tl;dr - It's a consistently good-not-great experience that may have stood out in 2016 or so, but in 2024 feels a bit run of the mill. Like most indie Metroidvanias these days, Rebel Transmute often just feels like Hollow Knight, but not as good.

This one just never feels like it stands out. There's a story here, but it's just kind of there. Never really enthralling.

The game feels fine to play, but it doesn't have that one thing that elevates it to being a great like Ori's sublime movement, Axiom Verge's creativity, or Hollow Knight's writing and art direction.

There are some creative ideas here. The swim powerup feels like Metroid's shinespark crossed with Ecco the Dolphin in the best way, and leads to some very unique puzzles... when you actually have water to interact with. For the most part, though, it feels kind of bog standard, with several powerups feeling as though they were ripped wholesale from Hollow Knight.

That said, I never disliked the game. It is fun to play. The controls are tight and smooth, the combat is tense and fast paced, and the pixel art, while not stellar, is nonetheless well made. It just never felt like the sort of standout experience that I couldn't put down.