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OOOOOH. MYYY. GODDOOO!!
That game is so ADORABLE!!
I knew this was gonna be one of my favorites just from the cover art and the description alone, and it sure delivered!

The artstyle is extremelly cute! I really like all of it, but I specially ADORE the cutscene pictures and the brewing menu, they're soooo charming!! Everything is charming!!
The music as well? It's all bangers!! There's only like, 3 tracks? But they are all aewsome! And the boss theme is exactly the kind of bossfight vibe I strive for!

And speaking of these bossfights tho?? They're phenomenal! They're sooo simple in concept, but you executed them to a T!
Like, the first boss is the Sun on the background??? And once you beat it the Sun is ACTUALLY gone for the rest of the game???
And the second boss is FRIGGIN NEWTOW'S CRADLE???? AND THE FLOOR TURNS INTO LAVA TO FORCE YOU ABOVE IT????
10000/10, you nailed these, please 25 more on my table asap!

And you honestly also just hit my weakspot tbh, wich is making a game with an actual character with an actual name and actual personality that is actually shown in the game and an actual mini-plot to follow throught. These entries always make me so much more attached to them in a personal level...

Now gameplay wise, it's pretty fun! Movement feels fairly fair and level design is pretty serviceable, despite some shortcomings here and there thanks to the spotlighted mechanics.
Speaking of wich, your abilities system makes me very conflicted on how much of a metroidvania this is, since the upgrades are not things you unlock for Ariana herself, but instead they're "skills" for the enviroment around her, wich is.... quite unseen before for me?
It's definitelly a unique and very creative system, and I deffinitelly can't say they feel like keys to doors since there is a certain amount of deliberate decision making involved on wich one to use when and they do affect how you approach things beyond just opening a passage here or there, but at the same time Ariana is the same from the start to finish, so you really got me backed into a corner here, and honestly, in a good way! What is the purpose of genre conventions if not to be broken, am I right?
That said, there a few places where this system faulters a little, mostly on some spots where you clearly intend for the cloud platforms to go up, but if you jump on them without cloudisol there is no way to come back so you just fall to your doom, and the camera often doesn't make a good job of letting you know the way ahead was a dead end all along. Plus a few blind jumps here and there.
And a little side note since I don't know where also to mention it: I love  how bubbloft makes both Ariana's AND the enemies bubbles to float, it is very amusing x)

Lastly I gotta say, sending you back to the menu everytime you die and making the default selected option "New Game" is super evil lmao, the chances of someone just spamming space to get back to the action quicker and wiping out their progress is huge xD
It didn't happen to me because I was constantly conscious of it, but still, I'd reccomend making "Load" the deafult selection if you're gonna do something like that, or just not sending us back to the menu at all, just make Ariana respawn on the last bed she slept right away.

Aaaanyway, I think that's it, thanks for this very delightfull experience!