Although mechanically superior and more fun to play than Alwa's Awakening, it nevertheless falls short of its predecessor.

Being a throwback NES game, Awakening's design flaws felt intentional and charming. Its simplicity was its greatest strength.

Legacy's design flaws on the other hand slowly reveal themselves to be rather tedious. By introducing more complexity - more characters, story, items, magic upgrades, and abilities - my expectations rose dramatically. But Legacy never fully meets those expectations. The new magic upgrades are neat but never feel essential. And while there is some clever use of the new abilities in certain dungeons, they more often seem to trivialize the platforming challenge.

Still a solid little metroidvania and I hope we get a third game in the series.