Playing A Game Cave Story+ PC

For a one-person indie game (ignoring the "+" for the moment), Cave Story+ is pretty impressive. It's got a healthy amount of content, its environments and abilities show some well-tuned variety, even the story feels unique, albeit simple. But - even with a studio's worth of "+" polish on top - it is still a one-person indie game.

Platforming is challenging, and not always for good reasons (slippery movement). Save points are often too far apart, which makes surprise sudden deaths (like hidden spikes!) too punishing. Some "quests" lazily ask you to go re-tread the same ground and re-fight the same enemies you just dispatched a moment ago. The game's first half sets up a hub area and interconnected routes, but the second half is a non-stop train ride that you can't really get off of.

That "surprise sudden deaths" issue comes to a head with the game's final boss, which is a phase-after-phase gauntlet of boss fights that I didn't see coming, and had no interest in re-trying when I died on (what I think is) the last part.

There were things I liked about Cave Story, punctuated by things I didn't like. The ability upgrades are pretty cool, and the shooting action is mostly fun, despite how confounding it can be to lose weapon experience. But those positives are canceled out by how poorly-connected the world map is, and by how disrespectful to my time the surprise sudden deaths are.

Better than: Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight, Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition
Not as good as: Hollow Knight, Ittle Dew 2+
I appreciate the temporary holiday theme: even if Santa hats do distract a bit from the story drama.

Progress: Gave up on the last boss phase ... in Easy difficulty.

Rating: Meh