Boss fights are decent fun; exploration becomes a bit of a chore.

It's not a bad Metroidvania, but I'm not sure what it really does to stick out in an indie scene where lots of people make Metroidvanias. I guess being able to take cover is one of the things, in theory, but we've seen it done and it doesn't add a whole lot. Dying after one hit didn't work for me because when backtracking I just want to rush back but you can't really afford to do that here, so it turns it into a bit of a slog.