Side Scape

One of the most creative takes on the metroidvania/zelda-like genres I have ever experienced. While the game is rather short, it accomplishes a lot within the few hours of playtime. The movement feels sharp and responsive, the exploration is fun, and the main gimmick - switching between side-scrolling and isometric control schemes - makes both combat and puzzles more interesting. While the graphics are pretty simplistic, they do their job well. The music in the background is also well made, even if there isn't much variety. The one thing I disliked was the lack of a map and the vagueness of hints. While the world isn't particularly big, it is big enough to occasionally get lost when moving from one side of the map to the other. While the game does have a hint system telling you where to go next, some hints aren't helpful - an example that comes to mind being "find a cave" with no further context. As such, sometimes you can run around for a long time searching for where the game wants you to go. The lack of a map also caused me problems during the endgame. As a completionists, I tried to collect every item in the game. However, since there are no indications where an item might be located, I spent almost half of the 4 hours that my playthrough took running around aimlessly, hoping I would find the missing items. Other than those issues, which ultimately end up being simply annoyances, the game is very enjoyable. I heavily reccomend picking it up even outside of sales if you are a fan of the two blended genres.