This is a wonderful and pretty intensive puzzle game that's marred by a few minor issues
This isn't really a metroidvania but you do collect powerups as you go through the levels and slowly build up a set of pretty simple yet important moves to navigate the puzzles. You start off as a very simple doll-like thing with an extremely basic two-dimensional moveset and you get ways to jump and move farther and faster.
I have to say, the game gets a LOT of mileage out of these very basic rules and some puzzles are fairly challenging though I didn't find the game to be "difficult" as such. As you get more powers the game expands its horizons adding a lot of other elements such as panels, enemies, "aerial faith plates" that fling you places etc. I won't spoil much of what comes later but suffice it to say, the order in which you unlock abilities is very interesting and pretty unique and the challenges continually build upon each other. My one wish would be that some of the concepts could have been explored beyond the few levels it's used. Certain things only show up for a couple of levels and I would have loved for levels with a lot of combined hazards and enemies which would have made for some interesting puzzles later.
You could blaze through the whole thing in quite little time but you'd be missing out on the real draw; the collectables that are strewn around each level. There are usually 3 cassette tapes in each level and one is easy to get, one is usually tougher and another one is the most intriguing of them all. This formula isn't consistent but it's how it usually is. Again, none of this is "difficult" per se but you usually have to think for it.
The game is also extremely joyous and celebratory as an experience. There's graffiti strewn about the walls, your character is a blank white canvas that you get to detail however you want, there are certain levels that give you a certain tool and let you go ham trying to navigate the level with it and so on. The first one is a pogo stick that lets you jump pretty high and makes you collect a certain number of rings to proceed and it's pretty fun. There are a few more such sequences and they're all pretty wonderful. I just wish these were larger and longer so we get to use these tools more. Even the ending is a fairly exhilarating experience and quite exhilarating. The music is light and jolly throughout and is quite pleasant to listen to which is good for a puzzle game.
I d have quite a few issues with the game though. My entire experience was marred several times by the game stuttering heavily for a few seconds at random which caused me to fail some platforming sections quite a few times. It was frustrating to have to repeat similar sections multiple times just because the game froze up on me. I tried looking for solutions but I feel not many people had this problem so maybe it's just me. My computer isn't exactly weak so this was surprising. Another major issue is there are some tight platforming sections but these are not particularly easy since your character controls somewhat wonkily and this isn't nearly precise enough for such extreme sections. These issues are actually somewhat alleviated by future powers but you don't really know that when trying to attempt to get some out-of-the-way cassettes.
All said, I had a wonderful time with this game overall.
This isn't really a metroidvania but you do collect powerups as you go through the levels and slowly build up a set of pretty simple yet important moves to navigate the puzzles. You start off as a very simple doll-like thing with an extremely basic two-dimensional moveset and you get ways to jump and move farther and faster.
I have to say, the game gets a LOT of mileage out of these very basic rules and some puzzles are fairly challenging though I didn't find the game to be "difficult" as such. As you get more powers the game expands its horizons adding a lot of other elements such as panels, enemies, "aerial faith plates" that fling you places etc. I won't spoil much of what comes later but suffice it to say, the order in which you unlock abilities is very interesting and pretty unique and the challenges continually build upon each other. My one wish would be that some of the concepts could have been explored beyond the few levels it's used. Certain things only show up for a couple of levels and I would have loved for levels with a lot of combined hazards and enemies which would have made for some interesting puzzles later.
You could blaze through the whole thing in quite little time but you'd be missing out on the real draw; the collectables that are strewn around each level. There are usually 3 cassette tapes in each level and one is easy to get, one is usually tougher and another one is the most intriguing of them all. This formula isn't consistent but it's how it usually is. Again, none of this is "difficult" per se but you usually have to think for it.
The game is also extremely joyous and celebratory as an experience. There's graffiti strewn about the walls, your character is a blank white canvas that you get to detail however you want, there are certain levels that give you a certain tool and let you go ham trying to navigate the level with it and so on. The first one is a pogo stick that lets you jump pretty high and makes you collect a certain number of rings to proceed and it's pretty fun. There are a few more such sequences and they're all pretty wonderful. I just wish these were larger and longer so we get to use these tools more. Even the ending is a fairly exhilarating experience and quite exhilarating. The music is light and jolly throughout and is quite pleasant to listen to which is good for a puzzle game.
I d have quite a few issues with the game though. My entire experience was marred several times by the game stuttering heavily for a few seconds at random which caused me to fail some platforming sections quite a few times. It was frustrating to have to repeat similar sections multiple times just because the game froze up on me. I tried looking for solutions but I feel not many people had this problem so maybe it's just me. My computer isn't exactly weak so this was surprising. Another major issue is there are some tight platforming sections but these are not particularly easy since your character controls somewhat wonkily and this isn't nearly precise enough for such extreme sections. These issues are actually somewhat alleviated by future powers but you don't really know that when trying to attempt to get some out-of-the-way cassettes.
All said, I had a wonderful time with this game overall.