Blossom Tales II: The Minotaur Prince

My only major gripes with Blossom Tales II: The Minotaur Prince are highly subjective. It’s a game that needs to reach the kind of people who play mods of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, which provide the player with more challenging combat and puzzles. Blossom Tales II has a very good world map to explore, and its dungeon puzzles and combat are perfect. It starts like a game a parent would want to get their young daughter but becomes one that will impress any old-school Zelda fan who gives it some time. So give Blossom Tales II: The Minotaur Prince your time.

Blossom Tales II does little to hide its Zelda inspiration from the player. While it doesn’t reach the heights of Nintendo’s legendary franchise, it does smooth over many of the early-‘90s design conventions present in games like A Link to the Past to deliver an adventure able to be enjoyed by players of all ages and experience levels. Blossom Tales II is a better game than its predecessor, and I hope we continue to get more adventures from Lily, Chrys, and their grandpa in the future.

The worst thing I can say about Blossom Tales 2: The Minotaur Prince, is that there are very few of the developer’s own ideas in the entire game. On the flip side of that, you could argue that because it is taking its inspiration from one of the greatest franchises of all time – and does a good job of replicating it – the quality of the game is very high. At no point during my entire playthrough, did I want to stop playing or feel like I wanted the game to end. The adventure was fun from beginning to end.

Blossom Tales II: The Minotaur Prince is a superb sequel to an indie darling that begged for a follow-up. Needless to say, I'm glad that Lily and Chrys' grandpa still has plenty of imaginative tales to tell.

The biggest strength of Blossom Tales II: The Minotaur Prince is also its biggest failing, and it’s one that it fully shares with its predecessor. It is so busy being faithfully inspired by The Legend of Zelda that it can’t quite shake its shadow and become its own game. And the thing is, I’m not sure that it should. We don’t see many top-down Zelda games anymore, and most similar games either change too much or miss the mark in terms of quality. Maybe the best thing for Blossom Tales to be is that series that feeds an appetite that no one else is serving. If that is the case, then Blossom Tales II: The Minotaur Prince is every bit the sequel it should have been.

This is a solid tribute to the genre that improves the work done by its predecessor, but keep in mind you won’t find much originality here.

Blossom Tales 2 is certainly a fun and satisfying 2D Zelda-like, but it doesn’t impress in the same ways that the original did. The final dungeon is about 30 percent too long, and the minute-to-minute traversal of the map doesn’t have the pace to generate that “leave-no-stone-unturned” momentum. Fortunately, the dungeons are largely well designed, and the world and its inhabitants have their charm. If you love a good top-down Zelda game or enjoyed the first Blossom Tales, you’re likely to be happy with The Minotaur Prince. Just don’t go in expecting the reinvented wheel.

Even if Blossom Tales isn’t all that original, that doesn’t make it any less fun. The world is fun to explore, the puzzles are fun to solve, and the story is engaging and enjoyable. It may not make you forget its obvious influences, but at the very least, it does right by them, and tries its best to live up to their sterling reputations.

Despite the restrained application of its central narrative concept, Blossom Tales II: The Minotaur Prince is one of the better indie Zelda clones I’ve played. Even if it hews a bit too close to its predecessor and lacks an identity to call its own, this is a solid action-adventure game, one that makes great use of those Legend of Zelda building blocks in crafting a satisfying journey.

Blossom Tales 2 is the kind of game that’s absolutely good, but definitely not great. The cute narrative premise, solid dungeon design, and pacing of overall progression all make this one worthwhile, but it’s also the kind of game that feels like it’s hamstrung by its lack of daring to try something new. In this sense, it’s the epitome of a “buy it on sale” game; you’re not missing anything by waiting to snap it up at a later date, but if you're a fan of the traditional 2D Zelda template, it’s probably worth getting at some point when the mood takes you.