Ixamyakxim: Are there any "level ups" / new powers and abilities to gain? Like you I was totally sucked in by the "this is beautiful" but I'm curious if there's anything to keep driving me (I want to be prepared for when it comes up again, just in case!).
There's no leveling or skill tree, but you can find in the levels "leading up" to the bosses some shrines that give you powers, or increase the powers you have, like a special attack, or gather golden apples that extend your life meter. The downside is that the levels are big, and mostly empty, and the map is not very helpfull, as it's just a featureless contour of the level. So expect a lot of backtracking to find it all. Again, the random zoom in and zoom out camera makes searching frustrating, as sometimes you can see a huge chunk of the level around you, but other times you're in extreme zoom and can barely see what's next to you. I'm not sure how optionall those really are- you can finish the levels without finding them, but from what I've heard beating the bosses without finding at least most of the shrines and apples might no be possible at all.