izigame.me

I've got about an hour in this game and stopped to come put my thoughts down.
The visuals and sound design in this game are nothing short of inspired. Top notch, A+ work folks. The way the music and sound wrap together with the handcrafted artwork is really quite breath-taking. They recommend playing with a headset, and I understand why... the ambient sound is a huge part of the immersion in this game, and really enhances the visual design. You don't really play this game so much as you experience it. The animations as well are smooth, clean, and playful in all the right ways.
The world they have created here is some of the most unique and superb artistic creativity I have seen in a long while in a game like this. The whole notion of the World Stage, the royal family, and the Understage is something I think was just brilliant. I wish more game developers were as gifted storytellers as this. This is like a playable fairy tale.
There is only a tiny bit of voice acting that I've come across so far, but it was fantastic. The story being told here, or rather should I say the tale being woven, is really good. It features heavily a theme of sorrow and hope amongst the desperate and discarded of society, which is something I think a lot of people will cling to. The characters you meet are all interesting, and the dialogue is often full of prideful struggle.
At heart, the game is a light weight, linear (so far), puzzle platformer. Most of the puzzles are push/pull style more so than platforming challenges. You really aren't being tested as a player here so much as you are along for this journey. There are enemies and combat eventually, though I really haven't gotten there yet. I will be sure to update this review once I get there.
The difficulty is low, and the pacing is casual. There is not really a challenge that I have encountered. There are some "run!" sections, but so far they are not that difficult. This is much more of a narrative, atmospheric experience that you play through while enjoying the visuals, story, and surprise events. There are some jumping puzzles, but if you have played anything even remotely challenging before this will be a light walk in the park in comparison (so far, anyway).
There are unlockables in game in the form of costumes for your main characters. These appear to be entirely cosmetic, but they add some variety and flair to the game. From what I can tell, it's most around collectibles that you find in the world if you are looking for secrets. There are also collectibles that tell you more of the story of the world, which I find myself really drawn to in all honesty.
My only critique so far is that it does not appear that you can remap gamepad keys. This was a mistake, in my opinion. While I haven't had a particular issue just yet, I do see that the shoulder buttons have purposes which I have not unlocked yet, and that worries me because the way my hands work, I find them very uncomfortable and inconvenient. I encourage the developer to look at adding the ability to remap gamepad keys to the game. I encountered one visual bug in the hour I played, which was a bit of warping of the main character model when I got into a certain position. Otherwise, the game has run flawlessly.
All in all, I'm not always in the mood for a stressful challenge. I love a good story and a beautiful world to get lost in, and I cannot think of many games that are as well designed for that as this one. I'll certainly be playing much more of this game, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to folks looking for this type of experience.