La-Mulana is brutal. It will do nothing to help you if you are stuck; everything you need is in the game in the form of tablets marked with obscure riddles or prose that you either need to find or need to decipher in the same manner as an actual archaeologist would.

A great example is how I played the game for about 10 hours on my first playthrough without having found the warping item (which is in the very first area) that's absolutely necessary for decent progress. The game didn't stop my progress and inform me that I was missing something. In fact, aside from one dead end, I could have stumbled through the whole game without this warping item (and I'm fairly certain that with planning you could even circumvent this).

Even in the midst of those 10 grueling hours (where I had to grind on enemies to heal instead of warping to the hot springs which heal you fully), I still felt La-Mulana was something very special, and that feeling greatly intensified when I started a fresh second playthrough and went further into the game. I think it might actually be my absolute favorite 2D adventure game, and I say that as a very encompassing statement (including all your Zelda's, Metroid's, etc.).

It made me think more than even any cut-and-dry puzzle game I've ever played has made me think. I couldn't solve all the puzzles on my own- I will readily admit that. It doesn't do anything to diminish my opinion of the game- everything you need to solve anything is available if you have the brain and willpower to figure it out. Some of it is incredibly obscure and difficult to figure out, but I'd imagine if you asked an actual archaeologist how hard his job is, they'd say it's a lot harder than La-Mulana (maybe this is actually a sim game?)

Add a layer of amazing combat and action on top of that, with lots of huge boss battles, and it's what I'd consider perfection. People criticize the jumping mechanic. That would be like criticizing the jumping in Castlevania; it's a short-sighted complaint, because the game is 100% built around the limited control. Everything in La-Mulana is hand-crafted beauty, please buy this.