it's not as good on a replay as it was the first time through... there are a lot of choices that feel interesting on a first play (the size of the 3d overworlds, the sorta-rhythm-game segments, the obvious lampshaded padding in the second half, the metacommentary) but wear off later on.

BUT! this is probably the most gamey analgesic game (at least until angeline era gets released) and i think it benefits from that. by gamey i mean that it feels super in love with and engaged with the nonsense language of video games; where even the ocean and sephonie really stretch for real world thematic resonance, and the original anodyne is sort of unformed and messy, this one feels like it has a complete and coherent point of view within itself, because of the way its different gameplay styles and aesthetics are stitched together. and that lets it access all kinds of emotional complexities and weird little grace notes. (desertnpc/no such scene is the obvious one, but i was struck this time by a missable npc in pastel horizon who you basically steal life force from. and the overall warmth and sweetness of the new theeland area.)

it's a super imperfect game. but those imperfections also give it a very human quality, and i don't think i would change anything about it.

this runs like absolute doodoo caca on the 3ds and feels extremely imprecise. but i also sort of love the chaotic nature of the combat and platforming. like, i'm playing as a child and the whole game may or may not be happening in her imagination - it honestly kind of works that things would feel so weird. not so much that i wouldn't prefer to play it on another platform, but enough that i enjoy my time in the game.

i feel like i can really sense the old-school roots here. the way the homing attack works - where you hurl yourself at enemies, giving up control for a set distance in the air - has a kind of bumpslashy energy to it, so there's an ys connection. the difficulty curve is all over the place. the level construction is challenge-based rather than thematic - here are a bunch of individual rooms, which may or may not have cohesion, each presenting different situations and ideas. there is interesting environmental design, but it usually remains separate from what's happening on a gameplay level; one place in the pimento mountains features structures that look like dwellings, but you can't go in. it's a very game-y construction from the jump, less about being a reality for parin and more about presenting itself to the player.

the lack of connection between the space and the actions you're doing within the space, combined with the imprecision of the actual controls, ends up making the game feel /more/ mysterious and interesting. like you're making the meaning and story on top of what's already there, rather than meaning being something you find within a world that's constructed for you. it's active and collaborative. kind of cool!

ok crazy thought here but: i think metroidvanias with a combat focus as granular as this one should be about one-half to one-third the size of this one - or they need to be balanced much more carefully. i keep running into regular degular enemies who can teleport across the room, thus allowing me to get in maybe two hits before they disappear, and who have health bars that are way too big, and who chase me across the screen so i have to stop exploring in order to get them out of the way.

perhaps this is a 'get gud' kind of problem! but it's extremely annoying and disincentivizes backtracking or exploration or thoughtful puzzle solving, which the game also wants me to do. so like, what's the end goal here?

the core issue is that, while the game is fun, it doesn't feel like it has a point of view. i can really feel the market calculation here - like, storytelling tropes from the mcu and anime? check! counter-heavy combat - and getting-stalked-by-enemies areas - along the lines of metroid dread? check! exploration/combat/save rhythm from souls? check! time manipulation because that's the prince of persia Thing? check! it just feels vaguely soulless and committee-designed. even when i enjoy the way it plays - which is often! - i just don't feel particularly engaged with it.

this is reading very pessimistic. there are things i like about this game! i think it does a good job of selling mount qaf as a coherent space - comparatively, metroid dread did not do this with planet zdr even a little bit. i like the concept of the combat-focused vania and there are lots of good ideas there. some of the cutscene direction is cool and fun. but it all feels very... focus-tested.