Five years after the release and success of the first installment Blossom Tales, a new opus appeared on Steam and Switch during the middle of the summer. Entitled Blossom Tales II – The Minotaur Prince, the latest addition to Castle Pixel once again takes up the Zelda-like codes (Zelda in mind) and is simply excellent, even if it looks a little too much at the side of his inspiration.
Like the first installment before it, Blossom Tales II was crafted by the indie team at Castle Pixel. In addition to this first episode released in 2017, under the leadership of publisher FDG Entertainment, the studio also produced Rex Rocket, a 2D platform game, inspired by NES (8 bits) on Xbox and PC. For Blossom Tales II, the 16-bit era is in the spotlight, this time published by Playtonic Friends, the independent subsidiary of Playtonic Games (author of the Yooka-Laylee).
A double vision
The adventure of this second opus begins around a campfire. In the company of his grandchildren, Lily and Chrys’ grandfather decides to tell them a “chivalrous” story, moreover the children quickly add their little grain of salt.
Once upon a time, young Lily and her brother Chrys, two young children living with their grandmother. Both go to the Lunar Minotaur Festival to participate in the tournament / joust: the fall of the Minotaur King. Chrys, by performing a feint -equivalent to cheating-, arouses the wrath of her sister who, in revenge, calls on the Minotaur King. The latter then kidnaps Chrys. Feeling remorseful, Lily goes on an adventure to try to save her brother from the clutches of this evil being! How will this “tale” end? Will Lily and Chrys manage to stay awake until the end of the story told by their grandfather?
A chivalrous, epic, rescue, it inevitably reminds us of something within the video game industry: a heroic knight and a certain princess. If, of course, this is not original, the developers of Castle Pixel, by integrating a double narration, bring a certain added value to the adventure. It is indeed not uncommon for Chrys and Lily to intervene to transmit their comments and/or to modify part of the thread of the story. In doing so, between several choices to be made – in particular to make the difficulty more difficult or not – and its touches of humor, this double narrative vision is clearly one of the strong points of the title.
A quick and accessible handling, and with certain inspirations
In addition to its well-crafted story, Blossom Tales II delivers a carefully crafted gameplay experience. Besides, if you know The Legend of Zelda inside out, like Link’s Awakening, or even A Link to the Past, the whole thing will be extremely familiar to you, which is both a strength and a weakness. Because inevitably, the comparisons will be legion: at the limit of the sustained homage for some and a simple plagiarism lacking originality for the others, and this even if the title tries to bring some touches to deviate from it.
In this universe, we evolve in turn in plains, villages, forests, beach, dungeons, etc… each map – in the form of a table – being linked to each other. Like its main inspiration, we can cut tall grass to recover coins and hearts of life, find secrets, unearth chests, break jars, throw and carry elements, or even throw bombs to explode rocks blocking the way.
But that’s obviously not all because Lily must also face enemies, carry out quests, collect objects (plants, shells, etc.), some of which are used to create decoctions (healing, etc.) according to an associated recipe, and even solve multiple puzzles. The latter, whether encountered outdoors or in the very heart of dungeons, are really accessible in addition to being well put together. We find, for example, a system of levers, blocks to move to dedicated locations, or flames to spurt out, among others. Add to that a well-balanced and progressive difficulty, and we have a nice entertaining recipe.
It’s not just in its mechanics that Blossom Tales II exults, it does so in its clashes too! They are both very accessible and very quick to learn. Indeed the young girl can, like Link, attack with a sword, perform a circular charged attack, protect herself with a shield, but also roll. All this without forgetting access to other equipment such as a bow, bombs,… some being linked to a specific gauge (mana way) that simply regenerates over time.
The battles against the bestiary (frogs, pirates, badgers, etc.) are thus dynamic, rhythmic, and also require careful observation of the patterns to block, dodge, strike, whether against “ordinary” enemies or Bosses. The latter also have their subtleties, such as a ghost that only really reveals itself when exposed to “broad daylight”, who said that a lantern would be very useful in this case?
Finally Blossom Tales II does not fish for much, it manages to identify all the codes of Zelda-like and to transcribe them well in a faithful way. In fact, if we have to make a small criticism, but it’s really to nitpick, it’s that we would have appreciated that all the keys of the pad were requested so as not to have to go back several times in the menus. In itself it is not disturbing at all to do so, but an additional comfort option is always a plus – especially when you have to use several objects very often (fishing rod, etc.) -.
A nice touch of Pixel Art
Clearly inspired by The Legend of Zelda, and its peers, the team has, once again after the first part, carried out a production entirely in Pixel Art. Ranging from plains to forests, passing through dungeons, Blossom Tales II takes advantage of varied and very neat environments. The small details are numerous, with pretty light effects, or even a feeling of life with different types of plants, birds, and other animals/vegetation, … All as well animated as each other. The whole is thus very coherent and clean. For its general atmosphere, again the app uses “old-school” sound effects, and the themes go well with the whole thing. And finally, the texts are entirely written in French.
Tested on Switch
If the comparison with The Legend of Zelda is inevitable, it would be a shame to dwell on this specific point. Because Blossom Tales II clearly succeeds where it draws its inspiration: faithfully transcribing the codes of Zelda-like. We find everything that made the success of the Big N license: the clashes, the secrets, the puzzles, and even the animations. A nod to Nintendo’s license which, with its double narration, will even succeed in introducing novices to the subject. In short, if it does not offer any innovation for the formula of the genre, Blossom Tales II – The Minotaur Prince is an entertaining title and of good quality!