GAMEPLAY
The gameplay features the basic tools that every metroidvania has, you have a basic three hit combo, a charged attack, an invuln dash, eventually you unlock a double jump, etc. The main feature of this game is the parrying system, at any point you can guard which will inflict only part of the damage of the move as hp you can regenerate (internal damage), hitting it with precise timing will yield no damage and give you a qi charge which you can then use to place talismans on enemies and deal heavy damage. This system is utilized really well, you have a number of different parries (including the fabled non frame 1 parry), the feel of combat is great and there are a few mechanics that allow you to push for the skill ceiling for those interested in that.

The build variety is quite decent, there is a skill tree system that serves to enhance your features and an equipment system which is pretty much identical to the charm system in hollow knight (which are called jades in this game). It is similar on its build variety too, having a 2-3 distinguished paths you can take that will meaningfully impact your gameplay loop and a number of qol/niche utility jades. There are also a number of mechanical choices for how your talisman and bow projectiles function, which I have found to be very well balanced with each other and useful in a variety of different situations.

The enemy variety is honestly quite good, most enemies feel memorable and fun to engage with, and the bosses are all pretty varied as well. Basic enemies and mini bosses consistently fun very fun to fight and challenge with a couple exceptions, which I was pleasantly surprised by.
A number of mechanical considerations:
-The game uses an estus/charges based healing system, and healing outside it is pretty limited.
-There is no stagger bar, but there are certain stagger thresholds enemies will suffer when taking heavy damage, which just amounts to a disruption, which also takes me to:
-There is no hitstun, enemies attack through your moves and you must pay attention to their patterns in most of your encounters with them.
-There are no iframes on hit, however you can rapidly go into a parry after you're hit if you arent sent flying. This is honestly very well implemented? it basically means you have to be quick on your toes, you can get killed by attack chains but not in an unfair or imprevisible way.

All in all, the gameplay mechanics of this game are definetly one of it's strongest suits, it has a lot of attention to balance and detail and it really shows. 9/10

PACING
The game follows classic metroidvania fashion. There are ten main areas of the game, you are shown the entries to most of them but you can only access them once you have given upgrades which you unlock at given areas, etc. It doesn't do anything spectacular or particularly innovative in this regard, it manages to apply the tried and true metroidvania method in a solid way. There are two endings, a default ending and a more developed ''true'' ending, which you access by finishing the npc storylines. Part of the content this game has to offer resides in searching for all the missed treasure, which is also a good way of progressing these storylines when you're stuck.

Each area has its own boss which tries to tell it's own story to greater or lesser effect, ill go into more detail in the story segment. It has a few twists and turns that take you out of the simply progressing to the next area and puts you in unexpected situations, which is always fun. Asides that, there isn't really much else to say.

A few considerations:
-You cannot be locked out of any storyline due to an npc death or similar.
-When you beat the game, loading up your savefile will put you right before the ending section.
-Sadly, there is no postgame, meaning no bossrush or refights which is a real shame.

This is about all I have to say, the game applies the metroidvania formula effectively and sprinkles a few surprises every now and again. 8/10

NARRATIVE
The game makes a serious attempt to a compounding storyline, which I think ends up being effective. One of the main drawbacks you may expect from this game is that splitting the antagonist side between 10ish guys will lead to superficial characters, which is definetly true, even the final boss doesn't really feel that personally significant to you (as a player) despite the gravitas. The villains are more memorable from the archetypes they embody and their fights rather than their storylines, which is honestly fine. I get the impression that the game is aware of this and doesn't really try to lean on this aspect, all the bosses serve their role pretty well and their plot beats serve to reinforce either worldbuilding aspects or story information and themes. The game doesn't really expect you to be attached to these characters, their function is quaint and well achieved.

