My experience seems to be much better than the general impression I got from reviews. In buying the game, I made a bit of a leap of faith (mostly triggered by "if you're a metroidvania fan [which I am], buy it" in some reputable magazine). I am thoroughly surprised in a positive way, I like this game really much. It now occupies a similar place to Dead Cells in my recent game roster, and in many areas I find I like it more, it's definitely a memorable experience in many ways. The best comparisons I can draw are to Dust: An Elysian Tail, and the mentioned Dead Cells. As to Dust, I find the general style of graphics similar, in being "fluent", impressive, beautiful. Also the fight feels similarly "liquid flowing" to me, notably with a lot of it happening high in the air. The controls (keyboard) feel great; and I don't need to be pixel-perfect, which is a plus in my book. Story-wise, I find it somewhere in between. There's certainly much more of it than the rare, repetitive glimpses in Cells, but it's also not as detailed and personal as in Dust (which was a league of its own in this area). As to Cells, I find the randomness differs very much in expression here; and not worse, as sometimes claimed, just different. For me it conveys a kind of ambient solitary emptiness of the corridors, but still alive, as proven by nicely paced irregular waves of enemies. Like the rain in Scotland: it may not be raining *now*, but you better be on your toes as I tell you, it *will* be raining *soon*. Overwhelming as they may be initially, I'm slowly growing to affectionately call them vermin, as my character shakes them off absent-mindedly in the earlier areas - while the newer ones seem scary again (at "Normal" difficulty, ~50% in). The music and graphical "vistas" are another highlight. I think things may have been improved since earlier versions, e.g. boss fights now feature an explicit visibility marker. Finally, death feels much better than in Cells, even somewhat waited for!...
