It’s mentioned that imitation is the sincerest type of flattery, and if that’s certainly the case, then Airoheart is likely one of the most sycophantic releases on the Switch right this moment. There’s definitely no scarcity of ‘Zelda-likes‘ obtainable on the console, however this can be a sport that stretches the time period “inspired by” to its absolute limits, because it finds as some ways as doable to be The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past with out truly tempting Nintendo into releasing its famed copyright ninjas for injury management. Consequently, followers of that top-down Zelda fashion will little doubt discover a lot to like right here, as Airoheart does an enough job of presenting a large linear action-adventure expertise, nevertheless it most of the time feels such as you’re a funhouse mirror reflection slightly than the actual deal.

Airoheart is ready within the fantasy land of Engard and follows the story of two feuding teams: the Elmer and the Breton. The Elmer are masters of peaceable types of magic whereas the Breton are proficient in additional offensive and violent magical talents, and there’s been pressure between the 2 teams for so long as anybody can keep in mind. Your character, a half-Breton named Airoheart who lives among the many Elmer along with his grandpa, is brothers with a Breton chief who’s instigating more and more extra aggressive maneuvers towards the Elmer in what seems to be a prelude to conflict. He appears to be most , nevertheless, in retrieving the fragments of the legendary Draoidhe Stone, a magical MacGuffin that may all however assure a swift Breton victory. Guided by a mysterious disembodied voice, Airoheart thus units out on a quest to retrieve the fragments earlier than the Breton can get their palms on them.

It’s not a very involving story, nevertheless it does take issues in a deeper, darker route than the standard ‘save the princess’ narrative. The eponymous hero is supported on his quest by a various forged of characters on each side who assist so as to add some shade to the slower bits between dungeons, and although we didn’t discover this storyline to be significantly memorable, we will admire the hassle that went into giving the land of Engard a extra nuanced social system that provides extra texture to your dungeoneering.

Gameplay in Airoheart takes closely after A Link to the Past, following the identical fundamental gameplay loop of touring between dungeons, amassing new gadgets and skills, and exploring an overworld full of secrets and techniques to uncover. The primary gameplay innovation right here is the inclusion of Runes, that are selectable spells you possibly can forged utilizing mana that’ll create results like a lightweight heal or a moveable block to assist resolve puzzles. Practically talking, Runes are only a completely different title for an additional set of things at your disposal, however their makes use of are distinct sufficient to really feel like their differentiation from the usual merchandise pool is warranted.

When you’re not in dungeons, you’ll probably busy your self with testing out any new toys to unlock new pathways and caves to discover, or spend a while shopping for or making an attempt on new gear that calmly mixes up your stats. We didn’t really feel that the gear and stat system right here was sufficient to qualify Airoheart as an RPG, however the little buffs to, say, the injury of your crossbow bolts does make a distinction once in a while. The overworld feels sufficiently dense with worthwhile aims, too. This isn’t the form of sport with a complete lot of nothing between factors of curiosity to offer you a way of scope; each grotto and cave normally has one thing significant to take a look at and you’ll’t go quite a lot of steps in any route with out discovering one thing else attention-grabbing.

Though you’ll spend a lot of your time exploring the overworld, dungeons are the principle draw of the expertise right here, and every one comprises a potent thematic mixture of appropriately difficult puzzles and enemy encounters which can be satisfying to beat. That mentioned, the shortage of a localized map that will help you navigate appears like an pointless handicap. Checking the map will solely inform you the place you’re within the overworld, which is about as useful as asking somebody the place the lavatory is and having them inform you town you’re presently in. Dungeon design is streamlined sufficient that you simply don’t waste too a lot time looking for the precise path, and the challenges you face alongside the way in which are decently enjoyable, nevertheless it’s issues like a nonexistent dungeon map that are inclined to take the wind out of Airoheart’s sails. It has potential, and with just a few adjustments it might be nice, nevertheless it as a substitute settles with being merely good.

And that is the issue with Airoheart; it’s nice, however simply appears like a much less polished copy of a a lot better sport. There’s nothing mistaken with taking after the components of a well-regarded basic, however merely repackaging the concepts of 1 with solely the subtlest of tweaks right here and there would not makes for a must-play expertise. Even when Nintendo itself returned to the properly with A Link Between Worlds, it took care to incorporate huge gameplay improvements, with a extra versatile method to the merchandise system together with high quality of life adjustments like a refilling magic bar. Airoheart merely feeds in your want to play extra of a 30-year-old sport you already personal and might simply entry on Switch, whereas including no vital new concepts of its personal. It’s the sport model of the member of your group venture who throws their title on the slideshow with out contributing something of substance to the content material.

Airoheart doesn’t mess up any of the broad strokes of its sport design, however an absence of consideration to the smaller particulars accumulate to make it much less satisfying general. For instance, there’s a merely baffling overuse of an especially loud and sudden gunshot sound impact that always feels misplaced. When bombs go off, it appears like a becoming noise, nevertheless it’s far more obnoxious each time you get hit, hearth a crossbow, shut a door, roll over a pit (!?), open a chest, or breathe. You get used to it with time, nevertheless it’s such an annoying and albeit bizarre presence all through that it truly drags down the entire sport to a level. Little issues like this aren’t outright damning on their very own, however there are numerous of them and their presence is sort of a fly in your soup; simply eliminated, however bothersome and ugly in the event that they’re left in.

We skilled some bugs and glitches, too, a few of which had been form of humorous, most of that are a nuisance. For instance, after dying to the ultimate boss of a dungeon, we had a pair instances the place we respawned originally of the dungeon with zero well being, which meant that Airoheart simply keeled over once more proper there. We additionally noticed many situations the place traps capturing out timed projectile assaults would glitch and a few of the projectiles would get hung up on the lure’s hitbox. The worst of them was the sport outright crashing again to the Home Screen, necessitating a full reboot and having to retrace our steps to make up for any misplaced knowledge. Hopefully some patches will come, however in its present state, you will virtually definitely be working into some form of glitch or technical hiccup that may impede your journey.

As for its presentation, Airoheart isn’t shy about lifting the visible fashion of A Link to the Past wholesale. Everything from the colour palettes to the character spritework to the form of the rocks you possibly can decide as much as toss at enemies may virtually be mistaken for direct asset rips. Things get a little extra artistic right here or there, however we’d’ve preferred to have seen larger effort to distinguish Airoheart and provides it extra of its personal identification. Nothing seems to be dangerous, however typically that lack of originality provides you the sense you are enjoying a ROM hack.

The music, in the meantime, is much much less memorable, consisting of a sequence of generic and repetitive 16-bit chiptunes which can be simply form of there. At the very least, this soundtrack doesn’t get in the way in which of 1’s enjoyment of the gameplay, nevertheless it appears like there was a missed alternative right here to combine audio that would elevate and assist form the general expertise to a larger diploma.

Conclusion

Airoheart is a satisfactory sport, however hardly one we’d advocate you rush out to purchase until you merely can’t get sufficient of the 2D Zelda components. It follows A Link to the Past’s template so carefully that it may by no means be classed as ‘dangerous’, however in a crowded market of homages, tributes, and variations on the theme, it does little or no to face out. We would counsel you decide this up solely after you’ve performed by A Link to the Past, the Link’s Awakening remake, and each the Blossom Tales video games, and also you nonetheless don’t really feel you’ve gotten sufficient of that particular model of top-down gameplay. Airoheart offers an enough journey, and for $40 on the time of writing, we merely anticipate extra.