Solid throwback to NES titles with some good quality design thrown in. Satisfying with tons of content and an NG+ mode that actually changes the dialogue and experience depending on what things you unlock and use. I like the art in general and I think the story is solid. It provides a solid premise with a decent setting and great characters. The mechanics get more insane as you progress to the point they become absolutely ludicrous. There's techniques you can easily integrate and learn to truly maximize your ability to evade and do damage and its satisfying. Though not perfectly analagous, it gives the same feeling something like Hyper Light Drifter does when you chain together a perfect sequence of attacks, skills, and evades. While I share similar reservations about the shooting mechanics (ON A CONTROLLER - I would argue the game controls better with mouse and keyboard) they're more than functional whatever control scheme you use. Some puzzles require some precision and aiming that can be frustrating on a controller but fine on KB&M, but those are rare. However, there is a slider that lets you slow down the speed of puzzles in the game allowing you much more freedom of timing. Heck, there's even sliders that can make the game significantly less damaging or enemies even less aggressive if you dislike their mechanics. It's a completely accessable game that never punishes you for not playing it. I do have issues with depth perception in this game because there's little that often distinguishes from one height block to another. If there were an objective criticism, this would be it. However it's rare and never impedes progress, only makes getting a few item chests annoying to discern at first. As someone who is playing this at the suggestion of another friend, I've played enough to state that this is a game worth ANYBODY's time and effort. It's charming, well designed, and slick. The deserves deserve every ounce of success.
