A mini top-down Zelda-like with a enjoyable roguelike mode.
It’s not unusual for indie builders to take a well known system and put a brand new or totally different spin on it. Within the case of Castaway, from the solo developer at Canari Video games, the top-down Zelda format is put below the shrink ray to create one thing like Hyperlink’s Awakening in miniature type. Consisting of two elements, Castaway duties gamers with finishing a extra conventional Zelda expertise in The Island, which takes lower than an hour to complete, after which The Tower, which takes the identical mechanics right into a multi-floor dungeon. When you go into it anticipating a extra bite-sized expertise, Castaway definitely delivers on what it units out to do.
When the hero’s spaceship is shot down, he and fragments of the ship crash land on a colourful island. The first quest entails searching down the hero’s hound, who’s dog-napped by a band of pterodactyl-looking creatures. The identical beasts steal away your hookshot and pickaxe, too, and so that you got down to scour the tiny island so you may reunite along with your beloved pooch and a few acquainted instruments.
The sluggish strolling pace of the hero makes your rolling transfer a necessity, for speedrunners specifically. The sword swing feels good, however the enemy selection does go away one thing to be desired. The puzzles you encounter typically contain pushing pink-hued boulders to create a path so that you can stroll via. If you make your means into the primary dungeon, it’s solely a handful of screens earlier than you encounter the boss, earn an additional coronary heart to your life meter, and head again outdoors to see what paths at the moment are open to you.
After finishing The Island, you’ll unlock The Tower, which shrinks your coronary heart meter down to 2 whereas leaving you along with your trio of weapons/instruments. Throughout 50 flooring, you battle minor enemies, keep away from spiked flooring, and accumulate cash to degree up and both increase your stats or refill your well being. It solely took a handful of tries for me to complete The Tower, however I’d think about myself a seasoned veteran of the style; others could get extra mileage out of it. Nonetheless, I ended up having fun with The Tower portion of Castaway much more than The Island, so it was a pleasant bonus to have after ending what is actually the sport’s story mode. What provides extra taste to the bundle is a handful of settings for taking part in The Island, together with Pacifist and Invincible modes for newer gamers and Unfair and Speedrun modes for more proficient ones.
Visually, Castaway takes clear inspiration from Hyperlink’s Awakening and the 2 Oracle video games, however there’s an efficient use of colour all through The Island, particularly. The soundtrack is appropriately gentle however epic, and the sound results make the fight and exploration extra pleasurable. The paintings of the static cutscenes that play once you reclaim an merchandise is kind of eye-catching, too.
Castaway provides a nice approach to go just a few hours for these wanting a lightweight Zelda expertise or perhaps for individuals who’ve by no means had one. Its roguelike mode is certainly a spotlight should you’re searching for one thing a bit totally different, nevertheless it’s a good suggestion not to enter the sport as an entire anticipating greater than a enjoyable diversion. I’d like to see both a brand new setting for a sequel or new sport modes added sooner or later as there’s quite a bit to love concerning the easy allure of this abandoned island and its plucky hero.