This game is incredible. The gameplay is incredibly demanding but just as rewarding and makes you want complete every challenge and find every secret, and there are a lot of them. The story is great, if a little convoluted, the dialogue is rife with hilarious meta jokes, the graphics (especially the enemy sprites) are beautiful even as they constantly switch from 8-bit to 16-bit and the level design is incredibly smart and refined. The soundtrack is exquisite (which is especially impressive as it switches between chiptune and more modern digital means as you go back and forth in time) and, if you're anything like me, you'll often stop playing just to enjoy the music. The game starts as a straight forward action/platformer that pages homage to games like the Shinobi series and the NES Ninja Gaiden titles but eventually opens up into a complex, exploration heavy metroidvania style game that ends up being a ton of fun, especially as you unlock the bulk of the abilities of the game during this segment. There will be a lot of backtracking and grinding if you want all the upgrades and items, so this may be where a lot of people lose interest, but I encourage you to stick with it as the game is so worthwhile from top to bottom. If you have a soft spot for the games mentioned in the title of my review or just enjoy slick platformers and exploring large 2D worlds then this game is absolutely a must buy.
