Catmaze

Catmaze is a fun indie Metroidvania set in a world of Slavic mythology. You play as a young witch who sets out on a journey to rescue her mother from an untimely fate. The pixel graphics are bright and colorful, the music is charming, and the characters and dialogue interesting. The gameplay is a mixture of platforming between and around obstacles, and defeating enemies with the help of magic spells and familiars. Combat takes a little getting used to because your character's attack stays active for longer than you'd expect; it works out in your favor almost all the time, but it is somewhat unusual. The early game is much harder than the mid- to late-game, but if you can make it past those difficult early sections I think the game gets more fun. The world is big and very interconnected, there is a fast-travel system, and save points are generous and frequent. It took me almost 9 hours to 100% complete, and for completionists, there is a system near the end of the game that points out stuff you might have missed, so you don't have to go watching guides or anything. There are many NPCs and lots of side quests, and some quirky characters and situations to encounter. One particular NPC in the mid-game had a really, really interesting twist on what otherwise might have been a pretty typical character; it gave the game as a whole a lot more depth, I thought. There were several other quest moments where things happened in an atypical way that showed the creator had some hidden depths to their writing. My #1 favorite thing about this game is that it has one of the best good endings I've ever seen! [spoiler]Throughout the game, if you've been completing all the side quests and helping the NPCs, you will unlock the good ending, wherein EVERY NPC YOU'VE EVER HELPED will band together and do their part to help you out. It's an unbelievably cathartic thing to witness, and I wish more games did this kind of thing! Imagine if in Skyrim, every character you helped out showed up at the end to shoot a couple of arrows at Alduin or something. It was truly awesome, I absolutely loved it! Also, there is an Earthbound-style "victory lap" situation after the game's over, where you can still run around the map and talk to NPCs, several of whom have new dialogue (but most don't).[/spoiler] Another thing I liked is how human the main character, Alesta, feels. She reacts emotionally and realistically to everything that she experiences. She cries when hearing about the horrible situations her friends and family have been in in the past, and when unexpected roadblocks crop in in her own path, but she always presses on and finds a new way forward, not letting anything stop her. One final note for achievement hunters: it's possible to lock yourself into a situation where you can't get the bad ending anymore, by fulfilling the conditions for the good ending and then saving your game. You would have to first get the bad ending, then load your game and fulfill the conditions for the good ending. Also, one achievement may well require a completely separate playthrough, I'm not sure.