General random thoughts you have on any video games in general

a quick little bonus, this was available as a switch game trial for a few days through NSO. i would say it's worth about what i paid for it, and if i didnt have the time limit i may not have actually seen it through to the end

the structure has the illusion of a metroidvania, but the design isnt really anything like that at all. although its an interconnected world, everything is pretty much linear paths from one point to the next, with a bit of backtracking until you reach the next teleport, which usually spits you out at the spot you need to go. blockages are mostly arbitrary, like the doors that stop you from continuing before you get 3 keys, but usually just end up making you go down the only other available path and do a loop where you pick them up and get spat out back near the door. there are ability unlocks, but most places you come across that are blocked the first time around only lead to optional collectibles because, again, the world design is essentially linear.

this leaves you with just the gameplay to be the saving grace and it's... fine. servicable, if i had to use a single word to describe it. the movement is pretty slow (probably since there's 4 players, it feels like rayman legends or nsmbw but without a run button), extra moves are either kind of lame (double jump is the first unlock but is basically just a tiny little boost, similar to throwing cappy in mario odyssey for extra height and distance... throwing cappy, not jumping off him) or feel stiff (grapple hooks can only be used in specific places and you have no control, there's basically no momentum at all because it's a fixed animation), and all the initial movement is really basic (except for there being a side flip for some reason????). not only that, but there is no combat at all, apart from boss fights. this means all enemies are just obstacles and can't be interacted with. this makes me really appreciate the combat more in games like silksong, because man does it just slow down the game and make it boring. all you can do with enemies is avoid them, and since the movement is limited, you can't really do that very well. usually you have to just stand around and wait for the cycles, with no way to alter or interrupt them. all put together, it just makes the game feel like an absolute drag of busywork where nothing feels like its really all that fun or interesting.

for what it's worth, the animation, voices, art style, music, etc all looks very nice but it just isn't very engaging at all.

Yeah, the metroidvania "structure" is really just branding and a weight upon the game. Really, had this been a standard level based platformer it would have better pacing. (There are achievements for going down certain initially blocked paths, so I guess the idea of a metroidvania was kept in mind.) I also agree that the weak double jump being first unlock is really bad and leaves a terrible first impression; the game would be better if it was cut without a replacement and the wall jump was received first. I think the grapple being fixed has some interesting qualities, since it means you get instant momentum in the chosen direction even if the player was going in the opposite direction they are about to grapple into, but actual momentum physics would probably be more fun. Even if there isn't a momentum system, I also think enforcing grapple direction when grappling from long falls would have passably simulated a momentum system. I'm also annoyed at the ground pound, because it has very little utility outside of breaking rocks that never respawn, meaning the more you use it the fewer uses it has. (It also activates seesaw launchers, but turns out nearly every one of those is skippable by doing side flips and double jumps off the seesaws.) It really should have stunned enemies, as a quick additional function that would at least keep it in the player's head when they aren't in rooms explictly labeled with rocks.

I actually disagree on the enemy point. I think in a vacuum, a platformer where enemies cannot be defeated isn't a bad idea. But this game has too many enemy types which cannot be maneuvered around during their attacks in any way. (and various multi-projectile spitters where the correct answer is to stop dead between the arcs of their projectiles.) I think being more mindful of both enemy design, enemy placement, and environment design could have reduced the number of times the player absolutely has to wait for an enemy cycle by offering alternate (slower) paths around enemies or tight passageways through enemies. The game's primary underwater section has perhaps the best examples of being able to bypass cycles through precision movement, but even then there are some stinkers. And letting the ground pound stun enemies would also help by giving the player a panic button against any one enemy when sneaking through looks risky.

I assume the developers were aware of movement not being all that fun and exploration not being engaging because of that and the secret linear structure since the game's final unlock is fast travel to any previously unlocked checkpoint. The game is lousy with checkpoints, which means movement across the map essentially becomes optional. Which isn't a great band-aid to slap onto a design.