i cannot in good conscience recommend this game.

it's beautiful and unique and uncanny and your weird momentum will drop you in lava, or a pit, or a river, or an abyss, or a rapid, or a canyon, or a sinkhole, or a whirlpool, and will insta-kill you more often than the myriad infuriating insects or skeleton swarm.

however, several levels are just, entirely zipline rides.

i've never played anything like it, it's so beautiful, i hate it, 4 out of 5 stars.

[Verse 1]
Reluctantly crouched at the starting line
Engines pumping and thumping in time
The green light flashes, the flags go up
Churning and burning, they yearn for the cup
They deftly maneuver and muscle for rank
Fuel burning fast on an empty tank
Reckless and wild, they pour through the turns
Their prowess is potent and secretly stern
As they speed through the finish, the flags go down
The fans get up and they get out of town
The arena is empty except for one man
Still driving and striving as fast as he can
[Pre-Chorus]
The sun has gone down and the moon has come up
And long ago somebody left with the cup
But he's driving and striving and hugging the turns
And thinking of someone for whom he still burns

[Chorus]
He's going the distance
He's going for speed
She's all alone (All alone)
All alone in her time of need
Because he's racing and pacing and plotting the course
He's fighting and biting and riding on his horse
He's going the distance

[Post-Chorus]
Yah!

[Verse 2]
No trophy, no flowers, no flashbulbs, no wine
He's haunted by something he cannot define
Bowel-shaking earthquakes of doubt and remorse
Assail him, impale him with monster-truck force
In his mind, he's still driving, still making the grade
She's hoping in time that her memories will fade
'Cause he's racing and pacing and plotting the course
He's fighting and biting and riding on his horse

[Pre-Chorus]
The sun has gone down and the moon has come up
And long ago somebody left with the cup
But he's striving and driving and hugging the turns
And thinking of someone for whom he still burns

[Chorus]
'Cause he's going the distance
He's going for speed
She's all alone (All alone)
All alone in her time of need
Because he's racing and pacing and plotting the course
He's fighting and biting and riding on his horse
He's racing and pacing and plotting the course
He's fighting and biting and riding on his horse
He's going the distance
He's going for speed
He's going the distance

[Outro]
Hey
Hey
Hey
Oh, hey
Hey
Oh no
So sad, alright
Oh no
Oh no
No, no

it's ghiblish in that there is nature & there are robots, & one of the robots might be a good robot, but it's missing the analysis of why those robots were built, by whom, under what material conditions, &c. &c.

why is nature good. is it really good? the crabs are cute but what is their agenda?

music's great.

i am literally begging you, if you're making a platformer, never gate progress behind a prolonged section where you invert controls, no matter how Meaningful it is.

read the >waypoint review< & the twitter thread linked therein, which lays it all out.

what could have been a really clever & well-scoped indie imsim, sabotaged by bad management & released essentially as an unpatchable beta.

i genuinely enjoy the game when it works, but i cannot recommend it unless you have a deep well of patience & an understanding of the material conditions under which it was made.

solidarity with the devs, & hoping Lady Luck sees them land on their feet ✊♥