Note: I am a tester for this game.
I've loved everything zDS-related, and of course this is no exception. By his own admission, it isn't his most ambitious game, and as a result, it seems more preppy, upbeat and comic in comparison. I mean, his previous games always had a little bit of sarcastic absurdism in them, but here I just feel like it's a bit more genuinely heart-on-sleeve, less cryptic, and perhaps less feeling to me like a "touchstone moment" than his previous games. But in abandoning self-imposition, it trades for cuter graphics, a setting that is more rich with details of its past life (we're still dealing with some kind of supernatural between-world couched in reality's dregs, here!) and in so doing, it gives each character a bit of their own backstory and personality to tether to.
A lot of zDS's previous games have been the journey of one person overcoming massive odds and discovering something about themselves, but this is decidedly a trio game, where the personalities are supposed to bounce off each other and provide dynamism.
The battles are swift, tactical and have everything seemingly in its right place. The arcs of the characters come to a very satisfying end climax with each character having a unique part to play in the story, while still allowing for some moral ambiguity - the completion of which is the kind of thing zDS does on autopilot, and many other developers can only dream of.
With cute maps, battlers, a tight battle system and a story that feels well-fleshed out, this is another complete-feeling zDS entry that just continues to prove he pretty much can't be stopped. It's difficult to imagine at this point that he could make a game that fails to impress me. It really is.
I love amythical, and I love zDS. It's bias, it's physics... it's just how the world is for me right now. He makes fantastic games that thrill me, and he will keep doing so. Thank you, zDS.