MagiCat

A fun, simple, "easy" platformer. The quote marks are because you will die a lot, but generally you can revive exactly at the time and place of your demise as long as you have points to spend (from gathering coins, completing levels, etc.) and use the checkpoints. You also have a healling ability but that's honestly more limited. The main difficulties stem from two points. One: there is a new mechanic every level. Each level introduces some new feature or puzzle that you either interact with or have to avoid. Learn astral projection! Once. Avoid a timed laser that tracks you down! Once. The game is now a shmup! Can you guess how many times that happens? Anyway, not all the mechanics are equal and some are more frustrating than others but it's mostly a minor inconvenience. Once! And two: there is a new boss. Every. Single. Level. Sometimes using that level's mechanic, sometimes just a new spin. Either way, you're always going into a fight with no idea and you'll probably find yourself dying because you don't know what you're in for. I'll give it to the developer that every new level is completely different from the last. As you go along you can purchase power-ups with hidden red gems which can affect your abilities and movement in and out of levels, or decrease the death penalty. Can't get to a gem yet? Just wait till you can dash up. See a shop you want to get to on the map but it's on another island? Lay down a bridge. The game is very open and will just let you go wherever, provided you have the resources to spend. All in all, it's nice, but unremarkable and all the variety means there's no real building of skills. There is a new game + mode, turning all the meows and barks into english, but I haven't tried it because I got the gist of the story through the pantomime and unless it dives into ridiculous sesquipedalian loquaciousness, I don't think I'll get much out of playing a second time for a while yet.