I got to a mysterious, fantastic, gorgeous part of the game on an empty stomache and kept sprinting through it without thinking about what was happening, then starved to death. This minimal spoiler is worth the point it makes that gameplay elements are such that everything that should draw you into this game is ruined.

I get it if you like difficulty and frustration in your games. Not everyone is like that, and those who are have really great options already.

In 2018 where there are artistically brilliant games for cheap everywhere, devs now need to justify every moment they are having their player spend on the game. Capy has done a good job of this in the past with the constantly rewarding Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery, and seems to have failed to realize that it was not *just* the aesthetics that made it so, but also the thoughtful integration of gameplay with story and incredible writing. Here, however, there is too much unjustified repetition and backtracking and I've just had to make the choice to spend my very limited time elsewhere.

I will be on the lookout for the release of a casual mode without permadeath or the feel-bad survival elements. Such a mode would be completely antithetical to most of the design philosophy of this game, but at this point that's not a good argument against implementing it.

(More time spent on game than indicated because of much offline play)

I got to a mysterious, fantastic, gorgeous part of the game on an empty stomache and kept sprinting through it without thinking about what was happening, then starved to death. This minimal spoiler is worth the point it makes that gameplay elements are such that everything that should draw you into this game is ruined. I get it if you like difficulty and frustration in your games. Not everyone is like that, and those who are have really great options already. In 2018 where there are artistically brilliant games for cheap everywhere, devs now need to justify every moment they are having their player spend on the game. Capy has done a good job of this in the past with the constantly rewarding Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery, and seems to have failed to realize that it was not *just* the aesthetics that made it so, but also the thoughtful integration of gameplay with story and incredible writing. Here, however, there is too much unjustified repetition and backtracking and I've just had to make the choice to spend my very limited time elsewhere. I will be on the lookout for the release of a casual mode without permadeath or the feel-bad survival elements. Such a mode would be completely antithetical to most of the design philosophy of this game, but at this point that's not a good argument against implementing it. (More time spent on game than indicated because of much offline play)