I don't think I've played a more frustrating game... it feels like banging your head against the wall a lot of the time, just trying over and over again to get past one or two rooms. There are glimmers of genius in this game, and I love how open it is in design (and the fact that so many abilities are simply suggested rather than required), but starting with only 30 energy every time you die (especially problematic when enemies deal 20 damage and have a tendency to either sucker punch you, or just be in rooms absolutely filled with enemies in frustrating patterns) makes it so that I'm too frustrated from dying over and over again to want to explore; I just want to find the right path so I can be finished with the game sooner! Once you get the Screw Attack (and that's IF you get the Screw Attack), the game gets less frustrating as it gets easier, and I can imagine that repeat playthroughs would be a lot more fun since you'd know where important abilities are and how to get to them, but can take an entirely different route through the game each time. For a first playthrough though, progression is obtuse and the game is too cheaply difficult to make it much fun.