Recent reviews by Frizzlenill

One hour in and adoring it so far. I backed this years ago on Kickstarter (so take my enthusiasm with a grain of salt - I was pre-filtered towards liking it), and I can say that the aesthetics and animation did NOT disappoint. Combat feels pretty good, although there hasn't been much of it so far - I certainly put the movement and combat mechanics through some thorough testing in the tutorial and while it doesn't feel QUITE as 1-to-1 as other smash-control action games like Spiritfall, the sacrifices it DOES make are primarily to make it feel better as a platformer. I have my gripes (the 'smash stick' input is too sensitive, you can't bind multiple buttons to the same action, there's no separate audio sliders and instead just an on/off toggle for music and SFX, there's no resolution settings [although there is a 'window size' option for windowed mode], the sound effect for hitting the main hidden collectibles in the levels [broken cartoon hearts in jars] is WAY too loud, and the distinction between 'walk' and 'run' feels kinda meaningless when you reach top speed so easily while airborne and they could just let you run automatically and just cancel it with a crouch if you need), most of them are minor.

I can't speak to the level design fully this early, but it definitely seems like it's experimenting with small new toys every level, and the secrets feel intuitive and well-signposted. Same goes for the soundtrack - while the trailers include some more upbeat action-y tracks, so far it's only been ambient 'chill' tunes and I can't speak to how much there is of each. The platforming feels smooth so far while also feeling comfortable enough to be suited to character-action combat, which is a difficult balance, and while I haven't made it THAT far I can tell that the gamefeel strikes that balance well and is comfortable for both styles.

The visuals are stunning in images, and even more amazing in motion - I can't say I've ever seen anything that mixes the watercolour backgrounds and palette of Yoshi's Island with rubber-hose character animation - and ALL of it goes the extra mile. Animations are lavish and visual/particle effects are gentle and appropriate without breaking immersion, and those gorgeous watercolour backgrounds are more than just still images, at least so far. The first level has FOUR layers of parallax scrolling on a WATERCOLOUR image. And while the character animation is pretty, it never feels like it 'locks' you in place restrictively for excessive flourishes or recovery animations - it never feels like it constricts gameplay in any way.

Aside from the audio accessibility issues which will likely be fixed (audio sliders, some unevenly mixed sound effects, etc), I can also confirm that there is no twitch-movement or rapid pressing of buttons, and while you CAN push the game further with some more advanced methods for both traversal and combat (many moves are jump-cancellable, you most definitely can wavedash, and you can stack up momentum by sliding off consecutive platforms), the level design does NOT require it and is suited to a comfortable experience at basically any pace for people with motor/pain issues in the hands. There is also a setting for a white or black outline for the player character, and while that's only PART of the solution for some players, the game does a pretty good job of making the foreground very high-contrast because of the art style anyway. Still, because there's no explicit colour-blind filters or high contrast mode, YMMV - it is, however, most likely going to work great for most players even if they have restricted or impaired vision.

I know it's quite early to leave a recommendation, but the first hour has left such an impression on me that I think it justifies itself off the back of that alone. If it looks appealing to you and you're comfortable with the idea of a platformer that uses the Smash control scheme, it won't disappoint.

Worth any price, this will eat your time and interest. One suggestion: Get some friends to play with you. Local or online, group teams with friends is by far the best way to play.