Before I got to the credits, I was thinking to myself that this game takes way too long to get to the point. It's only really halfway that the story comes in full force; prior, it's just a bunch of loose non-sequiturs under a flimsy context provided in overwritten dialogue that delivers humour via a quantity-over-quality approach that crushes you under one painfully unfunny textbox after another like Giles Corey.

Another contribution to this problem is how tadpoles buy cosmetics as well as power-ups and support items. Early on, you're likely to save for the cosmetics and eschew the power-ups. Again at the halfway mark, you've gotten into the swing of having enough currency and can cut loose and splurge on the power-ups, which are incredibly varied and fun. Makes me think the game would be served well by being given a generous allowance at the start to encourage the player to not be so miserly for cosmetics.

Now that I've seen the credits, I admire how such a long project with so many unconnected levels, one-of mechanics, and flimsy characterisation comes together in the end. Without ever feeling like it's forgotten where it started as a quirky random game, it evolves into an incredibly dramatic story where everyone is still in character but now there are tremendous stakes, heartbreaking tragedies, and one of the most vile villains I've ever seen in a story. None of this feels out of place in the slightest; all of the first steps in the game that felt inconsequential still feel like part of this developed narrative, hauled over and yet given new context under new dynamics.

It does take a while for the game to find its footing but, once it does, it's REALLY good.