Fantastic game, a must play if you like retro platformers. It takes inspirations from countless sources, namely Mega Man, but you could pretty much name any NES action game and be able to find some similarities. That being said, this game has its own idnetity and at no point feels overly derivative.
The levels are very short, with most of them lasting around 3-4 minutes, making this almost feel like a portable game, but I consider that a good thing as no level really overstays its welcome. Each level has a theme that it explores in regards to level layot or enemy types, you play it for a bit, then its on to the next one. There are A LOT of levels though, around 100, so don't expect a short game.
Controls for the most part feel good. There's definitely some clunk involved, especially when attacking and moving at the same time, but I feel like it's mostly intentional given the nature of the game. I never felt like the controls were actively hindering me, it's just a matter of getting used to them.
Sprite work is great, the environments are beautiful and there are over 200 unique NPCs and almost as many enemies. Music is fine, nothing crazy but not bad. The standout world building feature is definitely the dialogue. The writing is very silly and funny and pokes fun at many different topics. The game at no point takes itself seriously, yet remains solid enough throughout to not become a parody of itself.
The complaints I have are pretty minor. Chief among them is the character balance. The starting character is pretty much a complete turd compared to the later characters. He's basically a clone of NES Mega Man - he can jump, shoot, slide, and that's it. Later characters can hover in the air, air dash in any direction, have invincible jumps, can attack much faster, etc. Not all at the same time of course, but it feels like the "protagonist" of the game is completely overshadowed by the other characters. Of course that's not totally a bad thing, the rosted is varied enough that I think everyone will find a character that they really like, though some of them are unlocked very late into the game so your milegae may vary. For the Mega Man Zero fans out there, don't worry, the game has melee characters too.
The game also has tons of collectible and hidden items to find. This forces the player to slow down and notice small details in the levels like cracked walls and hidden doors. Some stuff is quite easy to find, but some of it is very well hidden and you'll feel like a super cool guy for discovering them.
Money management was expertly handled, something you rarely see in any game really. The game somehow always knew the perfect amount of money to ask for things. I never had to grind until the very very end of the game, and there's even a dedicated money grinding mini game so the entire process took all of about 7 minutes. For the entire rest of the game I either had just enough money to buy everything, or was short by a few hundred gold which is how much you'd earn from beating a level or two so it's no big deal.
Overall this is one of the best retro inspired game I've ever played. Kinda sad that I put off buying it for so long. I got it on sale but I dare say that it's worth the full asking price, assuming you take the time to explore everything the game has to offer (which you should). This is a great game for the Steam Deck since it's practically begging to be played in short bursts, but you can also sit down and sink a few hours into it all at once.
