I love metroidvanias, and I'd heard a lot of good things about this game, so I assumed it would be a slam dunk for me. Unfortunately, while this is still definitely a good game, I found myself a little disappointed.

One of the core appeals of metroidvanias as a genre is slowly unlocking more and more movement options to allow you to explore your environment and eventually uncover every nook and cranny. For that to work, the movement has to feel good. There really is nothing like playing a metroidvania with fluid, perfect movement. Ori and the Blind Forest just doesn't do it for me. This game isn't mechanically tight enough for my liking, which wouldn't be as big of a deal if the game didn't have some of the demanding segments present here. It should feel much better to play than it does.

Combat is so pointless I wonder if it was just included to tick a box. It's incredibly simplistic and never evolves, aside from bashing projectiles back at enemies, and the enemy variety is paltry. The game already nails tense and climactic finishes to dungeons (the escape sequences) without big boss fights, so I honestly think the whole game would be better if more attention was given to the movement and combat was cut out.

As for something else I feel could have been cut, I wish the story was told completely wordlessly. It's simple, but charming and beautiful, and I think not having narration would just amplify that. Nothing is stated that isn't obvious visually, so the descriptions are just distracting.

I wish I liked this game more, and the pieces are here for something special. As it is right now, it's just a better than average metroidvania, with plenty of better options out there.