The Girl from Arkanya

(This is an ongoing review. I have only yet finished the first temple.) Man, I was so hyped for this game. I could not wait for the release date. And now that I can finally play it... man, it's so unpolished. There are so many omissions and oversights and missing quality of life things: * Selling items at a vendor: If you press the wrong button by accident, you sell *all* of your inventory. No undo. No "Are you sure?" confirmation, just poof, gone. * Buying items: You stand in front of the item and can press A to buy. But the game doesn't just show you how many you already have. For that you have to open the menu, go to the inventory and check. It does show you, in the corner of the screen, how much money you have, but not your stash of whatever you're buying. * There are 0 gameplay options. You get 2 graphics settings, 3 audio sliders and that's it. No easy mode, no accessibility options, nothing. * You cannot skip quickly through dialogue. * When smelting at the oven, once again, t...

As someone that has beaten almost every Zelda game ever (including the Phillips CD-i games), I find very few Zeldalikes [i] fully [/i] capture the feeling of a Zelda game. "The Girl from Arkanya" is one of the exceptions! It has been fantastic so far! The first time I booted it up, I ended up playing for about 10 hours. The gameplay and graphics are a bit of a mix between "A Link to the Past" and "Minish Cap", for comparison. But the extra fun part is that this game maintains its own identity - it's not "just a game trying to be Zelda". The story, lore, names, and dialogue have a fun mix of Brazilian, Spanish, and German influences, AND you get a magical capybara as a companion! Controls are smooth, characters are fun, and exploration and collecting things has been enjoyable so far. The devs are active with the community (one has even come to chat in my stream a few times to get feedback and see what people's real-time thoughts are), and they are actively updating things based on com...

Oh, I am having FUN with this one. Like a few others have mentioned, it does very much have a Zelda Minish Cap look & feel, while still doing its own thing. The game itself looks beautiful (of course), has interesting characters, plot, and lore, and I find myself losing hours of my free time and wondering what the hell I did with my day, lol—but that’s a huge compliment when a game can actually do that. Anyway, it’s been one of the few games so far that has done the classic Zelda RPG and done it WELL, and definitely one of the few RPGs of recent years that I’ve enjoyed for long enough to not only play for several hours of time, but also actually want to see it through to the end. If you’re a Zelda fan, you really should check this one out. 💯

An absolutely lovely game <3 I'm usually not the one who plays 2D Top top-down games like these and i'm sure my last one was Secret of Mana~ but this games vibe catched me from the very beginning when i first played the demo when a friend showed me this game and said "oh you like Capybaras right? then look at this game". The language they use and there being Capybaras was so cool and the story was so engaging that i followed the progress on Kickstarter and waited until it came out to then play it instantly on release and what can i say, the game is amazing, it is even more then what i hoped it would be. - Story is pretty neat - Visual and Audio design is superb so is the writing and basically everything else also never had a singular crash in my entire playtime. If there was one thing i wished for then it would be secret pathways where you run against a wall of trees but it lets you through on some specific areas and then you'd get some bonus stuff or extra loot but maybe that is not...

This game is 2 things: Adorable, and fun. If you're a fan of classic 2d Zelda titles (LttP, LA, OoS OoA etc), you will probably love this game. The controls are very fluid, the mechanics involving your little furry friend are actually pretty intuitive and I found myself using them in combat when I wasn't sure if it was even 'intended' or not. Finding ways to use the tools the game gives you feels pretty rewarding. Combat is great, and some of the enemies are pretty fast. Can't say too much on the story yet as I'm only a few hours in (I played the demo for a pretty decent while as well) but I like it a lot so far, it's pretty easy to get invested. The characters are all great and so is the dialog~ Definitely recommend, it's such a fun comfy game to play when you have some time to kill ^^

It has a playable capybara, enough said.

TDLR: I enjoyed my time with this game, and if you enjoyed older Zelda games like Minish Cap, I expect you'll have a good time too. It has some flaws and odd design choices, but it's a shorter experience that doesn't overstay it's welcome. Pros: The art style is cute and fun, the side characters are charming and give the impression of a world beyond the game itself. The game's difficulty is relatively consistent with only two instances of difficult puzzles. It's not a very long game, I took the time to 100% it and still only clocked a little over fourteen hours. A faster player will be able to do so in eight to ten. Cons: I wasn't a fan of the main character's personality. We hardly need a traditional hero's journey in every videogame, but there were specific story beats that felt incongruent with the gameplay experience, which took me out of the story. The story itself is enjoyable, but it doesn't really build to the conclusion in a satisfying way. I don't want to spoil anything d...

Dive into an epic adventure that’s captured the hearts of gamers everywhere! From its pre-Alpha roots to its polished public beta, this game is a labor of love from a passionate dev team that’s poured their soul into crafting a masterpiece. Join their vibrant Discord community to witness their transparent, inspiring dev journey—and trust me, you’ll want to be part of it! This isn’t just a nod to classic Link to the Past-style games; it’s a bold leap forward, blending nostalgic gameplay with daring, innovative mechanics that Nintendo wouldn’t touch. Expect tight, satisfying gameplay packed with surprises and fresh twists that keep you hooked. The story? It’s a captivating ride with something for everyone—rich, immersive, and brimming with secrets to uncover. Oh, and did I mention the capybaras? Not just one, but countless adorable capybaras you can pet, each sporting quirky, stylish hats! If you love classic Zelda-style adventures, this game is your dream come true...

Are the devs german, ja? First task is to buy beer from the bierhaus. I'm just guessing.

A decent throwback to the old GBC zelda games that is somewhat hindered by the limitations of what inspired it. I wasn't sure what I was expecting beyond what the trailer showed, and I had an overall decent time with some minor frustrations. The co-op is nice though seems like a bit of an afterthought when it comes to puzzle design mixed with the co-op features often being able to cheese the puzzles quite easily. The biggest con of the game itself is the item management which could really have been solved by a simple item wheel or quick select of some sort. Instead you're often constantly going into pause menus to swap between all of your items which can be disorienting for your co-op partner. A second minor con is the trailer set me up for a more fully voiced experience, but there was almost no voice acting at all in the game itself. I understood after the fact it was more parodying those older-style game trailers with voiced main characters, but the presentation of the trailer set...