this game is so interesting.

by all metrics, it should be a fairly banal ride throughout: moment to moment gameplay is almost impressively shallow and overexplained at every given opportunity. even narratively speaking, while it does cool things in it's latter half, it still doesn't do anything you haven't ever seen before.

and yet, despite everything, it still manages to be more than the sum of it's parts. there's a very particular charm to solatorobo that's difficult to pin down. something about the characterization, the expressive art, the attention to detail in it's worldbuilding (especially considering it's continuity with tail concerto)... i really couldn't help but enjoy my time with it. it does it's job and then some at being a cozy little ds game to whittle away at when out and about, and while i wish it was more than what it was, i still came away from the experience happy i played. if you're similarly inclined towards games like these, it's an easy recommend.