Bottomline: 6/10, would only really play again in specific circumstances like randomizer, achievements, etc. Basic Metroidvania with incredibly linear content, weak storytelling, and underwhelming difficulty curve.

Pros and Cons:
+ When the soundtrack is good, it’s very reminiscent of PS1 games.
+ Character sprites are reminiscent of Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactics Ogre. A lot of fluid movement and action in spritework.
+ Fairly strong game flow from one area to the next.
+ Area artwork is vibrant and reminiscent of Symphony of the Night, with a lot of views of landscapes and cities in the background.
- Music is mostly ambient or forgettable outside of the couple areas where it’s great.
- Character portraits feel uncanny and do not mesh well with the Tactics Ogre aesthetic.
Important mechanics crucial to both the story and Metroidvanias in general are put on the backburner, leaving exploration feeling underwhelming.
- Areas are bland, containing rooms that have maybe one enemy at most, while also containing expansive hallways filled with literally eight of the same enemy multiple times in every area.
- Story drops the ball almost immediately, forgetting the basic principles of time travel that the game presents us in five minutes of prologue and throws them on the ground. The story becomes supernatural gobbledygook in the last 20 minutes, and effectively reduces any aspects of choice, destiny, and personal emotions that were presented across the game to “good guy good, bad guys bad, gotta kill bad guys because virtually everybody is irredeemable, except for the one that did it out of love, but not the other ones that did it out of love, because they're just really evil horny.”



Yes, there’s LGBT stuff. Yes, some of it is plot relevant. No, it doesn’t really matter to the plot as much as it does to having characters who have relationships with each other. Yes, it gets super awkward at the end of a particular questline. But, the good parts are really good and natural and basically are either gleaned or come across as "oh, huh, that explains a few things." Except for the part where your character cheats on her girlfriend because she thinks her girlfriend is dead or something. Polyamory doesn't mean you get to cheat on people!

The rest of the story falls flat as the rules of time travel don't make sense (they're presented as creating new timelines, but in-game it's treated as a singular timeline) and they have to invent TIME GOD to explain some of it. Time travel is so bad that the game mechanically uses them to solve one optional puzzle, and the time freeze ability is used maybe three times to make jumps, one of them requiring you to manipulate really bad moth AI.

Game difficulty is non-existent outside of early bosses and a couple POISON enemies that gobble your HP with a broken status effect. Puzzle solving is non-existent outside of minor upgrades via frozen enemy jumps. Sequence breaking? Ha, you don't even get your first movement tool until halfway in the game, and the rest are end-game or post-game. Equipment barely exists, most weapons are bad, accessories and spells are cool. Main character is unlikable murder hobo who is a murder hobo before the game begins and only mellows out during the "bad" endings. Almost every sidequest is a fetch quest to get five chicken legs and twenty bear asses for virtually no reward. Every area is filled with long hallways or towers with no features other than six of the same enemy. MAX SAND is a meme in my friend group due to how useless the time mechanics are. Genocide is forgivable, screwing your mom isn't. The list goes on and on.

Out of three Chucklefish-published games I've played, this is the third one I didn't like. Might mean something. The game took 10 years to make, 5 after the Kickstarter. Might also mean something. Please go play Hollow Knight, Blasphemous, or Strider instead of this. There's so many good metroidvanias that you don't need to play the bad or mediocre ones.

My full review is in this hyperlink, because word limits suck.[docs.google.com]

[b]Bottomline:[/b] 6/10, would only really play again in specific circumstances like randomizer, achievements, etc. Basic Metroidvania with incredibly linear content, weak storytelling, and underwhelming difficulty curve. [b]Pros and Cons:[/b] + When the soundtrack is good, it’s very reminiscent of PS1 games. + Character sprites are reminiscent of Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactics Ogre. A lot of fluid movement and action in spritework. + Fairly strong game flow from one area to the next. + Area artwork is vibrant and reminiscent of Symphony of the Night, with a lot of views of landscapes and cities in the background. - Music is mostly ambient or forgettable outside of the couple areas where it’s great. - Character portraits feel uncanny and do not mesh well with the Tactics Ogre aesthetic. Important mechanics crucial to both the story and Metroidvanias in general are put on the backburner, leaving exploration feeling underwhelming. - Areas are bland, containing rooms that have maybe one enemy at most, while also containing expansive hallways filled with literally eight of the same enemy multiple times in every area. - Story drops the ball almost immediately, forgetting the basic principles of time travel that the game presents us in five minutes of prologue and throws them on the ground. The story becomes supernatural gobbledygook in the last 20 minutes, and effectively reduces any aspects of choice, destiny, and personal emotions that were presented across the game to “good guy good, bad guys bad, gotta kill bad guys because virtually everybody is irredeemable, except for the one that did it out of love, but not the other ones that did it out of love, because they're just really evil horny.” Yes, there’s LGBT stuff. Yes, some of it is plot relevant. No, it doesn’t really matter to the plot as much as it does to having characters who have relationships with each other. Yes, it gets super awkward at the end of a particular questline. But, the good parts are really good and natural and basically are either gleaned or come across as "oh, huh, that explains a few things." Except for the part where your character cheats on her girlfriend because she thinks her girlfriend is dead or something. Polyamory doesn't mean you get to cheat on people! The rest of the story falls flat as the rules of time travel don't make sense (they're presented as creating new timelines, but in-game it's treated as a singular timeline) and they have to invent [spoiler]TIME GOD[/spoiler] to explain some of it. Time travel is so bad that the game mechanically uses them to solve one optional puzzle, and the time freeze ability is used maybe three times to make jumps, one of them requiring you to manipulate really bad moth AI. Game difficulty is non-existent outside of early bosses and a couple POISON enemies that gobble your HP with a broken status effect. Puzzle solving is non-existent outside of minor upgrades via frozen enemy jumps. Sequence breaking? Ha, you don't even get your first movement tool until halfway in the game, and the rest are end-game or post-game. Equipment barely exists, most weapons are bad, accessories and spells are cool. Main character is unlikable murder hobo who is a murder hobo before the game begins and only mellows out during the "bad" endings. Almost every sidequest is a fetch quest to get five chicken legs and twenty bear asses for virtually no reward. Every area is filled with long hallways or towers with no features other than six of the same enemy. MAX SAND is a meme in my friend group due to how useless the time mechanics are. Genocide is forgivable, [spoiler]screwing your mom[/spoiler] isn't. The list goes on and on. Out of three Chucklefish-published games I've played, this is the third one I didn't like. Might mean something. The game took 10 years to make, 5 after the Kickstarter. Might also mean something. Please go play Hollow Knight, Blasphemous, or Strider instead of this. There's so many good metroidvanias that you don't need to play the bad or mediocre ones. [url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/13LGZdk8Ii4xZQPCPQgU5Q6O36IWQ2mLpNV6_zlSBzAE/edit?usp=sharing]My full review is in this hyperlink, because word limits suck.[/url]