Given how obscure this game is, I don't want to give it a thumbs down, because, for the most part, it's well made, and I know there's people out there who would enjoy it. Yet at the same time, I can't possibly recommend this in good conscience.
I should start off by saying this is unapologetically old-school. Not necessarily a good or bad thing, but it's worth noting.
I won't say it's brutally difficult because there's way more challenging (new and old) 2D platformers out there.
But it does feel pretty barren as far as content goes.
The game is relatively short, and there's no unlockables or extra modes or side content. The replayability past the first playthrough is decent if you're into speedruns, but for the average player, you most likely won't want to touch this game ever again in your life, if you can even make it to the end.
Also there's no resolution settings, no achievements, no cloud saves etc.
It really feels like a bad port of a 90's game. Which sounds cool, until you realize you could be emulating some snes games instead.
The 2D sprite art is actually very nice, and despite the intentional retro look, it's actually rather colorful and detailed.
The mythological theme of the game is also a nice touch, and while keeping lore to a minimum, it still delivered some aesthetic flavor.
The soundtrack feels rather outdated, and uninspired. It conforms to the old school nature of this game, but the compositions don't fit the game's theme. In a sense, it feels like it could have been made for any retro game out there, not necessarily this one. And unlike some of the soundtrack gems from old retro games, this isn't any memorable or interesting at all.
Gameplay-wise, the controls feel very responsive, yet the level design ends up rather punishing for no good reason.
What I mean by that is, it gives you an arsenal of tools that are rather op, you can grab and hold onto walls indefinitely, chain wall jump on a single wall up to the ceiling, you can double jump, you can dash mid-air, you can even hover float upwards mid-air, you can attack around you mid-air, and all of it feels very responsive.
Yet at the same time, the game will still bend you over by overhead platforms that you can bump into mid-air as you try to navigate upwards and fall all the way down (often times in "lava" floor that will instantly kill you), sometimes you'll take damage as you try to hit an enemy mid-air (there's no invisibility as you slash so you have to make sure the enemy will be within your sword swing and not too close to you, which is common sense really, but not as easy to execute accurately while trying to chain combos mid-air, as you're watching out for platforms over your head, and trying not to fall into the chasing lava floor.)
Maybe if some of those "frustrations" were not in place, your kit would end up too op, or the game would end up too easy, but bs level design is not the right way to balance this or make the game feel satisfyingly challenging.
Of course I'm not going to get all entitled over this, as I know that if someone cared enough to replay each level enough times to master it, it's absolutely possible to build up a lot of momentum and flow in this game. It's a high risk high reward kind of approach.
This lack of handholding, and somewhat steep learning curve as far as nailing a flawless execution goes (despite the straight forward and responsive controls), conform to the overall unapologetic, repetition based, old school take of this game, but at the end of the day, and as "rewarding" as a perfect combo chain should feel in theory, in reality, the game still isn't all that fun to play and feels rather gimmicky.
tl;dr: honestly, this game is total ♥♥♥♥, and considering all the great 2D platformers out there, skip this one, even if you're a fan of the genre, whether you're looking for a challenge, or feel nostalgic.
P.S. Want a challenging retro style 2D platformer that's actually fun? Try Volgarr the Viking.
Want a good 2D game with a Hellenic/mythological theme that nails that aesthetic? Play Apotheon.
