This game has got a lot of SOUL, a really satisfying amount of story, and a very good variety of play content. Without spoiling much, platforming makes up 75-80% of the game, and side-scrolling shooting and exploration segments make up the latter portions I will say the trailer belies a lot of the actual content, and stuck to the first four chapters so as to not reveal too much.

This is a game that took a long time to beat, not because of it being long, but it being poorly paced and incorrectly assuming people like me have the brain capacity to navigate a maze in the third level. This is, quite literally, the easiest way to filter a bunch of people from trying out your game.

Also, some of the RNG on the monsters in the two side-scrolling chapters were incredibly irritating to defeat. I ended up pause-scumming to figure out a path for those guys. The length of that segment should have been way shorter, and the AI more predictable.

The ending chapter was very somber, but ended on a comedic note that was kind of goofy (you know, to top off all the earlier adventuring you did). The epilogue's prose strongly suggested the developers were happy to have been finished with the game as well.

Ribbing aside, I still liked Balthazar's Dream. It's not poorly made, and it's not cheaply played. You really do get an organic full experience out of playing this, be it 3 hours (as the developers' say), or 9 hours in my case. If you're looking to churn out a $5 miracle, this is one of your options.

Note: I got a free key of the game from the developer.