TL/DR game is fantastic tyvm

Let me just say, when I booted up the demo, I did not expect this sheer level of care and polish. The art might be somewhat simple, but makes up for it in its absolute charm.

What you will quickly realize from the fairly well designed first couple rooms is that the game puts a lot of emphasis on its movements, which should be the staple of every well designed platformer. Using the classic metroid wall-jump controls struck me as a bit unusual (as I never found them particularly intuitive, and even metroid games are often designed with it being just a neat optional feature) but once the game grants you access to the roll ability (and fairly early too) you'll quickly realize how quickly you can navigate the map with the ground roll being spammable, covering huge distances, looking absolutelly fucking cute with its totally unnecessary 3 different animations, and on top of that you gain access to the special "air roll" which is more so a glorified double jump that was designed to not only grant you some extra height but has the ability to quickly flip your momentum in either direction. With wall jumping being something available anywhere at any time, and rolling being such an expansive and useful feature, you'll quickly realize you can absolutelly zoom through the map and with some cleverness you can even skip small sections of rooms that would otherwise require careful platforming or a puzzle gimmick to complete.

Speaking of puzzles, they are not the most complicated but they are there. The map is cleverly divided in areas that each contain a dungeon, each area having a gimmick attached to it. Areas are cleverly restricted to give you a feel of wanderlust while keeping paths in check to unintrusively railroad you and avoid tedious backtracking. Basic stuff but something many similar games often struggle with. Many of the gimmicks tied to the power ups are also simple and sensible enough it's easy to connect the dots together and quickly realize where else they can be applied to either grab previous collectibles you had to skip or to open shortcuts or paths to new areas. It's nothing particularly ground breaking but a very well designed journey nonetheless.

Now on the one negative this game has, that is combat feeling a bit clunky. I will preface I do like the combat, the combo system is satisfying, being able to strafe back and forth during attacks takes a bit to get used to but works just fine. The problem I found is that combined with your relatively small health pool, taking stray hits from enemies you might accidentally walk into or that decided to briefly get out of hitstun to attack, actually kinda hurts. It feels there is some emphasis on more methodical and precise combat (especially with the bosses being so well designed) but it's very easy to bump into enemies by complete accident or be hit by an enemy who simply pushed through your attacks. On top of that, attacks feel weirdly committal when compared to the fluidity of the movement system, this might be a personal opinion and this might as well just be by design, but it feels weird not being able to cancel out of attacks by jumping or rolling, to the point it often feels like a momentum stopper and you'd often rather keep walzing around to avoid enemies just because the movement system is frankly that satisfying. I would not say this is a deal breaker by any means, but definitelly something that can be improved upon.

Speaking of bosses, there isn't too much to say. They are really well designed and that's about it. They have simple attacks that are easy to memorize, have generally very good telegraphs and can definitelly all be beaten first try without having to take any cheap hits. I will almost say they might be a bit too easy but that's the opinion of someone who really likes a challenge. One unique thing I do appreciate however is the armor breaking mechanic, where hitting bosses at the end of an attack causes them to get stunned briefly for big damage. It's a small feature but one that really elevates the hit and run nature of platforming bosses I did very much appreciate.

With all that being said, absolutelly stellar game. Bugs aside that I'm sure till get ironed out real quick. Really hyped to see more. The snowboarding minigame made me so nonsensically happy it'd easy make me think there's some weird sorcery at work in the making of this game.