I highly recommend this game. It's beautifully fast-paced, the controls are tight and responsive, and things are kept simple and elegant.

The graphics and looks:
It's got a unique look, and the 2D art is fantastic. The character design is remarkable and memorable. Some levels look really cool as well. It's got a nice art style that makes it stand out. The graphics themselves aren't something to write home about. You're not gonna gaze in awe at a beautiful light engine and highly detailed levels.
Overall, it's 1/1.5.

The story and dialogue:
This is really the weakest part of the game. The dialogue is so incredibly awkward and genuinely hard to read. It's just... cringe. I just skipped it all in my first playthrough, but if you force yourself to read it, there's a surprisingly solid plot under all that garbage dialogue. There's actual character development and something more than just obstacles to the goal apparent from the start.
Because of that, it's 0.5/1.

The gameplay:
This is really where the game shines. Everything it does, it does well, and it doesn't have anything that's simply bad. The gunplay is good. It's fast, you don't need to switch between 10 weapons, and the vast majority of the time, the game will put the right weapon in your hands whenever you need to use it. It's simple, it's reliable, and there's no silly gimmicks. Everything is built on movement, including the weapons. Each weapon can be discarded, which will activate some sort of movement and damage ability. They're intuitive, simple and easy to understand, but that doesn't mean they can't be used in creative ways. The game does an amazing job at giving you the right tool at the right time, allowing you to chain these fantastic sequences of moves and abilities that you want to perfect to finish the level as fast as possible. In addition to that, the levels are short, with no random stuff, to make you want to speedrun them even more. In every level, you can find shortcuts, skips big and small, that reward you for thinking and looking around the levels. Things only get better and better as you get more tools towards the end. Watch someone beat a level called Marathon to really see what I'm talking about.

There's also some side content, which is pretty fun. There's getting collectibles, with the challenge of getting some being in how you even reach them, and there's the less fun challenge of just finding some. The additional levels are pretty inconsistent in terms of what to expect. Some are fast and require a bit more precise timing than standard levels, which I loved, but some play more like puzzles, which are slow and I'm not a big fan of them.

There are a few instances where the level just doesn't feel overly well-made. Where your momentum is just kinda killed and you're forced to spend a lot of time walking/falling. Minefield would be an example of that. But things like that are rare.

Overall, the gameplay is 7/7.5. It's more than good enough to carry the game all by itself.


The total score is 8.5/10.

I highly recommend this game. It's beautifully fast-paced, the controls are tight and responsive, and things are kept simple and elegant. The graphics and looks: It's got a unique look, and the 2D art is fantastic. The character design is remarkable and memorable. Some levels look really cool as well. It's got a nice art style that makes it stand out. The graphics themselves aren't something to write home about. You're not gonna gaze in awe at a beautiful light engine and highly detailed levels. Overall, it's 1/1.5. The story and dialogue: This is really the weakest part of the game. The dialogue is so incredibly awkward and genuinely hard to read. It's just... cringe. I just skipped it all in my first playthrough, but if you force yourself to read it, there's a surprisingly solid plot under all that garbage dialogue. There's actual character development and something more than just obstacles to the goal apparent from the start. Because of that, it's 0.5/1. The gameplay: This is really where the game shines. Everything it does, it does well, and it doesn't have anything that's simply bad. The gunplay is good. It's fast, you don't need to switch between 10 weapons, and the vast majority of the time, the game will put the right weapon in your hands whenever you need to use it. It's simple, it's reliable, and there's no silly gimmicks. Everything is built on movement, including the weapons. Each weapon can be discarded, which will activate some sort of movement and damage ability. They're intuitive, simple and easy to understand, but that doesn't mean they can't be used in creative ways. The game does an amazing job at giving you the right tool at the right time, allowing you to chain these fantastic sequences of moves and abilities that you want to perfect to finish the level as fast as possible. In addition to that, the levels are short, with no random stuff, to make you want to speedrun them even more. In every level, you can find shortcuts, skips big and small, that reward you for thinking and looking around the levels. Things only get better and better as you get more tools towards the end. Watch someone beat a level called Marathon to really see what I'm talking about. There's also some side content, which is pretty fun. There's getting collectibles, with the challenge of getting some being in how you even reach them, and there's the less fun challenge of just finding some. The additional levels are pretty inconsistent in terms of what to expect. Some are fast and require a bit more precise timing than standard levels, which I loved, but some play more like puzzles, which are slow and I'm not a big fan of them. There are a few instances where the level just doesn't feel overly well-made. Where your momentum is just kinda killed and you're forced to spend a lot of time walking/falling. Minefield would be an example of that. But things like that are rare. Overall, the gameplay is 7/7.5. It's more than good enough to carry the game all by itself. The total score is 8.5/10.