Quite the unique metroidvania. Thunder Lotus went above and beyond with the lovecraftian theme, this depiction of The Shining Trapezohedron is mind-blowing—its voice, the made-up language, its personality. The visuals are amazing too, with all these alien enemy designs juxtaposed with their impressive gothic-styled statues to admire. But nothing beats the sound design department, you have to listen to gameplay footage, I don't have enough words to describe how distinct and immersive every little thing sounds in the game. And, of course, the soundtrack just seals the deal. 

But what about gameplay? There are three big differentials this game offers:

• Non-linearity: you can fight the bosses and unlock abilities in any order, although there is a bit of restriction in the first zone and with the first miniboss, serving as a tutorial for the game mechanics. There are a total of three zones, each with three minibosses, one main boss, and two abilities to find, unlock, and upgrade. 
  
  
• Roguelite elements: what happens is that every time you die, the rooms inside the areas that compose a zone will be randomized, along with the treasures and enemy spawns linked to those rooms. Areas are always fixed in place, so the way between the "nexus" and a boss arena is always in the same direction, but what you'll find on the way there will be different every time. It could be a straight path with no treasures, or it could be a labyrinth of riches and dead ends.
  
  
• Horde events: once in a while, you'll hear a gong, announcing that you're being hunted by a horde of enemies. The frequency of this is tied to the difficulty, and it lasts until you either kill enough of them or survive for one minute. This is how the game pressures you into getting good at combat and movement, since you can never be sure about the current layout of the pathways between areas, you will need your wits to fight or flight. 

My recommendation: play on Insanity after finishing it on Hard, and invest in the luck stat. I love the brutality of Insanity's combat, but the nerf to exp drop is a bit too much, being smart with leveling luck will offset that.