This is my first metroidvania but I managed to play HollowKnight and Ori WotW so I can look at the game now more thoughtful to some extent.

This is one of the most visually beautiful games I have ever played. Arts are rich and comfortable for eyes. Animations are smooth. Overall environment is carefully crafted and sound ideally complements it. I enjoyed just exploring the world at least for first 15 hours.

The plot is ok and something touching. But I sought for all achievements so hard that at some point I stopped paying attention to it.

My first play-through was on keyboard and mouse and there's nothing to be mention of. Good controls, key mappings are ok. Further runs were with Xbox controller and it is better fit for the game but not a game changer.

I saw a lot of complaints about learning curve and partially I agree. Actually there are a few stages in the game where you jump from chilly gaming to sweaty one too steep. But nothing challenging for more or less experienced player. I didn't even think about it this way until I read some reviews. You casually complete the Ori in ~8 hours with a blind run and it's more than doable. This game is not hard at all because it's all about vibes, chill and story mostly. Mostly because it suits to majority of players but if you want to get all achievements and especially one life difficulty run achievement then some problems may occur.

I have 77 hours and ~20-25 of them I spent for getting 55 (out of 57) achievements which are really easy but the rest of my playtime I spent for last 2 achievements Unhinged and Immortal which are practically identical. It's ~50+ hours. Despite being mostly light game there are places so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ punishing if you have only one life so you just have to grind mechanics and timings. I played HollowKnight a lot and this game is considered as souls-like metroidvania but it's nowhere near to Ori's brutality level in terms of the most difficult achievements. Laser beams? One-shotted. Crushed by a stomper? One-shotted. Caught by Kuro? One-shotted. Missed timing? One-shotted. Even falling down on spikes can be lethal if you are unlucky. Start over again till drive mad. However if you finally overcame this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ the reward is almost satisfying for third of wasted energy which is quietly good rate.

The game is awesome. Definitely worth your money and time.

The definitive version of a fantastic game, and it is equally fantastic.

PEAK GAME NGL