You know a game is great when the first time you stream it to your friends their only response is “what the ♥♥♥♥ are you playing?”

I adore this game to pieces and I can’t believe this is the second time I’ve purchased an outstanding exploration game only to wait and play it a year later cough cough Outer Wilds cough. If I had a nickel… Anyway, I was going to split this review between good and bad, but there’s so little I dislike or had problems with so this is going to be a very lopsided review. If any of the positives tickle your fancy then I would recommend scooping this game up.

++++++ Atmosphere: Extremely vibrant and colorful world where you’d be hard pressed to find any muddy colors without a purpose. It’s full of uniquely designed characters and creatures. The skybox being crafted of symbols rather than a realistic sun, moon, and stars is probably one of my favorite bits to sell the fairy tale themes.
+++++ Characters / Voice Acting / Dialogue: All connected and all great. Probably some of my favorite performances from the last year and considering half of the cast is voiced by one guy (bless you Beau Marie), well that’s quite the feat. Spy is the best character overall.
++++ Side Quests: Not just filler! Each one feels lovingly crafted and they aren’t just “collect x to give to y.”
+++ Exploration: I enjoy walking around the bright forest and the unique modes of transport you unlock as you progress are mostly useful in their own rights. Nothing too exciting though and you are quite limited in your own abilities to get around the map without totems.
++ Combat: Enjoyable, but a little limiting (you can jump and dodge separately, but you can’t jump then dodge mid-air for example). Depending on the encounter, you burn through arrows really quickly. You’re likely going to have to pull up the crafting menu at least once every other fight.
+ Morality: I really like that it's not all black and white mortality. Sure some of it is, but there’s other instances where, for example, letting someone die is the “moral” choice. Different upgrades are tied to different moral compasses and you interact with two different mushrooms depending on if you’re good or evil so a second playthrough is slightly varied.

--- Platforming: There are a couple of sections in the game where platforming becomes necessary for some exploration. Some of them can be done with just normal jumps, but some problems arrive when the gap is just a little too big. You don't have much, if any, aerial control of your character, so once you hit jump, your trajectory is locked in. Better hope you didn’t screw up, otherwise it’s back to whatever save point you hit last.
-- “Spirit Scenes:” There are a couple of scenes where you see the main antagonist attack various spirits. You do a puzzle before the scene plays out and as soon as you finish the puzzle you are bombarded with tons of images of the short scene before it plays in full. It can be interpreted as Time and Space syncing up, but it still feels unnecessary and prevents me from recommending the game to my epileptic friend.
- “Animal Minigames:” - Great for story, not so much in the gameplay department. They aren’t all that interesting the first time around and I was downright dreading them for a second playthrough because they take so long to get through. At least I had a friend to keep me company.

There are other things I didn’t get to touch on, like the fact this game has one of my favorite side quests ever and the use of “quantum mechanics” to add to the fairy tale feel, but I think it’s best for you to discover these things. I really hope you give this game a chance!

Oh... and uh...Stepping Stone.