izigame.me

A bit on the fence with this game. I enjoyed the level design and the multiple directions levels allowed you to go in, encouraging some wanderlust. Bumping into dead ends, finding keys, covering gems in walls, plowing ahead with the classic CastleVania style jumping and whipping. You'll pick up some abilities through out the game but they're not true game changers like a double jump, you'll find things that seemingly annihilate mechanics altogether.
You'll get a Oxygen Tank that removes your 15 second timer underwater (along with any drama) and a Master Key (which renders every key you've earn until that point worthless). A few puzzling choices but the slow pace, keeping your eyes peeled for traps and enemies that might spring a surprise on your keep you engaged.
Though with that said the checkpoints in the latter half of the game can be far apart, so dying can be pretty brutal because as mentioned, the game plays out fairly slowly and getting back can take a while.

Counterbalancing the largely great level design is the fact most of the boss fights are awful. Contact damage exists and many of the player sized bosses love running at you, then changing direction *just* as you jump over them or teleporting directly on top of you.
The skull walls can one shot you with the massive floor waves of fire. You'll of course see them coming, but whether your jump will make it over them is another story.
The lava boss is an exercise in tedium, simple waiting on a point between two platforms to see which will ascend and which will go into the lava then picking appropriately. All while waiting for the boss to go green so you can hit them once and wait for the cycle to play out again, but longer now.
Then the game has a stunningly awful climax beginning with a forced retro side scroller that kills you for jumping onto a flat patch of grass(!!).
This retro game gives you a key allowing you to enter the final level where you're chased by an incredibly slow sunbeam that causes barely any damage despite what the build-up lore preps you for. This beam can hit you during screen transitions and from out of the top of the frame. Fun.
Follow that with a boss rush of 5 human-sized bosses which as already mentioned have an annoying tendency to deal most of their damage by walking into you. Funnily enough one of them maintains his *UNDERWATER PHASE* without any of the water or jellyfish involved this time, he now just simply....walks after you.
Fortunately the boss rush is remembered by the checkpoint, but now the game ends with two consecutive bosses. The first, Kukulkan, is kind of a formality once you know where to stand, but he has the most annoying white flashing shield going off constantly in the centre of the screen. I'm not epileptic, it's just a very annoying occurrence throughout.
The very final boss is very drawn out and padded. Throw spears forever, negate projectile with said spear, avoid falling flames *whilst the boss just stands in the right corner doing nothing* and repeat 7-8 times. At least they start throw boomerangs/spears towards the end.
Could it be any worse? When you die you have to skip through the dialogues all over again (unlike any other boss re-attempt in the game) and watch the transformations play out in real time once again.
This whole ending sequences of events is a very awful note to end on, but I did enjoy the levels, the hub, the explorations, the music, the pacing (surprisingly).