This is a lovely game; however, Yumetaro has some more walking (and riding) to do before he finds his way home.

I don't mind the puzzle-heavy direction of this game, and the cosmetic collectibles are a nice reward for exploring the expansive levels. However, the "immersive sim" qualities of the original game are missed. The perfect Gimmick game has not yet been made, but I think it would have elements of exploration and more attention to the environments and cultures of its inhabitants, and not only straightforward puzzle-solving. Something like ElecHead or Cave Story, where the world is explored in more detail and you adventure within it as a hostile foreigner.

I would like to see the return of the lives and points systems in some way in a future game. The infinite lives and checkpoint system of this game is just fine, but it only works because the difficulty and length of each level is higher. There's no need to complete the whole game without continuing because of this new approach to level design, which I think is a missed opportunity.

The difficulty is good. Not too hard, not too easy. I like the challenge.

The music and artwork are both quite nice, and the new ability to summon a star whenever by dispelling the old one is great. It opens up some nice puzzle elements. I also very much enjoy the cute aesthetic and little attractions of each world.

The use of world-specific buddies and mechanics instead of sub-weapons is cute. Again, the game I compare it to the most would be ElecHead. I don't want to see meta-progression in Gimmick, so I don't want to obtain permanent powerups like some kind of Metroidvania, but I like the idea of having specific levels or areas with different available abilities, like a level or section where you can choose to create stars with reversed gravity.

Okay, enough rambling. It's a good game. I very much hope there is more Gimmick in the future, but I would like the developers to change course with the game design so that each level is more of a world to explore rather than an arcade puzzle. It's cute and I like the cosmetics a lot.