Prodigal

——记录：《Prodigal / 浪子》，26/02/09入。 ——一款GBC 复古画风的类塞尔达俯视角动作解谜冒险，披着怀旧像素的外壳，内里却塞了远超预期的剧情、地牢探索与恋爱养成内容，是独立小品里完成度很高的冷门宝藏，唯一硬伤是无官方中文，对英语不好的玩家门槛偏高。 ——综合评分：7.6/10 ——主线通关时长：10～15 小时 | 全收集全恋爱线：20～25 小时 ——剧情： 主角奥兰是个年少轻狂时偷走家里钱财、离家出走多年的浪子。接到祖父传讯得知父母双亡的消息后，他回到阔别已久的家乡范恩角，试图弥补过往的过错，重新融入小镇生活。 镇子上的居民对他态度分化明显：有人念旧情愿意接纳，有人对他当年的不辞而别耿耿于怀。随着探索深入，小镇周边的洞穴、古堡、地下墓穴接连出现异常魔物，古老的预言与家族秘密逐渐浮出水面。奥兰一边在地牢中收集魔法遗物、解开谜题，一边帮村民解决各种麻烦，最终直面威胁整片大陆的黑暗力量，完成自我救赎。 故事核心是「浪子回头与自我和解」，没有宏大的史诗叙事，更像一场温暖又带点苦涩的小镇冒险。除主线外，游戏内置6 名可攻略角色，各有完整个人支线与结婚结局，恋爱线文本细腻，人物塑造鲜活。 ——有点：经典类塞尔达地牢探索+简洁但有挑战的战斗+意外扎实的恋爱养成系统 看似小品级独立游戏，实则主线流程饱满，支线、收集、恋爱线、隐藏 Boss、挑战模式一应俱全。 没有非黑即白的反派，也没有强行煽情的桥段。小镇居民各有各的生活与烦恼，主角从人人侧目到重新被接纳的过程细腻自然，浪子回头的主题不悬浮、不说教，叙事温柔有温度，人物群像鲜活，玩到结尾会有很舒服的治愈感。 不同恋爱线、真结局、速通挑战、混沌难度、无升级通关等玩法，支撑得起多周目重玩；通关后解锁的调色板系统还能更换主角外观，可玩性与收集欲兼顾。 ——劝退点： 1.无官方中文，这是国内玩家最大的门槛。游戏对话、剧情、谜题提示全为英文，恋爱线文本量尤其大，英语基础薄弱的玩家玩起来会很吃力，容易错过剧情细节与谜题线索。 2.开局没有明确的任务指引，地图标识也比较简略，初次游玩很容易不知道下一步该去哪、该做什么；部分地牢谜题提示过于隐晦，不看攻略容易无故卡关。 ——本作是复古像素类塞尔达游戏里的一匹黑马，恋爱养成的加入让它跳出了单纯玩法复刻的范畴，剧情与人物的加持让通关体验更有温度。推荐喜欢GBC复古像素风、类塞尔达地牢解谜、偏爱慢节奏小镇冒险、能接受英文文本的玩家。26/06/28

I'm sorry, I really wanted to like this but I just can't. I guess my main problem is that this isn't a zelda-like, it's a walking task sim wearing the skin of a zelda-like. The combat and puzzles just feel half-hazardly placed, this game should have just gone further in the direction of game it actually wanted to be. Just should be advertised differently.

This game's off-putting at first, it starts off slow while also throwing a lot at you at once, but the initial friction was in some way engaging for me, and ultimately had a fun experience with the game as a whole. I quite enjoyed the world and its characters (except the protagonist, I don't typically like silent protagonists), the central hub is very cozy which blends nicely with the main adventure gameplay. I was pleasantly surprised with the puzzles, throughout the main story you only get like 4 items, but the puzzles were great at utilizing them. There's a built in hint system for general story progression which I got a lot of help from (I tend to forget or simply not understand objectives in adventure games), but it wasn't so straightforward as to make the exploration boring. I got during the post-game, even with the hints, but I could see myself getting back to the game.

[Played on the deck] I just finished the main story and felt the urge to recommend this game to all my friends. It's a great little game with fun dialogues and simple yet satisfying quest/dungeon design. A great homage to classic rpgs you can lay back and relax too as it never gets too difficult. The optional/hidden content seems to ramp the difficulty up so I'll be completing this review after putting in some hours.

A great game. Reminiscent of the very best 2D Zeldas, with loads of hidden content and a clear passion for the craft. Highly recommend giving it a go. But why can't I marry Wren, though?

Some neat puzzles and humor, but a lot of little issues and nothing outstanding. Also I feel like I have done everything out of order, was just stumbeling around with no direction and made progress anyway. After the beginning of Act 2 confused me even more I didn't feel like it is worth continuing any longer.

TLDR really enjoyed this game which is clearly a labour of love. Prodigal clearly knows what it wants to be and concentrates on a handful of aspects surprising you with their depth: its story, NPC interaction, and the many dungeons (most of which you return to more than once). Prodigal does a great job of starting you slow and pointing you in the right directions. There is no farming or much in the way of sim-like activities a la Stardew, so it is not overwhelming. This is most evident in the early story where you have returned to your home village and redeem yourself in the eyes of the local bumpkins (hence the title) by performing simple tasks and some light questing. Later I needed a guide to help in some parts where what you need to do and where to go is much more obscure. The basic gameplay is an enjoyable retro experience of exploring, puzzling (a LOT of block pushing, too much tbh), and fighting sprites. Combat is limited to a couple of melee weapons and no ranged weapons. One of the things Prodigal does best is story telling and talking with the NPCs. So many games have very shallow NPCs who stop having new things to say quite quickly. Prodigal's stable of potential waifus, jerks, and weirdos are colourful and for the most part charismatic which is something not enough games do imo. For a game with such a simple (though wonderfully crafted) aesthetic and small world, it just goes on and on - the story and things to do sort of just keeps going and by and large it was a pleasure. Now at 20+ hours I have a rough understanding of the background lore of the world. Plenty of showing and hinting, but little outright explaining which I think is a very valid way of storytelling. Having said that I would like to understand a bit more after sinking so much time into the world (I think much of the lore might possibly only exist in Colo(u)rgrave's head-canon...) overall 8.5/10 + charming characters and good writing + clever minimalist aesthetic with fun retro zelda vibes + plenty of content + simple satisfying gameplay + encountered no glitches of bugs + not really sure what a 'cozy game' is but this would probably qualify - dungeons could do with more puzzle variety and less block-pushing

bro I be at the library nonstop fr she must hate me