Constance

I love a Metroidvania; my Steam library includes almost 40 of them, most of which I've played through to completion, and some of which I play over and over again (across platforms, I probably have 1200 hours in Bloodstained alone). Constance very clearly has some solid Metroidvania DNA - as I was playing, I found myself thinking that the devs must have really loved Hollow Knight in particular. They also clearly liked Celeste, which is not a Metroidvania, but this game feels to me like Hollow Knight and Celeste had a baby, and there are strong pros and cons in combining that DNA. Pros: + The game is aesthetically pleasing, top to bottom. Character designs, level backgrounds, animation, music; a great deal of care went into Constance's style. + Tight controls and a variety of movement abilities make for a satisfying play experience. I never felt like my little purple-haired counterpart was behaving counter to my instructions in any way. + Interesting story concept and themes; I won't say much here because the game's description sums it up pretty nicely, but it feels mostly well-executed. + Assist Mode options are meaningful without making the gameplay feel pointless. I'll get to why this is a big deal in a bit. Cons: - The story feels a little thin. You really only get hints of it after beating the brutally difficult boss fights, and it's not resolved in a way that feels like Constance actually learned much. My point of comparison here is Celeste, where the story really grapples with the protagonist's issues. Mental health needs to be grappled, y'all. - The game is HARD. The platforming challenges and boss fights are both complex and unforgiving (this is why the Assist Mode got its own mention in the Pros section). This isn't a long game - looking at the achievements, it's expected to be 100% completable in under 8 hours - so there's no time for challenge to gradually build up. This might be a Pro for you, but it definitely wasn't for me. Overall: *game pretty, story interesting but a little thin *game super difficult, Assist Mode helps if you want to play for the other stuff