rdein and crew truly have the perfect formula for a lean, gorgeous, and satisfying metroidvania. They're just true masters of gamefeel and tone to the point where I have a hard time imagining them dropping the ball in the future. The only mechanical complaint I have is that the bosses are too straightforward to really stretch your legs with the combat system and feel it at its fullest. I'd like to see the Poeme fight be a model for bosses in any potential followup to this, as it felt the richest and most involved.

This one leans much harder on narrative, and it honestly pulls it off despite being a simplistic tale of religious intolerance. The setting is so well-realized and the insights in dialogue and archives point in so many different directions that it truly feels like just one piece of something massive that I would love to see expanded upon.