kinda weird that it looks like they're going for a soft reboot, not like there was some kind of huge overarching, story that was getting too messy that they had to raze the whole thing and start from scratch. Then again, not like there was some kind of huge, overarching story to be engaged with enough to care that much that they soft rebooted it.
Edit: It seems like jury might still be out on the soft reboot, but the game certainty makes it unclear with the way in the intro Olimar introduces the pikmin to the player. It could either be for the sake of new players (& for the rescuers who would be unfamiliar w/ the planet) or could be rebooting. I've thought more about it and I would like this game not to be a reboot, because I like a consistent story, but nbd if it is.
Oatchi is pretty cool as, like, a guy who adds an extra layer of strategy without it feeling too unmanageable like having a ton of captains running around in 3 (still need to get to finishing that, to better form a opinion). The places where he seems most important (in the demo, at least) is the caves where time doesn't run, so it doesn't feel as stressful to manage him. other than that, he's a great movement and combat bonus.
3 was a very pretty game and so is 4. i love all the wacky wildlife running around on this planet and the adorable crewmates. kinda wish they would've done a full remastering of pikmin 1+2 esp. since, iirc, they had a good handful of assets in common.
anyway, 0/10 game. it's not that it's a bad game or anything. it's just, i lost two pikmin you guys and i really want the series getting to that place where we're losing 0.