Note: This game is NOT a metroidvania. This is a 2d action platforming game. Spoilers will be marked.

Review update as of version 1.4 - Original launch review below.

Feels good to flip the review to thumbs up. Map looks MUCH better.
Would still like to see a way to view how many powerups you have/are missing.

Spells feel a LOT better. Gilded enemies feel good because of spell rebalancing.

Dark mirror changes are cool, the gameplay feels more fluid now because you dont get interrupted every checkpoint.

I like the change to how Moonhunger occurs. Doesn't lock people into a harder difficulty if they are already struggling.

Honestly feels like the devs fixed almost everything in my original review. Very pleased, great job!

Original review on launch:

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TL;DR - It's ok. I didn't particularly enjoy due to what I feel are balance and design issues and some soft-lock bugs.
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I beat my first playthrough completely on moonhunger, and I did not enjoy. I did a 2nd playthrough entirely on the gentle moon, and it was a bit more enjoyable.

Things I didn't like:
The map is awful. You cannot clearly see room/path borders so making sure you have explored thoroughly is hard because you need to have good memory as you cannot rely on the map. There are also limited powerups that you NEED (like damage) but there's no way to find/track them, or see how many you have.

Moonhunger feels overtuned
It's also a terrible negative feedback loop where if you die on the "easy" difficulty, you go to hard mode.
Because moonhunger boosted enemy stats spells felt like they were terrible. Cost is high, damage low. But you HAVE to use them on gilded enemies.
and because of the above, gilded enemies felt awful to fight, especially if you have to fight multiple and/or ravenous ones at the same time.

Secondary weapons. The whole secondary weapon system seems whack. A temporary weapon that you lose at checkpoints? It has a one time bonus you lose when you die? Whack.

Soft locks. I encountered a couple soft locks, most notably the final boss. He just stopped doing anything and I had to force quit.
Softlocked on an NPC who when I talked to them, no dialogue played and I had to force quit. Seemed to stop all progression for that npc too the moon door one

Parry spam.Game feels very very parry-spam heavy. Makes the combat feel shallow/repetitive.

Dopplegangers are maybe the thing I hated the most. They are super punishing with moonhunger on, and they spawncamp your body/respawn so it can be frustrating to recover bone powder, especially since they have spells you may not, the secondary weapon you just lost, AND THEY HEAL.

Things I did like:

Boss fights felt challenging and definitely where I noticed myself improving at the combat.
For better or worse, bosses seem to punish parrying so it broke up the normal feel of combat and made it more dodge-y.
Always a fan of charm/accessories/customization options, though I didn't like that some of the strong ones broke on death with limited supply.
Art style is cool

Finally, I personally enjoyed the demo and was quite looking forward to this game. Perhaps thinking it was a metroidvania misled me, because I love that genre of game. This game not having metroidvania elements was a bit disappointing, but changing my perception to it being an action-platformer I think is much more fair to the game.

Overall can't say I'd recommend, but I hope the devs can polish the game a little and keep making games, would like to see what they make next.

Note: This game is NOT a metroidvania. This is a 2d action platforming game. Spoilers will be marked. Review update as of version 1.4 - Original launch review below. Feels good to flip the review to thumbs up. Map looks MUCH better. Would still like to see a way to view how many powerups you have/are missing. Spells feel a LOT better. Gilded enemies feel good because of spell rebalancing. Dark mirror changes are cool, the gameplay feels more fluid now because you dont get interrupted every checkpoint. I like the change to how Moonhunger occurs. Doesn't lock people into a harder difficulty if they are already struggling. Honestly feels like the devs fixed almost everything in my original review. Very pleased, great job! [b]Original review on launch:[/b] ===== TL;DR - It's ok. I didn't particularly enjoy due to what I feel are balance and design issues and some soft-lock bugs. ===== I beat my first playthrough completely on moonhunger, and I did not enjoy. I did a 2nd playthrough entirely on the gentle moon, and it was a bit more enjoyable. [u]Things I didn't like: [/u] [b]The map is awful. [/b] You cannot clearly see room/path borders so making sure you have explored thoroughly is hard because you need to have good memory as you cannot rely on the map. There are also limited powerups that you NEED (like damage) but there's no way to find/track them, or see how many you have. [b]Moonhunger feels overtuned[/b] It's also a terrible negative feedback loop where if you die on the "easy" difficulty, you go to hard mode. Because moonhunger boosted enemy stats spells felt like they were terrible. Cost is high, damage low. But you HAVE to use them on gilded enemies. and because of the above, gilded enemies felt awful to fight, especially if you have to fight multiple and/or ravenous ones at the same time. [b]Secondary weapons.[/b] The whole secondary weapon system seems whack. A temporary weapon that you lose at checkpoints? It has a one time bonus you lose when you die? Whack. [b]Soft locks.[/b] I encountered a couple soft locks, most notably the final boss. He just stopped doing anything and I had to force quit. Softlocked on an NPC who when I talked to them, no dialogue played and I had to force quit. Seemed to stop all progression for that npc too [spoiler] the moon door one [/spoiler] [b]Parry spam.[/b]Game feels very very parry-spam heavy. Makes the combat feel shallow/repetitive. [spoiler] Dopplegangers are maybe the thing I hated the most. They are super punishing with moonhunger on, and they spawncamp your body/respawn so it can be frustrating to recover bone powder, especially since they have spells you may not, the secondary weapon you just lost, AND THEY HEAL.[/spoiler] [u]Things I did like:[/u] Boss fights felt challenging and definitely where I noticed myself improving at the combat. For better or worse, bosses seem to punish parrying so it broke up the normal feel of combat and made it more dodge-y. Always a fan of charm/accessories/customization options, though I didn't like that some of the strong ones broke on death with limited supply. Art style is cool Finally, I personally enjoyed the demo and was quite looking forward to this game. Perhaps thinking it was a metroidvania misled me, because I love that genre of game. This game not having metroidvania elements was a bit disappointing, but changing my perception to it being an action-platformer I think is much more fair to the game. Overall can't say I'd recommend, but I hope the devs can polish the game a little and keep making games, would like to see what they make next.