On the other side, the game does have a set of recurrent characters which you do develop relationships with, those being the story npcs. There are a number of friendly characters with whom you interact pretty often and build a strong relationship bit by bit, the interactions you get with these characters are mundane, but very persistent. You very often find materials to give to them and produce minor cutscene or relevant dialogue, which over time ends up consolidating pretty well into a relationship of closeness without introducing ambitious or complicated story beats.

The ending of the game is honestly very good. I feel like it partially struck me, but I found it to be very effective and causing me to reflect and ponder about it for a solid amount. It managed to transmit the themes of the game directly to me as a player as I processed the ending and final story events, which is something that for me elevates any game that manages to achieve it.

The story is quaint but good, the game definetly knows its strong suits based on the format and composes a well rounded experience. 8,5/10

ART DIRECTION
This game takes place in a high fantasy futuristic setting mainly revolving around technology, but also and not in secondary position includes illustrations of spirituality, martial arts and a few natural settings here and there. Personally I found the art direction very enjoyable, it's not stereotypical in either direction and the back and forth between spiritualism and technology is very well concocted. The game features heavy themes, often including blood, torture and gore, generally portrayed in precise instances that don't feel overtly edgy or grotesque.

I don't have a lot to say about the soundtrack. It is somewhat above average, the tracks are good and you most definetly feel them in the atmosphere, but there aren't really many songs that stick up to me or that I find particularly remarkable with a few exceptions. The ending song does hit like a truck but that is a more specific instance.

The best thing I have to say about this game is that it offers an eastern culture approach that is very inspired and refreshing. It does have the classic samurai and martial fighter archetypes that you see often, but the scenery is very different from the games you usually see and the spiritual components are very well weaved into the world.

In summation, it is a very inspired and enjoyable art direction, I liked it quite a lot. 9/10

The game is honestly just really good all around, it was a really enjoyable and definetly remarkable experience. If you have any interest on eastern inspired games, metroidvania or parry based gameplay you are guaranteed to enjoy this game. I finished all the endings of this game at 33 hours, while still having a few achievements left to complete the game at 100%. It is currently listed at 29 bucks, definetly very well worth the price. Im going to give it a final score of 9/10

