(That, of course, is another of the game’s issues - the AI is pretty stupid. Similarly, he doesn’t seem to put any weight behind his attacks, which means that you can never tell if one of your swings has connected with an enemy, or if they’ve just started walking away on their own. Given the amount of jumping from platform to platform you have to do here, you can see why that may be an issue.

Woodle doesn’t seem to have any kind of weight to him, which makes jumping rather difficult - you never can tell exactly where you’re going to land. Woodle Tree 2’s controls also don’t do it any favours. Strangely, though, these weird angles don’t exist when the eponymous Woodle walks into small buildings - in those cases, the camera remains stuck outside. On top of that, the camera seems to exist independently of the world, and it’s awfully easy to swing around to an angle where you find yourself looking through walls. Sure, you’re not falling through platforms and walking through walls at every turn like you were in the first game, but it still happens enough here that it’s noticeable. Stacked up against games that are actually competent, its flaws are much more obvious. In isolation, though - or, I guess, if you compare it to any of the other 3D platformers the Switch has to offer - Woodle Tree 2 isn’t quite as much of an achievement. By being miles better than that, Woodle Tree 2 feels like a generational leap forward.

After all, the first Woodle Tree is one of the very worst games I’ve ever played on the Switch - a glitchy, buggy, broken mess that feels a lot longer than its hour-long runtime by virtue of the fact everything about it is terrible. If we’re grading Woodle Tree 2: Deluxe on a curve, there’s a pretty reasonable argument that it’s an A+ game.

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