junk that is almost always frustrating though. Constant hand holding and interrupting to teach you stuff. The game kinda feels like it goes on for just a little too long and I wish the game wasn't super cave/dandori heavy and leaned more on overworld exploration. Also the split screen during dandori battles can fuck off lol.

Glad I finally got around to playing this and I hope we get a sequel some day but if not this feels like a pretty good sendoff.

Let me get the bad stuff out of the way. The story in this is the weakest aspect and never fully gripped me despite the admittedly interesting lore tablets/scrolls making it better. There are some glitches that feel a little out of place in a high budget game but nothing that is game breaking or enough to really annoy me. Some of the amulet buffs are a little uninteresting and don't really have the same charm (lol) as the charm system in Hollow Knight which its clearly inspired by. But that's really all I got for negatives.

The good stuff makes up for literally every single shortcoming in my opinion. Fast fluid movement, A simple but deep combat system that allows for some insanely creative combos that I don't think Ill ever be able to take full advantage of and a very beautifully designed world that's always fun to explore and get lost in. The platforming puzzles are top notch and never felt unfair. The abilities you unlock throughout the game fundamentally change the way you move and fight and I was always looking forward to seeing what I'd unlock next. The bosses are pretty great despite some sort of awkward over the top animations mid fight. The music in general is a treat and always elevates the mood, especially in boss fights.

Overall I seriously enjoyed my time with this game and highly reccomend it to anyone interested in a well polished Metroid-Vania because this is one of the best. I still prefer my little bug boy but this does a LOT that hollow knight doesn't and I hope Silksong copies some of it. Love it

This is such a weird one for me because as much as I liked what the game was going for and generally enjoyed it the performance issues and optimization are almost a deal breaker.

Ill start with the good. The overall feel and vibe of this game is great. It basically takes the quiet somber exploration of breath of the wild and makes an entire game out of it. The art style (while imperfect) is unique and fits the world perfectly. The base story about finding your path and growing up was simple but handled nicely. The missions while mostly just being glorified fetch quests feel fun and usually are easy enough and worth doing. The music (when it isnt stuttering) is relaxing and really brings the whole world together.

Sadly a lot of that is super let down by the games horrible performance. I have a 4070 ti and this game constantly dropped below 40 FPS which is pretty wild considering how basic the graphics are. The audio for some reason felt very choppy and inconsistent and was unpleasant to listen to a lot of the time because of it. The animations are fairly low budget and the camera CONSTANTLY bugged and I either disappeared or saw through the bottom of the map. I know this is an indie game but the issues I and others had made the whole thing feel unpolished. It does so much right but the basics feel super flubbed.

If you plan on playing this, make sure your PC is good enough to actually run it okay (Yes really, my 4070 ti 13700k build still didn't feel like enough). I still enjoyed it enough to finish it but man I really really wish this game wasn't as broken as it was.