Azaran: The Demon Bottle

Was sleeping on this game for awhile and now that i finally played it the game shocked me with its quality, I went in with expectations of retro vibes and basic puzzles with a game on a scale this small, but the game understands what makes the mystery of zelda 1 work so well and nails it. It doesn't rely on any of the expected puzzle types and the few times it does use them it sets you up so it can subvert your expectations soon after. My favorite part of Zelda 1 is the overworld exploration and obviously this game does not have that but it works well within its limitations to get you into its world and feel lost in this dungeon that keeps being bigger than you expected.

A proposta inicial do jogo é muito boa, um título inspirado no Zelda do NES. No entanto, o desenvolvedor poderia ter investido mais em melhorias de qualidade de vida. Algumas mecânicas envelheceram muito mal justamente por serem baseadas no primeiro Zelda. Um exemplo claro é o fato de as paredes secretas não apresentarem qualquer indicação de que podem ser quebradas, o que torna a experiência bastante frustrante. Outro problema são os puzzles, que em algumas situações seguem uma lógica questionável. Há um, inclusive, na segunda fase, que praticamente exige o uso de um guia para ser resolvido. Mas o ponto mais crítico, na minha opinião, é a quantidade de fases (apenas três). O jogo é muito curto e ainda sofre com um level design fraco, que parece ter sido pensado apenas para prolongar artificialmente a duração da aventura. Espero que Azaran: Islands of the Jinn traga melhorias nesses aspectos.

A great little bite-size demo. The puzzles were fun to solve and there was only one that I got stuck on. Otherwise the combat was fun and simple and having six different directions to point really made it feel more fluid.

Very cute and clever Zelda-like. Mechanics so simple, they make your momma say "Boys, I can't make you meatloaf tonight, I'm too busy grinding out the good ending on a Azaran: The Demon Bottle, and I just gotta free Hatt-Zon from the shackles of the Sultan's desire." Excited to see how the sequel turns out!

Impressive.

THAT WAS SO GOOD! I'd be happy with a remake at some point to flesh it out. Def playing the next one.

It's a 3 level, 2 endings throwback to classic Zelda but with better controls. You'll probably finish this in roughly two hours. Well worth the pricetag if you're into those old top-down zelda-like games.