Alright, actually playing Origins in full earnest now after an eternity of Fire Emblem Engage.
First off this game is fantastic and it's a damn shame how quickly it's fallen off the radar, but such it is with Platinum Games I guess.
Also, while not anywhere near as difficult as Bayonetta proper it's not brain dead easy either. I've died once or twice while playing, I'm not ashamed to admit that.
Genre wise it was hard to label at first. It starts off more like a linear cinematic puzzler, probably most akin to that Brothers: Tale of Two Sons, but the game evolves over time. As you gain abilities the combat develops more depth, again less than Bayo proper, but nothing to sneeze at (and also probably an appropriate amount given you're juggling controlling two characters at the same time as well). By the time your fighting the Jabberwock it feels less like a twee indie adventure and more like the big boy publisher action title you'd expect out of Platinum.
Also about halfway through the game starts to open up and allow for more exploration of the map for secrets you may have missed or where unable to reach yet. I guess this is where some critics got to calling it an action rpg, but that still feels off. I would almost describe this game as a metroidvania, as your progression is locked behind learning new abilities, albeit a lite one.
Lite metroidvania, lite character action, I think I'm going to dub this Character Search Action.
Honestly thinking of that way, structurally the closest non Brothers game I can think to compare this game to is... Metroid: Other M. Now that is certainly an auspicious pair of games to take inspiration from but I swear this game is a lot better than either of those titles. The above mentioned Jabberwock section even reminds me of Ridley from Other M, except it makes more sense for Cereza to be frightened by the Jabberwock because she is a kid and it's her first adventure and it's the first time she's even encountered it.
As for the "whose this for?" question, I was appreciating some of the little details in the art, like how Chesire's mane uses that animation technique where instead of more traditional inking/texturing a static pattern is used that doesn't move with the character, and it dawned on me: This is totally marketed at adults, Disney Adults. The kind of people into prestige "children's animation" who end up buying their nephews Studio Ghibli films without realizing those films are probably a little too artsy for a kindergartener to actually enjoy. That's the target demographic of this game.
Anyway, only about 3/4 of way through the game, so I'll update again once I finish it...
