Dude I cannot believe this is a free demo that's just a prologue the full game. I have nothing but immense praise for everything about this I could gush for hours.

Movement is PERFECT so many abilities and nuances that feel amazing to master. I can't think of the last time a 3D platformer has had such an absurdly good move set that clicked with me so much and felt this good to master. It's accompanied by some of the greatest level design ever to grace a 3D Platformer in my opinion. I know a lot of people found it a little too difficult but it was perfect to me, an amazing mix of genuine challenge and quick satisfying jumps/grapple hooks/speed bursts combined to be phenomenal. I never felt like something was so hard I would never do it, it was the perfect level of challenge that I always felt great about myself for overcoming a section and the reward of a fishing hook checkpoint felt AMAZING on account of that challenge. There were so many beautiful aha moments where I figured out what to do to overcome a platforming challenge and connect my moves together in the perfect way to do so. The game is also a wonderful aesthetic throwback to the GameCube era of 3D platformers aesthetically and mixing that with one of the best sandbox/movement sets I've ever felt it feels like this game was designed with me specifically in mind. I have this nerdy little upper-echelon of games that control perfect to me and the idea that anyone could feel otherwise completely baffles me and this game 100% is joining that list. I was wowed at how much I was popping off just for doing a part of a platforming challenge and how excited I was for there to be more to go. It's a magical feeling that I am constantly chasing especially in platformers and it's just captured so well here. My only minor complaint before would have been that it's a little annoying to find the last few coins in the world if you want to 100% this game but they patched in a way to track them down (after I did it without that patch... but whatever...) so it's not even really an issue anymore! The joys of wide range of feedback!

The fact that this is a FREE prologue that they said won't even scratch the surface of depth that the full game will offer is MIND BLOWING to me!! I really hope this level of challenge sticks around, I know that's probably unpopular but even just putting this amount of challenge into side areas I dream of this team making amazing and thrilling platforming challenges until the end of time. Something I've always loved about the Donkey Kong Country games or Celeste is that insane set of challenges that make your hands sweat and make you feel absurd catharsis when you finally clear a Temple level in DKC:TF or a screen in Chapter 9 of Celeste. I find it increasingly rare to get that feeling in general, but especially in 3D platformers. They're one of my favorite genres ever but generally tend to be a bit on the easier side but this game was the perfect level for me. This prologue completely rocked my world and has me even more unfathomably excited for the full game and I thought I was at peak excitement before! There's a small part of me that worries the full game can't live up to this experience but I like to live on the side of hope and excitement, and if this is anything to go by the full release has Top 10 games of all time potential and is by far my most anticipated game right now.

Sorry if this was a bit rambly but I haven't felt a game completely rock my world this hard in a long time, I was actively checking for this game to show up on backloggd so I could gush about it LOL

I could see you feeling a bit annoyed if you paid $25 for this game, it's very cute and charming but is insanely janky and decently buggy. It's also incredibly short! I liked grabbing the fish and they had some neat little ideas behind them, but I got all 4 in like 15 minutes. The demo I played last year was like most of the main story! There are a good bit of little side quests and missions to do, like returning 4 little ducklings back to their father or finding bones to distract a dog that otherwise blocks your path but even these don't extend the playtime too much. Your mileage will very much vary on how much you want to be a kitten running around a (against the name of the game) pretty little city even after doing all of the tasks. I had a fine enough time doing that, and for a day 1 game pass launch it was cute enough to be worth the playthrough but I wish there was a bit more meat on the main story and the gameplay in general was a bit less janky.

Wonderful movement with great music and a dope art style inside a well-made 3D Metroidvania is all I can truly ask for on this planet. Fun abilities with a lot of depth and sequence-breaking potential! I do think it wants you to get lost a little bit more than is fun like you're gonna spend an hour aimlessly wandering around probably in a section you can't fully complete because you gimmicked your way there early and it will break your brain. That's also the fun and joy of these types of games so I can't really be too mad. I think I had my expectations a little unfairly high and was expecting a larger game but I also played it through steam family share and didn't realize it was $6 so I feel bad having those expectations in the first place lol. Great time! Can't think of much better ways to spend $6

a bit short but fun the entire way through! very charming art style with a calming and beautiful ost and pretty tight control! i do wish the ground speed was a bit faster but the levels aren't too big I'm just an asshole and wanna be fast as hell. there is an unlockable character that's faster but on the topic of that, 100% (getting all the achievements) is a little lame. you have to replay the game like 3 times minimum, and to be fair it's very short but i just don't personally like those kinds of achievements. those are very tiny things in the grand scheme though and for $5 this is insanely worth it. highly recommend!!