Solid platforming and engaging dual-character mechanics make combat and puzzles enjoyable, but a dull map and painfully slow interaction delays significantly hurt the experience.

You take on the role of Mercouri, a young alchemist who witnesses a ritual called soul shattering performed on her friend. He agrees to it willingly, acting on the orders of the Alchemist Council, but you are deeply unhappy with the decision. After encountering a massive hand golem in the dungeons, you decide to defy the council and bring your friend back to life by collecting the necessary pieces.

Before starting the game, you can adjust four parameters related to difficulty. For example, you can negate trap damage or reveal the entire map from the beginning. This allows you to remove mechanics you find frustrating or tailor the experience to your preferences. These choices are not permanent, since you can lower the difficulty at any point during the game, but you cannot raise it again.

Mercouri plays like a standard platforming hero. She can jump and immediately chain it into a double jump, and her basic attack is effective against most enemies. One of the most important mechanics comes into play when you attack while airborne. Doing so gives you a bounce, which is frequently used to gain extra height or to cross dangerous sections by chaining attacks across enemies or objects.

Because the giant hand follows you everywhere, it can attack alongside you, provided it has stamina. Most of the time this is not strictly necessary, since the alchemist alone can handle common threats. To recover the hand’s stamina, you must switch control to it and defeat enemies directly. The hand can store up to four attacks (upgradable), but this limit rarely matters in puzzle situations, since there is usually something nearby that provides a free refill. Its attacks consist of wide swipes, and you can perform a dash attack by pressing a direction during an attack.

One of the hand’s strongest abilities is free flight, which allows it to scout areas ahead. It can activate switches, but it cannot collect items, so Mercouri still needs to reach those places herself. To prevent you from bypassing entire levels by flying, there are force fields in place that stop the hand. Another key aspect of character switching is that the inactive character becomes invincible, letting you leave one behind without any risk.

This mechanic is heavily used during boss fights. You can switch to the hand and fly away while Mercouri remains invincible during a dangerous attack pattern, and then swap back. Some boss attacks cannot be dodged normally, so proper positioning and timely switching are essential. Another useful trick is that Mercouri stays frozen in place when you switch away from her, even if she is midair. This is sometimes required for puzzles, such as holding her above a platform while the hand activates a switch that makes it visible.

After the tutorial, you arrive in a central area from which you set out to collect the pieces. These objectives appear as icons on the map, which follows a metroidvania style but shows the exact layout of each area instead of using a grid. Despite this, you do not have full freedom in choosing your path. There is a specific order to follow, and trying to take a different route will always lead to an obstacle you cannot yet overcome.

The map itself is minimal and does not display additional information. You are expected to use markers to note obstacles or places that require abilities you have not yet unlocked. For especially important locations, you can take screenshots directly in game, but you are limited in how many you can store and must delete old ones to make room for new images.

With the default settings, the map does not update as soon as you enter a room. Instead, it only fills in when you rest at a save point. Resting heals you, allows you to save, and lets you buy health potions or equip seals. Potions slowly refill as you defeat enemies, restoring only one health point at a time. You cannot grind endlessly for this, since enemies only respawn when you rest, not when you move between screens. The same rule applies to money dropped by enemies.

Some abilities are mandatory for progression, such as the hand’s power to grab specific objects or Mercouri’s ability to transform into a ball and roll through small passages. Seals, on the other hand, function more like optional perks. They are often hidden behind secret walls, challenging fights, or off the main path. You have a limited number of seal slots, so you must carefully choose which ones matter most to you. Seals are divided into three colors, and you can equip only one of each color at a time.

The overall map is relatively boring compared to similar games and is quite straightforward. There are various environments with its own enemies and threats, but none of them are memorable. Each screen offers a familiar mix of platforming, enemies, and occasional rewards. These can include coin chests, seals, stamina upgrades for the hand, merchants selling items like potion pouches, or teachers who increase your attack power in exchange for money and collectibles. Unfortunately, those who enjoy full completion will be disappointed, since there is no counter showing how many secrets or treasures remain in a given area.

Your main objectives are the pieces guarded by bosses. These bosses have several attack patterns and usually gain new variations once you remove parts of their health, but they are fair and manageable. Mastering character switching makes them much easier, and they do not feel like damage sponges.

Overall, this is a solid addition to any platforming fan’s library. While it includes metroidvania elements, it does not quite capture the thrill of discovery that comes from stumbling upon hidden treasures. The gameplay itself is fine, but there is one particularly annoying issue that slightly undermines the experience.

The game functions just fine, but there is a noticeable delay whenever you interact with objects or trigger cutscenes. These pauses can last several seconds, during which the character simply stands still. The first few times this happened, it felt like the game has frozen. This happens with every interaction, especially with collectibles.

The worst place this happens is with the game’s quick travel. One collectible is tied to train stations, which unlock fast travel between regions, and later you get a whistle that lets you teleport to the main station from anywhere. But the delay with this mechanic is excruciatingly long; first when you interact with the train terminal, and then when you arrive to a new station, where you stand still for around a minute.

Related to this issue, the hand sometimes drifts off screen during dialogue or cutscenes. Since the hand delivers all dialogue, you are prompted to advance the text without seeing the speech bubbles at all. Some rare cutscenes can be skipped, but the feature is actually pointless and never works for repetitive actions, resulting in stretches of inactivity whenever you trigger something.