I recently played the demo for Bug Fables and it impressed me, but I hadn't heard of it before I ran into it by chance. I was surprised to see a Paper Mario spiritual successor take this long given how awful Sticker Star and Color Splash were, and the demo left me with very positive impressions.
The link is here if you want to see for yourself (archive is fucked but the download link is there):
https://paperbugdev.itch.io/bug-fables
https://archive.fo/q7LDK#selection-613.0-613.8
Pros:
>demo has hours of content, including a dungeon, half a dozen side quests, two secret bosses, and a hard mode
>huge improvement on the paper mario battle system - bosses and normal enemies are actually challenging (on hard mode, at least), or require some planning to reduce damage taken
>>you can switch around characters' turn order and position, with the frontmost character taking more attacks but getting a power boost in exchange
>>you can have one character give his turn to the other, allowing him to act twice but dealing less damage due to fatigue
>>action commands are almost identical to paper mario, and applied in almost the same way
>much more effort went into environmental interaction and puzzle solving/platforming, as well as combining abilities from party members
>cooking is useful because healing items are pretty shitty by default and your characters have low health
>soundtrack suits the environments and actions well
>side quests are fun and engaging, including one which is a pretty obvious homage to PM's theatre-based battle system
>made by spics, so no poz
Cons:
>Unity
>fucking Unity
>>characters feel floaty and can slip off platforms or get stuck on "walls" by moving too close to them
>>what feels like upwards of 10 frames of input lag due to fucking Unity, which isn't good for a combat system based on timing
>camera is so close and areas are so dense you can miss stuff unless you hug the foreground on every screen
>character designs aren't noticeably masculine or feminine, which makes background characters feel less distinct
>several gameplay mechanics (EXP progression, level-ups, badge system) are direct rips from Paper Mario, which feels lazy even though they're implemented well
>made by spics, so the dialogue is sometimes really wonky
Overall I'm pleasantly surprised. Recent developer updates indicate the game has been having a chapter added to it every 4-6 weeks, which means it should be on time for the summer 2019 release date.