I’m about 80% of the way through it and it’s been not just a welcome distraction from a stressful couple of weeks, but one of my favourite things I’ve played in a long time.
Pretty chill, but still with some challenge on higher difficulties. Wonderful art style and satisfying fold-in on themselves level design. The writing is good and succinct with what could be just another cozy game unfolding into something more varied in tone and having genuine things to say about regional identity, tourism, and commerce at the expense of locals.
What really (pleasantly) surprised me was what a love letter it was to all sorts of great past video games. Sometimes via a specific mechanic, sometimes a themed level or ability. Persona, Mario Galaxy, Zelda, Ico, SSX Tricky, Fez, classic RPGs, you name it.
Anyway, I think it’s pretty neat.
Is it like Evoland which is very much a potpourri, or does it only make nods to those games?
I haven’t played Evoland, but I’d say the core is a natural feeling blend of things like hack and slash dungeon crawling, magic spells, Persona style day cycles and friendship activity choices etc. All with a pretty light touch as the whole vibe is very approachable. Then specific dungeons have designs or ways to use your abilities that are varying degrees of direct homage, often with a shift of perspective to one like those games. I listed a few examples under a spoiler tag in another comment.