izigame.me

Hi, this review is mainly directed at the game devs. As such, it is going to be nothing but spoilers from start to finish. Therefore I recommend you first play this game yourself before reading, as it is genuinely a gem among gems, but I have a few criticisms. I will format this so they take turns with praise :).

Criticism 1. I am going to start off with Tarock.
I already made a community post about it, so I will keep this brief
- Acquiring strong and rare cards is way too easy, to the point where I went from using level 2 cards to using level 8 cards, jumping over all the rest. It also seems like a pointless thing to gather since the enemy will always have the same level of cards as you (so even if you have all cards, if you play with only level 1 cards, so will they, no matter who they are)(only exception is their hero card they give you when you win)
- The randomness factor of the coin toss throws all skill and tactics out the window (along with the coin), as a few bad coin tosses in a row can ruin even a 8-1 winning game
- continuing on this, restarting games takes too long, you need to exit out of the whole conversation, select all your cards again (i really wish there was a deck system) and retry that way.

Praise 1. It absolutely nails the Zelda Aesthetic.
I see everyone compare this to breath of the wild, but i have to disagree with that one (despite the technological enemies). It feels a lot more like Skyward sword, with temple/dungeon design, wind waker, with traversal, twilight princess, with tone (especially in the final level, its boss, and the final boss), spirit tracks, with how princess zelda actually joins you, etc. Theres also a triforce, zora, rito, master sword, lack of a blood-family, silent protagonist and not to forget the heavy use of items:
- bombs
- ranged weapon used for puzzles
- THE GRAPPLING HOOK (turning into spiderman in the white city is something the zelda series could actually learn from). After getting this, traversal becomes a lot more fast and fluid, and its very clear a lot of attention went into designing it.
- Diving helm
- Cards (you can challenge anyone you want)
- Fire arrows, ice arrows, lightning arrows (also used for puzzles)

criticism 2, the extremely limited overworld
I know i cant genuinely compare this indie game made by a few friends in their spare time to the polished quality of triple A, but I can't help but feel like more was planned for it. The starting village doesn't even connect to the overworld, and the only way to reach it is by train, boat, plane, or fast travel ("only"). When I see the terrain from the plane, I can see clear points where it could have been connected after certain story elements have passed, even if its only through a tunnel and a loading screen. The game does encourage exploration, especially after the owl temple, by removing the possibility of boat travel, forcing you to go by foot, but i still reached the city in around 10 minutes (or I would have if i ignored the miniboss). Speaking of which, while the sidequests present are stellar (hats off to the court of monsters), there is also a distinct lack of them. There's not even a quest log, because it is simply not necessary. A navigable overworld map would also have significantly shortened my time pointlessly looking around for missing chests and bloodstones (but maybe you dont want less playtime)

Praise 2: the artstyle
I already made a point of this, but I wanted to talk about the non-zelda features. The world is truly bright and vibrant, and a breath of fresh air from the drab brown and gray games that seem to be popular nowadays. The enemies are also still charming, though not too much, opening the market to younger children. A few great locations that stood out to me were the ghost town, with the statues being poised like they could come back to life at any moment, and the soft sound of the heartbeat in the background, implying that the people were still alive, but trapped, in limbo. The final level, the dark lords castle, especially with the being struck down and stripped of all your gear, recovering them one by one, and finding your way through the halls and hallways, until you encounter the final boss, who despite appearances, was not really evil, but had righteous intentions (although the means did not justify them).

criticism 3: there were some really unpolished parts to it
For instance, the default robot voice you can find yourself, used for when the guards talked when trin is imprisoned, despite them having plenty of voicelines with an original VA, or when oceanhorn talks during cutscenes. The airplane animations, especially when it lands, need some serious reviewing, since it just looks like the way a child puts down a toy airplane. The diving, I thought would open up specific maps to more exploration, but even the parts you can see, are ugly and brown, and when you press the re-emerge button, you just appear back on the surface (as long as nothing is above you) no matter how deep you were. You also swim very slowly with no speed boosts available. Think of skyrim swimming.

praise 3: The gameplay is a lot of fun
- The leveling system is entirely optional, but challenges you to go out of your way to explore, complete challenges, and even be addressed by certain NPCs according to your rank in it (each level is titled).
- Combat offers options, you can pull yourself towards enemies with the grappling hook, parry attacks with your shield, shoot them in/between the eyes to stun them, just place down a bomb (they are infinite but on a cooldown, which can be decreased using power gems), but you still need a certain degree of skill. The shield only blocks forward attacks, and you cant block when shooting or grappling (obviously).
- You can easily cycle through items and ranged spells using the arrow keys, so you dont need to enter the menu every time (although I wish the game had told me that, and i didnt need to find out by accident)
- Command companions to hold down buttons for puzzles or hit switches you cant reach with their boomerang (because honestly, zelda boomerangs are a drag and are shelved forever once you get the bow, which you get at the beginning here. In this game, your companion can boomerang without you needing to switch to it)

and now some random smaller praises and criticisms, unrelated to any large topic
+ the dungeon design is always unique, and features simple but clever puzzles
- nobody ever addresses you by name, even though you are given one in a cutscene: Theo. instead you are known simply as "hero"
+ the companion banter is fun, and rare enough to not be obnoxious
- Some Tarock card descriptions feature serious spoilers for the story (gen for instance)
+ The mystery and the plot twists are well done
- The ending, though understandable why, leaves a lot to be desired. What was it all for then? I thought it would go the Dragon Quest XI route, seeing how much it borrows from that game as well.
+ The voice acting is well done, and the voices always fit the characters
- The bosses are aesthetically well designed, but they all feature the same boils that spawn infinitely until the health bar is depleted

I don't want to give it a rating, because I know im too old to be playing it anyways, but I know child-me would have absolutely loved this game. A lot more than he would enjoy playing fucking starfield or whatever the newest FPS is. This game still has the magic that I thought games didn't have anymore.
If you are still reading and you are not the dev. PLAY THIS DAMN GAME!! SUPPORT THE CREATION OF MORE GAMES LIKE THIS!!! STOP BUYING 70$ SLOP!!!!