Two of my favourite Zelda games are Oracle of Ages and Seasons. For me, there was something special about the two games, so if a game were toTwo of my favourite Zelda games are Oracle of Ages and Seasons. For me, there was something special about the two games, so if a game were to be inspired by the two, it might just happen to be one of my favourite games.
Prodigal’s story occurs when the playable character returns home after living in the Southern region for years. The second the character departs the boat, he is met with familiar faces from years gone, and as he has just arrived home, the first order of business is to visit his grandpa. The main character, which (in classic Zelda fashion) players get to name what they like, and yes, if you must, you can call him Link; there’s no stopping you. In usual adventure fashion, the player’s grandpa asks them to get something from somewhere. Still, before doing that, he will need a pickaxe, aka his trusty sword, before entering the mine (dungeon).
Of course, the player must meet each of the potential love interests for various reasons. Then the adventure starts, and the player finds themselves in the middle of an ongoing conflict between the North and South, and to make matters worse, the player has been living in the south for years, which some characters think he is a traitor.
One of the first things that any Zelda fan will admire in this game is the amazing graphics, reminiscent of Seasons and Ages, with the colour scheme, the art style and more. The team’s recreation of a Gameboy Color game was perfect. Even if I put all the Zelda aspects aside, the Gameboy aesthetic still applies and makes the game shine, but also differ from most Zelda-likes that take inspiration from the SNES/GBA era. This does mean they have had to accept some of the same limitations of that type of hardware, like not many different shades of colours or a manner of other aspects players are used to in modern games, but in saying that as a fan of the Gameboy era I loved it.
Gameplay-wise, Prodigal is a Zelda clone in and out. In other words, if you have ever played a Zelda game before, especially on Gameboy, then you are going to be in love. It differs in some aspects to Zelda because you aren’t restricted to two items or, in a sense, one item as in most cases you would’ve kept your sword equipped. On the other hand, Prodigal takes a more modern approach with items, allowing players to equip three items at any time, including their pickaxe. Because why not, as players have more buttons at their disposal (let’s be honest, this is the best way to play, but a keyboard also works fine). Allowing me to have more options on the items I equipped was a lifesaver as it was one of my pet hates in any game from the Gameboy era, bar platformers because all you need is to move and jump.
Another classic component Prodigal borrows from the Zelda series are dungeons. Like Zelda, Prodigal is filled with dungeons that get harder the more players progress into the game. The dungeons are like a training ground for the item found in the dungeon, basically like Zelda. As a Zelda fan, this was by far my favourite feature of the game, especially as it included a host of items unique to the game that had some fun qualities to them. For example, the first item player’s find is a glove that allows the character to go back to their last entrance spot, which really helps for the puzzles in the first dungeon, which were quite inventive if I say so myself.
What Prodigal does differently from the Zelda franchise is by far its most innovative feature and the feature I barely played with. That was as I am not much of a PC player, which is disappointing cause from what I experienced, it seemed quite fun trying to find love in this Zelda-like. Yep, you read that right; Prodigal allows the main character to marry one of his five female friends. I won’t say much because I didn’t do much of it, but I want to try more of it when I play the game more.
I know some people don’t like short games. Still, as someone that barely has enough time to play most games for a few hours, I think the average playtime (which is five hours) is perfect, and for players that want to spend more time with this amazing game, then it does have some nice end game content that will keep players coming back, with a harder dungeon and more.
Prodigal is an excellent Zelda-like with Gameboy era influences injected into its DNA that is a delight to play and look at. If you need a Gameboy Color esque game to hold you over until Nintendo release their back catalogue, then look no further than this gem in the rough.
A review code for Prodigal was provided by the developer Colorgrave games for the purpose of this review.… Expand
