This game is a platformer and puzzle game. I have never oddly hated and enjoyed something so much. This game is oddly fun and I love the gameplay. Combat is fun enough and controls great with a basic attack and ranged boomerang sword attack, along with optional Spin and Jump attacks. Each move is upgradable and easy to use and control. The puzzles are good and there is a hint system by talking to a character to help you out. There are secrets and collectibles. Then you get to the boss fights a lot of them are just minigames and not very good I am going to list out the bosses and say what is wrong. To solve puzzles often you need to jump out the book and use varying tools to your advantage.

Chapter 1 boss fight is a punchout style minigame with dodging and punching when the boss misses. For the most part it is fine not terrible, but not good. It reappears later during the final boss.

Chapters 2 and 3 handle as a tutorial there is no boss fight for either.

Chapter 4 has a boss fight where you hit a big bug and several smaller bugs with an bow and arrow, but aiming and charging is slow and take some getting used too.

Chapter 5 This level is also a tutorial that teaches the player how to use the Tilt Book mechanic. Given this ability is mostly used on difficult puzzles and not really combat focused it is fine.

Chapter 6 has a boss fight with the worst rythem game mechanics I have ever had the displeasure of playing. the hit box is off at times and even if you are getting the timing right somehow you will still be wrong. This also shows up at the final boss where it is much harder to even move and react. After it has a more traditional boss fight with the use of the Stop Stamp that freezes things in the storybook.

Chapter 7 despite you given the Bomb Stamp and Battle in the title of this chapter. there is no noticable boss fights just setup for the next chapters and is heavily puzzle focused.

Chapter 8 This Chapter has the worst Boss fight not because it is hard, but because the RNG mechanics. So this fight is a match three bubble shooter game making this less about skill and more luck. You will lose this game when you get tons of the colors you don’t. Keep in mind that unlike other games with this mechanic you can’t bank shots to hold for later or angle shots. Given the RNG you could very well be stuck for awhile hoping for better luck. It also gets much worse. This boss fight reappears during the final boss.

Chapter 9 This is the worst fight in the game remember the minigames we all had so much “fun” with. They are back and harder than last time still doable, but not good. Thrash has a section where the rythem game is so bad any damage you take will override your command and Thrash will stand there and take damage there are no i frames either so you just take tons of damage without being able to do anything, Violets minigame is second and the problems with the chapter 8 boss fight return with a vengeance, then there is the next phase the Punchout style minigame once again it isn’t really any harder and can easily be beaten, finally a 3D Shooter it also isn’t hard just hold down shoot and dodge when needed.

I feel like the puzzles, art style, and combat carry this game and those are fun, but the boss fights almost ruin this game. Thankfully you can skip minigames whenever you want and even though I did encounter a game breaking bug where transitioning from the Storybook to the outside world got me stuck in the floor it does autosave often so I just reloaded a save, but with such a focus on minigames it makes the combat feel useless and spending hours just to beat one minigame because of bad mechanics means I spent more time with the minigame than the actual game.

Score 6.5/10