[b]june 2023 edit:[/b] undo got patched in after all, now the game is easily recommendable.
[b]path to gaea[/b] is a fantasy [b]hitman go[/b]-like with a fox protagonist and a wisp companion. and unskippable dialog with a slight text display sound. can't do anything to make sentences appear instantly or make them go away, but they're relatively fast and movement is possible at the same time. a mixture of tutorializing and lore, and the only cutscene is skippable and doesn't play on retries.
[b]25 levels[/b] unlocked one by one, level number in the pause menu. turn-based movement to avoid spikes and enemies, pull switches and move columns. killing has to be done from the side or behind, typical sly fox shenanigans, unless you pick up a [b]power orb that lets the wisp kill enemies from a distance[/b]. sweet. only works in a straight line though and has limited range.
[b]the game allows you to move over hazards[/b], only blocked nodes are invalid moves, so be careful. [b]no move limit or counter[/b], explore and experiment to your heart's content. [b]undo got patched in, works after dying too, and there are checkpoints here and there[/b]. there's a brief saving icon in the corner when one happens, usually indicated by falling boulders to cut off the way back, but not every level has one (and none has more than one) and some take longer and/or more tries than others. however, [b]checkpoint progress gets saved when you quit[/b], that's something.
there are [b]collectible crystals for more skins[/b], but they're done in lazy [b]lara croft go[/b]-style, just click them on the side, no extra puzzling to do, like bonus objectives in the superior [b]hitman go[/b]. the bottom left shows how many of how many you found on the current stage, level select also has that info. finding one and dying still keeps it.
[b]non-rebindable controls work well enough[/b] and are shown in the help section. arrows and mouse move, esc for menu, 'r' restarts from the checkpoint or the beginning of the level. gamepad is supported and can choose between 'click' or 'swipe' mouse controls. [b]I found clicking better but still tiresome[/b], ymmv. keyboard is fine if you get used to what's up and what's left, as usual. [b]full keyboard control was made possible[/b] eventually, wasd moves obstacles and handles the charged wisp and 'e' activates levers. 'q' or the right mouse button turns on undo, you'll notice the change of colors and can remedy your mistake.
[b]animations are nice but slow[/b], which can supposedly be helped by holding movement keys to move more, but again, without undo it's not a good idea and it doesn't do much if anything anyway. a [b]faster movement toggle[/b] was patched in, does the same automatically, except it's actually noticable. the fox wasn't affected at first, only enemies, so it was only a partial solution while I was playing, but it's fine now.
[b]no camera controls wouldn't be a bad thing[/b], less mandatory fiddling, especially with trees becoming see-through if you're under them, but [b]levels don't fit the screen and it's impossible to plan and think ahead[/b] on bigger ones. I'd rather have enough info to come up with a solution than a close-up of a tree, but it is what it is. some sort of camera control, zoom or different camera placement in certain cases would still be nice though, to have a better look at the immediate surroundings at least. messing with columns while spiders are after you is bad enough, realizing you shouldn't have used that orb on that enemy because there's another one off-screen, right at the end is much worse.
[b]really handsome game, nice piano music in the menu[/b], less memorable but atmospheric tunes elsewhere, and you can click some stuff (well, birds and fish) to interact with them. settings are fine. a few resolutions with a windowed mode toggle and eventually separate volume sliders got patched in. there are some languages and graphics options too (shadows, anti-aliasing, hbao, whatever that is) and all this is accessible while playing.
pretty good overall, a short foxy adventure (probably doable in 2-3 hours), and [b]with undo patched in, it's an easy recommendation[/b]. full price is still too much but sales are a thing and it works on win7 and a potato without issues. the developer is dedicated, fixed a bunch of stuff fast and even managed undo after ruling it out initially (not on principle, luckily, and I'm glad it was possible in the end).
