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Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King Review


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5a3d3df46b9ea_BlossomTaleslogo.png.cf60cd04ef0dd7a56ad8db6014e9316d.pngBlossom Tales: The Sleeping King from developer Castle Pixel and publisher FDG Entertainment follows in the footsteps of action-adventure games like A Link to the Past and delivers a fresh game with plenty of classic elements. The top-down perspective, assortment of items, and hidden secrets scattered across the game's overworld will be instantly familiar to anyone that has enjoyed a classic Zelda game. But despite the clear inspiration from Nintendo's franchise Blossom Tales is far from derivative. The pieces may be familiar but Blossom Tales reassembles them into a charming, engaging adventure.
 
You play as Lily, a newly recruited Knight of the Rose, who sets out on a dangerous journey to save the king who has fallen under a powerful sleep spell by an evil wizard—pretty classic adventure game fare. Blossom Tales does add a cute twist by making the entire game a story that a grandpa is telling to his grandchildren, à la The Princess Bride. This narration structure sets up some fun premises throughout the game including a few self-aware jokes, though for the most part this is still a classic adventure game formula: Lily explores, helps out the townsfolk she meets, and conquers vast dungeons. Even if it's not wildly original you'll still be charmed by the game's endearing style and dialogue.
 
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Comparisons to Zelda are inescapable when talking about Blossom Tales; the grandpa even makes a pointed reference to the series at the beginning of the game. The vast overworld to explore, the dungeon design with key items found in each one, the heart pieces to extend Lily's health—the entire structure is instantly recognizable, though in a way that works to the game's benefit. Most players will be able to instantly jump into the action and hence appreciate how well the developers have captured the balance of exploration, puzzle-solving, and sense of challenge that make these types of action-adventure games so engaging and rewarding. Even if the game isn't too difficult for anyone experienced with Zelda games there are still some great puzzles to decipher and fun environments to lose yourself in. The formula in Blossom Tales may be familiar, but there's something to be said for simply executing a formula so well.
 
And there are a few ways that Blossom Tales distinguishes itself from the Nintendo series. For one, Lily can execute a sword attack combo ending in a jumping slash that makes combat a little more interesting. There are few truly challenging battle encounters, but the game gives you enough tools to keep fights engaging, especially with the wealth of side quest items you can collect from defeated foes. You'll often be tasked with collecting twenty of some item to turn in for a reward, and if adventure games as a whole are any indication there's something oddly satisfying about carrying out these little fetch quests.
 
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Blossom Tales also takes a unique approach to items by tying all item use to a stamina meter, i.e. you don't have to collect or buy arrows or bombs, you just need to have enough stamina to draw your bow or toss another explosive (and stamina recharges naturally). Granted this is yet another feature similar to a Zelda game, specifically A Link Between Worlds, but in Blossom Tales it forces you to think about your item management. Bombs and spells are particularly powerful in this game but with the stamina limitation you can't just spam them over and over. It adds a little touch of strategy to combat, particularly boss fights, which is a welcome change over games that turn into button-mashing sword-swinging fights.
 
In the audio and visuals department Blossom Tales also looks back to classic game design for inspiration. The top-down perspective lends itself to classic square-shaped environment design but the characters are a bit less detailed than the 16-bit era A Link to the Past. Just like the gameplay the visuals do a great job of paying homage to a classic style but still creating a unique look for itself, which particularly shines through with the little environmental details like clouds and fog. And everything in the game looks absolutely adorable—the flower in Lily's hair bouncing as she walks is a great touch. The audio is a perfect match for the 16-bit era as well: bouncy, rhythmic, and just plain fun. Though if any aspect of Blossom Tales risks treading on Zelda's toes a bit too much, it's the music, where some of the songs are a little too similar to Zelda.
 
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Blossom Tales lasts a good ten hours or so, but a big part of that play time depends upon how much exploration you do. Like any adventure game worth its salt there is a whole wealth of collectibles to uncover: heart pieces, stamina meter extenders, optional items, etc. You can spend a lot of time just wandering around trying to discover everything you can in the overworld, and to be honest that's half of the fun in a game like this. Once you've found everything and defeated the final boss there isn't much incentive to replay the game, but the amount of optional content does make this a great candidate for speed runs.
 
It's clear that this game owes a lot to Link and his adventures in Hyrule, but Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King never feels like just a copy of Zelda. It pays homage to all of the classic elements that have made the Zelda franchise as beloved as it is today, and adds a few unique twists and some fresh challenges to make a game that is just delightful from start to finish. And that may be the most important aspect of Zelda that Blossom Tales captures: the pure sense of fun in exploring an overworld teeming with secrets, in working through challenging puzzles, and in overcoming one boss after another in order to save the day. In the end that's what makes Blossom Tales another excellent addition to the Switch's library.
 
Rating: 8 out of 10 Blossoms
 
Review copy provided by publisher
 

Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King is now available on the Switch eShop for $14.99.

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