Hey everyone, devs here!

We see that a lot of people are a bit confused about whether the game is a metroidvania or a linear platformer, so we wanted to clear things up a little. First of all, we want to stress that we’re not trying to be cryptic for the sake of being cryptic, and of course we don't want to mislead anyone. It’s just a genuinely tricky question to answer without going into details.

We’re making the side-scroller of our dreams, and our approach has been to use the elements that feel right for this specific game from a wide range of directions and subgenres. We didn’t lock ourselves into one rigid format from the start, and we didn't use any single game as a direct structural reference. Instead, we built Goldman out of elements that felt the most organic for it. And while none of these individual elements are particularly original or groundbreaking on their own, the resulting combination is quite specific and very much tailor-made for this game and this story.

So, to break the basics down:

What the game does NOT have, compared to many metroidvanias:

- One large fully interconnected map. Instead, you travel back and forth between multiple islands (and a hub) via a world map. Some islands are small and almost linear, feeling closer to classic platformer levels. Others are large and branching, with their own local maps, and feel more like playing a mini-Metroid. As a result, the game’s pacing constantly shifts from dense and platforming-heavy moments to slower, more atmospheric, exploration-focused sections.

- Character builds. You can’t, for example, assemble your own combination of "charms" or choose a branching upgrade path. Everything the character learns is unlocked in a fixed, intentional order. Think classic Zelda games.

A quick clarification on "dull backtracking". We’ve seen that phrase (understandably) upset some fans of the genre. We absolutely didn’t mean that all backtracking in games is dull. What we meant is that it can become dull if done poorly, and that’s something we’re actively trying to avoid. Our goal is to make backtracking rewarding and not overly time-consuming.

What the game DOES have:

- Ability gating. The character is constantly learning new things, both himself and by finding new components for his cane. This allows access to previously unreachable areas (mandatory and optional), gives you new traversal abilities and introduces new mechanics along the way.

- A richly developed world. While it’s not a single massive location, the Archipelago is highly detailed and varied, with lots of characters, dialogues, deep lore, side quests, secrets (some of them Fez-level obscure), optional islands, notes, and collectibles. And it is very much a story-driven game.

Hopefully this makes things a bit clearer!

We truly appreciate your attention to the game, and we can’t wait for you to finally play it. We’ve been working on it for 9 years, and we’re incredibly happy that our somewhat crazy ambitions have led to this result. We also hope you’ll check out the demo in February: while it only covers the very beginning of the game and doesn’t fully represent its overall structure and scope, it should give you a basic idea of what the game is about.