Unless Demo Playthrough (Steam Next Fest Oct 2024)
0I came into this expecting something Celeste-like; I came out reminded of a handful of other (also excellent) games instead. I also came out ready to throw money at the developer before I even played the actual game, based purely on its menus.
Unless is a platformer that clearly takes inspiration from classic collect-a-thons as well as games like Kirby's Adventure (with hub maps for each world) and Neon White (fast replay loop and time-based ranks for every level, encouraging players to go right back in and try to be faster).
What really makes the game shine, though, is the amount of configurability at both ends of the spectrum - there are speedrun options, as well as various accessibility options in terms of visuals, controls, and gameplay, including a friendly assistant that can be used to make parts of levels easier (but doing so will generally be slower than a speedrun route would be).
The physics can take a little getting used to, but this should be enjoyable to a lot of people.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2944340/Unless/