Rubinite

I really, really want to like this game, and honestly I do. As a complete package, this game is among the best in the genre. The art is beautiful, and unlike most other boss rush games, these developers actually cared about telling a compelling story. The mechanic of focusing to gain more power is a really good idea, and it makes perfect dodges feel very rewarding. Unfortunately, I can't recommend this game to anyone looking for a boss rush that actually feels satisfying. The main problem is the game just isn't precise. Boss rush games work because even though everything you face is significantly stronger, you can compensate by learning the fight, and demonstrating skill. In order for this to work, there needs to be as little "luck" as possible. The way to minimize luck is to make sure everything feels in the players control, hitboxes should be perfect, bosses shouldn't have RNG based attacks. This game commits both sins. Boss hitboxes are effectively impossible to predict, their attacks have much bigger range than their animations suggest, so it doesn't feel fair when you get hit. This becomes a problem in the late game, when bosses have attacks that arc half the screen, effectively making perfect dodging mandatory. The bosses in this game have a pretty sizable health bar as well as multiple phases, you're very likely to feel screwed atleast once in a fight. For the first half of this game, it's annoying but acceptable, the issue comes with the second half. Without spoilers, you effectively have to beat the bosses without taking a hit, which makes the hitboxes and occasional RNG attack just feel like complete nonsense. You end up winning because you got lucky with attack patterns rather than because you demonstrated the proper skill. That makes it really hard to recommend to someone who likes boss rushes because they like to learn fights and demonstrate skill, because even if you do win a fight, you're going to feel like you got lucky atleast once. These can be patched though, and once they are, I'll happily update my review. Give this game another couple months before you buy.