I didn't really like this game much, but I'm giving it a recommendation to retro metroidvania fans as the game is competently made and has a decent amount of content. The music is mostly sub-par, with a few decent sounding tracks in there. The visuals are crisp and clean, very reminiscent of the Master System. The progression is linear as is the case with most action-adventure games, you mostly won't be getting lost as there is a fortune teller that will give you hints on what to do next.
The first 70% of the game is very easy. But after the 3rd major dungeon, difficulty does ramp up considerably. The ice area is particularly brutal, though it isn't very long. And the 4th dungeon is a little tricky to deal with at first. Some of these later areas like the sky zone are full to the brim with flying enemies that shoot projectiles, and you simply don't have the movement capabilities to dodge everything, and your short range attack doesn't handle these enemies well, so it can get a bit frustrating.
Your magic capabilities are very limited, with just a few shots and it deals little damage, so you will be relying on your very basic attacks the entire game. The lack of variable height jumping hurts the feel of the game and makes dodging even more difficult. The additional attacks you learn later on serve little purpose in combat, often getting you hurt if you try to use them. It really serves as nothing more than progression gating, and giving you a very small double jump of sorts.
That trial for getting the 3rd combat move is extremely difficult. In the later section of it with the birds you have to bounce on, I found to be WAY too challenging to complete with the game's default controls which is LEFT STICK ONLY for movement (use Steam Input to map to D-pad). The timing for these jumps and bounces and air slashes is extremely tight, one frame too late and you will get hit by a bird and drop all the way down this massive tower. It is insanely tedious, but at least it's optional.
You do get a dash ability later but you can't use your magic in that trial so good luck.
Anyway, the game is okay. It mostly felt a bit too bland and uninteresting to me, so I couldn't get deeply invested in it. The lackluster music is always a huge buzzkill for me. The graphics are serviceable but nothing impressive, slightly charming I'd say. The level design is adequate, but not exciting in anyway. Enemy design is basic, combat is very retro, so expect to get touched by large enemy hit boxes a lot that deals too much damage and knocks you back a mile.
Overall it's fine but unoriginal. If you really dig these types of games, get it on sale, it'll keep ya busy for a bit. But for everyone else, maybe skip this one. There's not really much to miss here. 5/10