GAMEPLAY The gameplay features the basic tools that every metroidvania has, you have a basic three hit combo, a charged attack, an invuln dash, eventually you unlock a double jump, etc. The main feature of this game is the parrying system, at any point you can guard which will inflict only part of the damage of the move as hp you can regenerate (internal damage), hitting it with precise timing will yield no damage and give you a qi charge which you can then use to place talismans on enemies and deal heavy damage. This system is utilized really well, you have a number of different parries (including the fabled non frame 1 parry), the feel of combat is great and there are a few mechanics that allow you to push for the skill ceiling for those interested in that. The build variety is quite decent, there is a skill tree system that serves to enhance your features and an equipment system which is pretty much identical to the charm system in hollow knight (which are called jades in this game). It is similar on its build variety too, having a 2-3 distinguished paths you can take that will meaningfully impact your gameplay loop and a number of qol/niche utility jades. There are also a number of mechanical choices for how your talisman and bow projectiles function, which I have found to be very well balanced with each other and useful in a variety of different situations. The enemy variety is honestly quite good, most enemies feel memorable and fun to engage with, and the bosses are all pretty varied as well. Basic enemies and mini bosses consistently fun very fun to fight and challenge with a couple exceptions, which I was pleasantly surprised by. A number of mechanical considerations: -The game uses an estus/charges based healing system, and healing outside it is pretty limited. -There is no stagger bar, but there are certain stagger thresholds enemies will suffer when taking heavy damage, which just amounts to a disruption, which also takes me to: -There is no hitstun, enemies attack through your moves and you must pay attention to their patterns in most of your encounters with them. -There are no iframes on hit, however you can rapidly go into a parry after you're hit if you arent sent flying. This is honestly very well implemented? it basically means you have to be quick on your toes, you can get killed by attack chains but not in an unfair or imprevisible way. All in all, the gameplay mechanics of this game are definetly one of it's strongest suits, it has a lot of attention to balance and detail and it really shows. 9/10 PACING The game follows classic metroidvania fashion. There are ten main areas of the game, you are shown the entries to most of them but you can only access them once you have given upgrades which you unlock at given areas, etc. It doesn't do anything spectacular or particularly innovative in this regard, it manages to apply the tried and true metroidvania method in a solid way. There are two endings, a default ending and a more developed ''true'' ending, which you access by finishing the npc storylines. Part of the content this game has to offer resides in searching for all the missed treasure, which is also a good way of progressing these storylines when you're stuck. Each area has its own boss which tries to tell it's own story to greater or lesser effect, ill go into more detail in the story segment. It has a few twists and turns that take you out of the simply progressing to the next area and puts you in unexpected situations, which is always fun. Asides that, there isn't really much else to say. A few considerations: -You cannot be locked out of any storyline due to an npc death or similar. -When you beat the game, loading up your savefile will put you right before the ending section. -Sadly, there is no postgame, meaning no bossrush or refights which is a real shame. This is about all I have to say, the game applies the metroidvania formula effectively and sprinkles a few surprises every now and again. 8/10 NARRATIVE The game makes a serious attempt to a compounding storyline, which I think ends up being effective. One of the main drawbacks you may expect from this game is that splitting the antagonist side between 10ish guys will lead to superficial characters, which is definetly true, even the final boss doesn't really feel that personally significant to you (as a player) despite the gravitas. The villains are more memorable from the archetypes they embody and their fights rather than their storylines, which is honestly fine. I get the impression that the game is aware of this and doesn't really try to lean on this aspect, all the bosses serve their role pretty well and their plot beats serve to reinforce either worldbuilding aspects or story information and themes. The game doesn't really expect you to be attached to these characters, their function is quaint and well achieved. On the other side, the game does have a set of recurrent characters which you do develop relationships with, those being the story npcs. There are a number of friendly characters with whom you interact pretty often and build a strong relationship bit by bit, the interactions you get with these characters are mundane, but very persistent. You very often find materials to give to them and produce minor cutscene or relevant dialogue, which over time ends up consolidating pretty well into a relationship of closeness without introducing ambitious or complicated story beats. The ending of the game is honestly very good. I feel like it partially struck me, but I found it to be very effective and causing me to reflect and ponder about it for a solid amount. It managed to transmit the themes of the game directly to me as a player as I processed the ending and final story events, which is something that for me elevates any game that manages to achieve it. The story is quaint but good, the game definetly knows its strong suits based on the format and composes a well rounded experience. 8,5/10 ART DIRECTION This game takes place in a high fantasy futuristic setting mainly revolving around technology, but also and not in secondary position includes illustrations of spirituality, martial arts and a few natural settings here and there. Personally I found the art direction very enjoyable, it's not stereotypical in either direction and the back and forth between spiritualism and technology is very well concocted. The game features heavy themes, often including blood, torture and gore, generally portrayed in precise instances that don't feel overtly edgy or grotesque. I don't have a lot to say about the soundtrack. It is somewhat above average, the tracks are good and you most definetly feel them in the atmosphere, but there aren't really many songs that stick up to me or that I find particularly remarkable with a few exceptions. The ending song does hit like a truck but that is a more specific instance. The best thing I have to say about this game is that it offers an eastern culture approach that is very inspired and refreshing. It does have the classic samurai and martial fighter archetypes that you see often, but the scenery is very different from the games you usually see and the spiritual components are very well weaved into the world. In summation, it is a very inspired and enjoyable art direction, I liked it quite a lot. 9/10 The game is honestly just really good all around, it was a really enjoyable and definetly remarkable experience. If you have any interest on eastern inspired games, metroidvania or parry based gameplay you are guaranteed to enjoy this game. I finished all the endings of this game at 33 hours, while still having a few achievements left to complete the game at 100%. It is currently listed at 29 bucks, definetly very well worth the price. Im going to give it a final score of 9/10