Isle of Reveries

Brief analysis of **ISLE OF REVERIES**: The game doesn’t really invent anything. Most of the things it does have already been done by Zelda, especially Link’s Awakening, so if you play it, don’t expect innovation. There isn’t a single item in the game that some Zelda game hasn’t used at some **** be careful: simply calling it a Zelda clone wouldn’t be fair. It does have a personality of its own. **DUNGEONS** The best:* - The difficulty curve felt almost anecdotal to me, but every dungeon is unquestionably good. - Each one has its own feel, they’re convoluted, and many of the puzzles leave you thinking for a while. That’s a good thing because you can’t just walk in and solve everything immediately. They often push you out of your comfort zone and force you to experiment and look for solutions that are somewhat convoluted, which I personally really like. - The dungeons are linear, but convoluted enough that they never feel like you’re simply walking in a straight line. It’s true that you can have several keys at the same time, but in most cases, the doors they open are arranged along a fairly straightforward progression, one after another. I don’t consider this a bad thing, so I’m putting it in this section. - Some of them felt more difficult to me than 99% of Zelda dungeons across the entire series. The only one I can remember being harder is Jabu-Jabu in Oracle of Ages. The not-so-good:* - The level design isn’t perfect, and it often makes you walk more than necessary. Nintendo eventually started designing levels that let you take shortcuts once you had cleared certain areas, specifically to solve this problem. It would be unfair to say Isle of Reveries doesn’t do this, but it occasionally forgets to implement it. - Cohesion often suffers. Sometimes it feels like the dungeon has certain elements “just because”: they work mechanically and they’re entertaining, but they break with the dungeon’s overall atmosphere. **OVERWORLD: **The best:* - Exploration and backtracking are both there. They’re well rewarded with weapons and accessories that aren’t necessary to finish the game, but do make things easier. The collectibles, both weapons and passive abilities, are generally quite useful. - Going back over your steps never becomes too tedious. Once you’ve unconsciously memorized the routes, you can get from one place to another relatively quickly, and at a certain point you can fast-travel. - It’s packed with side content, there are puzzles everywhere, and there are also three or four mini-dungeons. And they’re not minor either; in many Zelda games, they could have been main dungeons. If we add these to the six main dungeons, you’re looking at around nine or ten dungeons in total. The not-so-good: - It falls short artistically quite often. - The music is mediocre; by far the worst part of the game. - There are missing sound effects all over the place.* Some areas lack cohesion. - It’s too overloaded with elements. Even though it gives the impression that you can walk pretty much anywhere, you often actually have to stick to tiny paths. **CONCLUSION:** If you like Zelda, especially classic Zelda, you’re almost certainly going to enjoy this game. The €15.55 I paid for it on the South African eShop (45 cents saved xd) was worth it, and honestly, it would also deserve to have you pay €45 for it. I’d give it an **8.5**.