Finished the game. Excellent! Easily a GOTY contender.
This is just comfort food from start to finish. It's full of so much positive reinforcement. From the sound effects to particle fx and rewards every 10 minutes. The level design and exploration are fantastic. There are so many fun nooks and crannies. It's enjoyable to get all the collectibles and they feed into the power-ups and simple but effective skill levelling. Very accessible too, so dont let the bullet hell aspect deter you.
Comfort food is the best way to describe it. It's just something you know... remixed and finely polished. The constant level-ups owe something to a
Vampire Survivors, but then you have the obvious influences of
Zelda,
Metroid, bullet-hell games, etc.
I was constantly happy and motivated playing the game, and it had a nice variety of unlocks, bosses, exploration, secrets and just all-out fun. And it stays around just the right length too. It's great. Easy GOTY contender.