I'd rather walk the plank

I just wasn't having any fun playing Shantae: Risky's Revenge.

For one thing, it's a pretty bad Metroidvania. Not in quite the same way as Ori and the Blind Forest, which felt more like a linear adventure with optional exploration; Risky's Revenge does include some meaningful backtracking, to discover routes that were previously locked or unreachable.

But the world map sucks, with whole sections that are uncharted, and frustratingly-placed teleporters. (They're rarely any better than walking.) Aside from how annoying it is just to open the map; actually getting from place to place, navigating the same mazes and fighting the same enemies over again, is surprisingly irritating for how tiny the game's world is.

It seems like Wayforward was trying to lean harder on Shantae's platforming and action chops than on exploration -- but the action isn't really any good, either. The collision on her ponytail attack is irritatingly narrow, and her magic abilities - despite consuming valuable portions of a magic bar - aren't any more effective. Trying to hit a tiny, flying enemy can be a real struggle in patience.

Throw in the aforementioned problems with control responsiveness and respawning - oh, plus some fairly blasé animal transformation abilities - and it's difficult for me to find anything enjoyable in here.

The game's world has a little charm, thanks to a cute art style and virt's mostly-great soundtrack. But that isn't really enough to make up for the general malaise of an uninteresting plot - collect the three things, from the three people, to save the whatever - and the thoroughly mediocre moment-to-moment gameplay.

Progress: turned into an elephant.