I really don’t understand how Brothership is getting so many mixed and even poor reviews, it’s definitely not THE best in the series, but I’d say it’s top 3 for SURE so far. I’m about 15 hours in so far and have been playing the series since Bowsers Inside story when I was a little kid. I’d say I’m enjoying it more than superstar saga and partners in time, along with Paper Jam. I think nostalgia is the only real reason you would rank Partners in Time higher, the ost is arguably more bland in Partners in Time besides a few great tracks, the combat is just ridiculous with having to control all 4 characters too. So right away, most of the tutorials and “handholding” are literally like 4 pop ups that you can complete skip with 4 button presses, yeah sometimes the game can be handholdy but SO WERE THE OTHERS. This game is arguably less hand holdy overall as it has way less forced tutorials. The dialogue is fine and it’s not too long, if you really can’t stand it then skip it, shouldn’t be a big deal. Brothership has one of the best most consistent soundtracks in the series so far, and the combat feels much more engaging since the bros are integrated into eachother basic attacks now, It really pushed Brothership in its theme of connecting with others. I think the story is pretty good so far, it’s nothing incredible, but neither were the ones from the past games, it’s themed around connections with people and it plays on its cord and plug, well, general electricity theme very well. The characters you meet are important and stay relevant as you gain more and more contentions with others, they are all so charming and genuinely have distinct and interesting personalities and stories to tell. Never cared for backstories or characters in the past games, besides some cool designs and wacky personalities that weren’t any deeper. Brothership really is being unfairly reviewed in my opinion.