MOMIBOSU

Great game. First thing's first: Give this game more than 30 minutes to an hour to get better. The start is very slow and boring. I bounced off real hard from this game when I bought it, but didn't refund it thankfully. If you like Celeste or other precision platformers, you will most likely enjoy this game. It's basically a precision platformer mixed with a Metroidvania, and it works a lot better than you might expect. One aspect I really appreciated is that the game saves in every room transition. If you die, you respawn there, and you can save and quit anytime. Not only that, but booting up the game and starting the gameplay takes about 5 seconds. That should be celebrated and is very appreciated. The game feels like it respects your time in that regard, and fast-travel points feel reasonably well thought-out and placed, though admittedly I would have liked just a few more. Speaking of, you can fast travel at nearly any point by just opening the map, pressing right bumper to go to the menu, then pressing A to travel. Only downside to this system is after travelling or transitioning a room, there is a solid 2 or so seconds before it even lets you open the map. That got a bit irritating, especially if you fast-travelled to the wrong spot (it doesn't show you where on the map you are going, you have to guess...)

The combat is fun and satisfying with the bosses, but it's sometimes janky, and it's even more janky with regular enemies. I did not like fighting regular enemies. I would have preferred there was combat only with bosses, and in the main overworld it was just exploration and platforming. But it's fine enough.

Pixel art is nice, music is fantastic, and gameplay is great, but it gets much better over time as you unlock new tools. At first the dash and momentum will feel stiff and janky, but you really get a hang of it once you get to the laser and conveyor belt area. At that point, is when the game clicked, and that was about 1.5 or so hours I think? Story is interesting, but honestly I feel like I didn't really understand it, and the translation can be a bit rough. Ending felt rushed and abrupt honestly, but it was still good. It was a 10 hour game for me, but I got stuck for at least an hour, and was fighting the final boss for another hour. Speaking of, the final boss was a great way to cap off the game, but there was one attack I felt came out way too fast to reasonably parry. I recommend this game for sure, but there are some unpolished platforming bits that felt weird to play, particularly with the "shoot yourself out of flowers" mechanic. Some instances of those weren't lined up properly, so you have to awkwardly adjust yourself with a dash or air control. The air control is very tight and precise though, so it's fine also. Just a nitpick.

Anyway if you like precision platformers or just Metroidvanias, try the game out, and give it at LEAST 1.5 or so hours. Go right up to the refund time if you are feeling brave, because it will get better it just is way too slow at first. I will remember my experience with this game for awhile, I am sure.

Oh also I forgot to mention 2 things: All achievements are based on progression, there are no achievements for anything secret or extra (except dying 100 times, and you'll probably get that naturally) Other thing is: YOU CAN'T REBIND ANY CONTROLS AT ALL. This was annoying for me because I like to use triggers instead of bumpers on my controller. Thankfully you can rebind with Steam Input, and if you turn Steam Input on in the settings of Steam, it does seem like the game respects your inputs and doesn't double-input. Decent work-around, but it should have been able to be done in-game.

Good game overall. Very short for a platformer for its kind, though ironically it is the right length. I feel like I would have put the game down if it were any longer.
- The story is nothing to write home about. Probably due to poor translation but it got confusing for me at one point, incentivizing me to stop paying attention to it.
- The platforming is fun and somewhat reminiscent of Celeste (except this game has a stamina bar rather than a strict finite amount of dashes). The use of your main attack to platform is a rather unique touch to precision platforming, as well as using enemies to activate switches/bulbs to get to places is pretty cool though it can be irritating if you mess up (and have to restart the room again).
- As another reviewer had mentioned before, boss fights were rather unnecessary and pads the game length.
That being said, I would only pick this game up if it was on sale but definitely not worth the full price.

Celeste X Metroidvania with minimal amount of bonkers story. A little slow to start until you get upgrades but awesome music and challenge.

The story's writing and pacing could use some work (the translation is good enough to understand the plot at least), but that aside I really enjoyed it, it can drive you up the wall sometimes but the gameplay feels really smooth and fun, and it's incredibly satisfying to beat the harder challenges and bosses (and you can also adjust the game speed if it's too difficult for you). Overall it's one of the best metroidvania/precision platformer games I've played

Solid game so far. Music is a vibe and the world is coool. The art is solid (check the 2nd screenshot for the updated improved art that's much stronger, you still have the option to toggle it back for the chars.)

Currently beat the 2nd boss involving parrying, my biggest criticism comes from the move sets because it's very much unclear when a parryable attack is coming. They are pretty instant and rely on you having been hit a bunch / pre firing and positoning. That and the dash attack into them being based on just the orb I think makes it feel jankier than it should aswell as them instantly having contact damage upon landing. You can definitely improve on this, you have a solid base.

But so far I love it, and I'm getting huge cave story vibes from it ontop of the rest. The platforming here is solid and the way movement is rocks, it is pretty clearly inspired by Celeste but the other stuff thrown on top of it makes it unique with the ways you can interact with enemies and traverse the world.

The story is also, just incredibly weird - seems a lot bleaker than I originally expected. But I really like it, so far - has that archaic JP game vibe you'd remember from the really old innovative ones.

I recommend it thoroughly