"Why does the Final Boss look like Fadel Gamescage."

holy FUCK THIS GAME IS SO PEAK. This is a QuagFire-Core game if I've ever seen one. Not only is this, like Metroid Dread, an incredibly polished and fun metroidvania, but, unlike dread, it also manages to push the genre forward in incredible ways!

First, the two issues I have with the game, because they're minor enough to not hurt it at all, but it still is worth bringing up as it kept it from the perfect score it was so close to getting. First, it's fairly buggy, but that's to be expected for a Ubisoft game. And even then, FOR a Ubisoft game it's actually pretty tame. The only ones I noticed were audio bugs, some delayed events, and a character using a TTS voice. Not great, but it's fairly minor. The Enemy Design is also a little suspect because sometimes the wind-ups for unblockable moves don't appear until right before the attack go through, and sometimes it can be a little bullshit.

And that's it. The entire rest of the game is AMAZING. The story starts out slow, but picks up pretty early on and then throughout the rest of the story I'm hooked, with each turn genuinely surprising me, and leading to a very satisfying ending. This is supported by the amazingly polished visuals and the GOD-TIER soundtrack by Mr Ori composer Gareth Coker.

And on top of all of that, this game also has possibly the best combat in... any 2D game ever?? Like the amount of options you have and the speed you can pull this off makes me feel like fucking GOKU. The platforming mechanics and level design also feel super smooth and challenging. Speaking of challenging, the bosses were exhilarating and the stakes get upped each time leading to a bombastic and amazing ass ending.

But exploration is the Metroidvania's core, and not only are there plenty of secrets to find in this game, but it also introduces one of the best mechanics in any MetroidVanias ever. Memory Shards are a reusable tool. It's like map markers, but there is a screenshot attached to them so you can remember why you left that marker later on. This is an absolute GAME CHANGER and something every metroidvania needs from now on. Throw in some smart platforming puzzles and a suite of nice accessibility options and you got yourself one of the most special 2D Side-Scrollers in a fat fucking minute.

I can't believe people hated this game on reveal. What is wrong with yall.