I absolutely love this game, but it's not for everyone. It's a challenging game with procedurally generated levels and perma-death. You play this when you're in the mood for a challenge, rather than one that you just relax with.
One tiny, little mistake is all it takes to end your game. It forces you to slow down enough so you don't just dive face-first into spikes. But if you go too slowly, a ghost appears. The ghost is invincible and will kill you instantly, so you also have to go fast enough to avoid that. The more you play, the better you get at making the snap decisions required.
One other thing that happened to me was that I learned to let go of my completionist habits. Usually, when I play a game, I like to do every single thing I possibly can. That does not work in this game. You could grab every single gold, kill every single enemy and explore every single corner, but it's usually not worth the risk. Exploring everything and grabbing all the money can take too long. Dealing with enemies can result in you getting hurt.
Frustration, death and rage-quitting become familiar experiences. I've had my moments where I have to take a break from the game for a day or two, then I come back to it, reinvigorated.
Sometimes, though, you die in a way that just makes you laugh. Hit by a boomerang guy into a carnivorous plant? Hit by a spider into spikes? Stabbed in the back by a spike trap as you admire your new cape? As the saying goes, "Losing is fun!" The game might be overly difficult, but at least you can sometimes laugh at how badly things went.
Over time, bit by bit, I got better and better and started making it to the final area. The first couple times I got to the final boss, I choked and lost. After all that, though, defeating the final boss for the first time was so satisfying.
I definitely would not recommend this game to just anyone, but I've been having a blast playing this game.
