I'm conflicted about this game. It's heavily inspired by A Hat in Time, which is one of my favorite games, the base moveset is very similar (double jump, wall climb, dash) and the swappable horns act exactly like the hats (the first two sets even have the same exact functions). 3D collectathon platformers are also a rather rare beast, and this one comes with great production values (as opposed to all those N64/PSX inspired indie platformers), it runs on Unreal Engine 4, has RTX reflections and the worlds are very spacious and detailed. And overall, it's just a fun game with a lot of content to chew through, and a great soundtrack to boot.

But there are some fundamental flaws.

First off, the obvious one, the humor and themes. While this game might play like A Hat in Time or Super Mario Odyssey, the setting and writing are much closer to something like Postal 2 or Happy Tree Friends. It opens with the MC rubbing one out. There are ♥♥♥♥ turds and flying vaginas shooting tampons. It's very crass. There's gratuitous gore and animal cruelty. The reason it took me until now to finally give this game a chance is because I'm not a fan of these themes, and I'd assume a lot of people would also find them off-putting. It's not all piss and vomit though, there are a lot of cool moments as well (e.g. drug trip level where you shotgun high af raptors to a catchy vaporwave track, 80's rave level set in a jungle cave, French restaurant with a critic to please a la Ratatouille), which is frustrating because I feel like this game could really shine if it reeled back the toilet humor just a bit. And yes, it's much more gross than Conker's Bad Fur Day, in case you were wondering if that's a good point of comparison, it's not.

Second, the main gameplay gimmick that sets this game apart from other 3D platformers is this cherub chained to the MC. You can swing him around as a melee attack, but more importantly he can be used as a hookshot. Except anywhere, in the thin air. Okay, you think, so that's like an extra jump. But you can do it multiple times, up to 5 (!) times once upgraded. And this is in addition to your double jump, air dash and a spin attack that also acts like an extra jump (a la Jak and Daxter). What all of this means is that you can ignore 80% of the platforming, and just fly everywhere. There is very little challenge, you just gain height and look for collectibles. The swings aren't even on a cooldown, touching the ground once instantly restores them all, so you can fly off again. This kind of moveset is just too powerful and trivializes the game completely.

All that said, I still had a lot of fun 100%'ing the game, so I'm giving it a thumbs up, but it's a flawed experience.

Unheimlich guter Platformer

one of the best gifts I ever got.