Masterful metroidvania with gorgeous art that has an impeccable atmosphere and gameplay loop. This is an absolute must play, ESPECIALLY if you are a fan of the genre. Abilities and traversal are super fun and rewarding once you get them all as well. They really nailed all the boss fights and this game has some of my favorites in any game. And my god the soundtrack is fantastic. The reputation this game has as being insanely hard I didn't understand though. There are some DLC parts I have not played, but the base game there were hardly anything that reached Souls-like or shmup levels of difficult imo. I also did get lost quite often which kind of bogged down the flow and my experience with the game a bit as I was finding myself backtracking a lot. This is definitely my only major gripe. Also, prior to you getting all of your abilities, the movement and combat is hardly the best the genre has to offer. This game is absolutely fantastic but I feel like it was missing some magical element to make it five stars, but it's damn near close. The lore is very fascinating and is worth exploring in and of itself. I also don't find this to be that replayable to be honest, but that maybe just is because it's fairly long. Overall, this is a phenomenal game and I really cant wait for Silksong! 4 1/2 ★