Sights & Sounds
- The art style is fantastic. Wonderful hand-drawn style with a vibrant, diverse palette.
- The animation is quite good too; actually reminds me of a well-animated 2D fighter (where some parts of the animation take multiple frames)
- Character designs are excellent. Each spirit is unique in their own way
- Although the towns feel fairly diverse, some of the forest, mine, and campground islands can feel a little samey
- Music varies a bit. Some of it is awesome (Bruce & Mickey's theme), some of it is simply nice to listen to (the main theme), and some of it is a little annoying (Alex's theme). At least they give you the option to turn off that last one

Story & Vibes
- If you're currently emotionally processing the loss of a loved one, this game is a punch to the gut. I've been dealing with the deaths in my friend groups and family over the past year, and this game definitely got to me. If you have a shred of empathy, this game will make you tear up, if not openly weep
- The story is more-or-less self-paced, but this can lead to some clunkiness in the rate the backstory is doled out. In my playthrough, it felt like I was getting nothing but loosely connected scraps until a bit of a lore dump in the last few main quests. Maybe the pacing would have been better if I had prioritized differently
- As you've probably assessed, the game deals with death-related themes and philosophies. These themes typify the quests and the final scenes of each character. Some characters' quests take a turn for the stoic (Gustav, Elena), some are more peaceful (Gwen, Astrid), some are nihilistic (Bruce & Mickey, Jackie), and some are just utterly heartbreaking (Alice, Stanley)

Playability & Replayability
- The game is about 75% crafting while traveling and 25% other activities
- Crafting typically involves combining or altering ingredients you find or buy in the world in one of the crafting stations you build on your ship. There's a pretty big variety here; you'll be planting, smelting, weaving, crushing, cooking, smithing, and raising animals (the non-sapient ones, at least)
- Some of the crafting can feel repetitive. Smelting and smithing are especially guilty of this
- The platforming is tight and responsive. It's kind of a shame that this element of the gameplay takes a distant back seat to the crafting
- There are some very light city-building elements that mostly involve trying to organize the all the buildings on your ship
- It's going to take me a while to return to this game, but mostly because it's emotionally heavy. I could see myself doing another playthrough to 100% this one in the future (there's a forced choice involving the characters Giovanni and Astrid, so either load one of your autosaves or do a second playthrough)

Overall Impressions
- Daffodil singing along when you're playing music to your crops is just about the cutest thing I've ever seen
- Alex is a good boy with bad taste in music
- The game ran extremely well the whole way through. No framiness or audio issues at all.
- I did encounter a few visual glitches like Daffodil getting stuck and flipping between two animation frames on ladders. I also saw a few characters teleport when their pathfinding screwed up. None of these affect gameplay or progress, though

Final Verdict
9/10. An excellent game, not specifically for its story or gameplay, but for its themes. I'd recommend playing it regardless of price if you like crafting, the art style, and games that make you think. If you're less enthralled by those things, I'd still recommend it if you can snag it on sale