I'm forever grateful to the close friend of mine who bought me this game; they're a great person and I respect them immensely. Shantae and the Seven Sirens, however, does not get the same kind of compliment from me. I knew I'd miss Jake Kaufman's music in this game, and that feeling only grew after hearing the intro theme, which sounds like something right out of a bad anime fandub. The retro tunes also don't feel very catchy or fun and are merely serviceable at best. My big problem with the game, however, is that it's not friendly to people with OCD, which I have.

The map has no markers for collectibles unless they're plot-related, so I can only imagine how painful a 100% run would be, but even beyond that, the "reveal invisible objects" magic completely drained me of my will to keep playing. The idea that something potentially important is invisible with no obvious tell that it even exists is already less than pleasant to me, but there's one element that boosts this problem to the point of rendering the game unplayable for someone like me, is that the update to this game gives you an icon at the top of the screen to show when a room has something invisible in it.

This is not the fix you'd think it is because THERE IS AN ICON FOR INVISIBLE CONTENT IN NEARLY EVERY ROOM IN THE GAME AND NOTHING SHOWS YOU ON THE MAP WHERE YOU'VE ALREADY FOUND SOMETHING. Making that realization exhausted me more than words can describe.

On top of that, reveal costs MP to use, and that means constantly hiking back to the bathhouse or guzzling potions to regain your MP. It's so much work, so much anxiety, and man, I can't will myself to stick with the game as a result. I'm glad the new update allows for this game to have more quality of life updates and new ways to play (especially since one new mode gives you all the cards you'd otherwise have to deal with an agonizing grind for), giving fans more to do and get out of this game. Me, though? I'm just going to stick with Pirate's Curse and Half-Genie Hero.

I'm forever grateful to the close friend of mine who bought me this game; they're a great person and I respect them immensely. Shantae and the Seven Sirens, however, does not get the same kind of compliment from me. I knew I'd miss Jake Kaufman's music in this game, and that feeling only grew after hearing the intro theme, which sounds like something right out of a bad anime fandub. The retro tunes also don't feel very catchy or fun and are merely serviceable at best. My big problem with the game, however, is that it's not friendly to people with OCD, which I have. The map has no markers for collectibles unless they're plot-related, so I can only imagine how painful a 100% run would be, but even beyond that, the "reveal invisible objects" magic completely drained me of my will to keep playing. The idea that something potentially important is invisible with no obvious tell that it even exists is already less than pleasant to me, but there's one element that boosts this problem to the point of rendering the game unplayable for someone like me, is that the update to this game gives you an icon at the top of the screen to show when a room has something invisible in it. This is not the fix you'd think it is because THERE IS AN ICON FOR INVISIBLE CONTENT IN NEARLY EVERY ROOM IN THE GAME AND NOTHING SHOWS YOU ON THE MAP WHERE YOU'VE ALREADY FOUND SOMETHING. Making that realization exhausted me more than words can describe. On top of that, reveal costs MP to use, and that means constantly hiking back to the bathhouse or guzzling potions to regain your MP. It's so much work, so much anxiety, and man, I can't will myself to stick with the game as a result. I'm glad the new update allows for this game to have more quality of life updates and new ways to play (especially since one new mode gives you all the cards you'd otherwise have to deal with an agonizing grind for), giving fans more to do and get out of this game. Me, though? I'm just going to stick with Pirate's Curse and Half-Genie Hero.