KetchumAlmond

I've only been playing this game for one day now, but wow. Been waiting for this for a couple years now, and the trailers sold me on the amazing character animations, unique designs, and techno 80s throwback aesthetic. I read some negative reviews recently so I was fully prepared to not enjoy the game but it is so enjoyable and it's kept me smiling the entire time. There have been a few moments so far (no spoilers, but they involve transformations) where the game completely surprised me with awesomeness. The visuals in this game alone are worth the price of admission, the dialogue is lore-heavy yet clever and funny, and the music... holy crap, the Synth Bard's theme is incredible, as is the western theme in the desert. I could go on, the only drawbacks so far are the lack of a map and some ambiguity in where to go at certain points, but I see those as just part of the puzzle solving, and it hasn't gotten to the point of frustration. I would also like to be able to backtrack and replay certain moments, which doesn't seem possible so far. That being said if you're looking for a game that's a work of art, this is absolute eye candy and an enjoyable ride through a retro-futuristic fantasy world. Update: I finished the game yesterday, and would still give this a solid 9/10. I'm baffled by all of the negative reviews. This runs really smooth on the Switch (I know other versions had some bugs that made certain levels impossible, but I only experienced one minor glitch in my Switch playthrough which made a boss easier, so I didn't mind). If you're on the fence about this and dig the aesthetics, absolutely give it a shot! It's super fun, and I only wish there were more levels.

the good: The backdrops are beautiful, the artwork is gorgeous, cool creepy island atmosphere, the music sets the scene perfectly, and the glitchy graphic effect is used very nicely in the scary parts. There were moments that gave me goosebumps as far as eerieness. I'm glad I played this around Halloween. the bad: Loading times are ridiculously LONG! To the point where I wasn't sure if I should have been pressing buttons to proceed to the next screen. And there's a LOT of loading in this game. Made me lose interest very quickly. Also, the constant dialogue got really annoying after the first couple of hours, and for someone who doesn't like to interrupt people in conversation, I feel like that was encouraged in this game, when in real life, I wouldn't have felt a need to respond to certain comments. I was happy to enjoy the non-speaking parts when they finally came. I give it a 6 out of 10, it's a cool spooky experience, but after the first hour or so, I just wanted to get through it quickly because of the slow pacing of everything.

It's difficult to rate a game that I find delightful in its art style and use of creative weaponry but tedious when it comes to grinding, and frustrating when it comes to the randomly-generated world map. Discovering the toy dungeons and anchors takes quite a bit of time, but add in the task of leveling up, completing quests, and collecting items along the way, it just gets too rushed to be really satisfying. Spoiler Alert: Mormo's Curse is an even more restricted time limit to explore after you've beaten her for the first time. She curses you to only 5 days before battling her again (and time goes really fast). In my opinion, that doesn't let you truly enjoy the quirks and exploratory aspects of the game. So far, the thing that I've enjoyed most is trying to collect the character badges, which you just kinda stumble upon randomly throughout the game. I've found about 10 so far, but I'd love to get more, just to have the option of selecting one of the animal characters I've not played with yet. But even that is frustrating since you literally have to be killed by Mormo (or defeat Mormo) to choose a new character. This aspect seems a little odd. Lastly, leveling up can be an unrewarding grind. On the first playthrough, it's easy enough to level up and be way ahead by the time you need to fight Mormo. The next time you play though, you'll still be well below the enemy level. So once again, you'll need to grind hard. The game as a whole is cute, funny, enjoyable, and addicting. It's worth playing for sure, I just still feel like its quirky level-up mechanics and surfacy story aren't quite as satisfying as they should be.