so fucking blessed to be living in the golden age of 3d platfomers. was gonna say golden age of indie 3d platformers but tbh no reason to section them off, its not like theyre a AAA genre for anyone other then nintendo anymore. this one scratched some itches that even a bunch of the others i love havent quite scratched...perhaps one of the most comforting games for me in the comfiest genre for me, despite also being a good deal more difficult and finnicky then many of them. or perhaps its because of that!!! for a 6 hour experience that amounts to a tutorial, one world, and a big final stretch, every single part is mined for as much as it can possibly give in its small size...a reminder of the experience of these older games, which demanded that u cut your own way thru them until u knew them in and out, from your own abilities to the spaces u are asked to traverse to the quest threads you follow to promised rewards. what begins in overwhelm is slowly chipped away into total intimacy, and surprises under the hood of every aspect...a seemingly complicated and janky moveset turns out to be both simple and extremely versitile, a seemingly chaotic and dense world turns out to be perfectly compact with no uninteresting space, big intimidating platforming challenges turn out to just be a few more persistent attempts away from delicious satisfaction.

two random notes: (1) this rly brings back the lost art of Needing To Orient Your Movement In Relation To An Unideal Camera Angle. i think a lot of ppl have it in their heads that this is """bad game design""" because its a barrier to instant satisfaction, and its understandably perfectly avoidable in a dual stick world. corn kidz mixes dual sticks with weird n64 type buttons for specific camera reorientations (like zoomouts and top down views) and occasional semi-fixed angles, or just places where there Isnt rly an ideal angle. this game rly affirms to me that the skill of orientation is as valid as any, it was definitely one that you Needed to develop playing n64 platformers, so admittedly i had a head start. they know their audience! ppl should be more willing to accept "awkwardness" before we optimize and overpolish the entire character of Play Experience out of video games. (2) your hooves make clopping sounds. perfect video game