Nintendo is so protective of their IP. And for good reason as the pride and care they put into their internally developed games truly shows with every release. To see a "Nintendo" game broken is a very rare site indeed.
Now that's not to say that we don't see them outsource their titles to third party developers. Zelda specifically had two entries back in 2001. The wonderful Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages from developer Capcom/Flagship. Two of my favorite Zeldas in the series actually.
But for them to outsource to a smaller scale Indie developer. That was quite unexpected.
However, Let me just tell you I am very glad this collaboration was green lit. Cadence of Hyrule is funky, fresh, and a truly fun mishmash of genres that plays wonderfully into Zelda's universe.
Cadence of Hyrule is at its heart a dungeon crawler with roguelike elements. You will collect two types of currency. Zelda's staple currency "Rupees" and Diamonds from typically defeating the final enemy on screen. When you die, you will lose all of your Rupees which are used to buy support items at the shops scattered throughout the map. Diamonds which you will retain after death are used to buy items as well. However mostly stronger in nature as they are much more difficult to come by.
You are able to play the game essentially in two different ways. One is the way I'm guessing the developers intended for the player to use. Using a meter down at the bottom of the screen. Bars move toward the middle to match a beat following the music on screen,. This will set a combo in flow which is extremely fun albeit challenging while strengthening your attacks the higher you go.
The second is to turn off the rhythm element completely which pauses the game until you decide to make a move, swing your sword, shoot your bow or essentially any action your character possesses. While enjoying the rhythm element a lot. I found the later to be much more to my gaming tastes. It almost creates a turn based style of combat making you think and plot your advancement around the environment as every move will make the enemies move, and projectiles to fly. This may result in overall damage to to occur to Link or Zelda when you fail to block or move out of the enemies attack radius.
Long time Zelda fans will also take great solace to know that there are a ton of secrets, and hidden items to uncover. I found myself backtracking every time I unlocked a new item to see what goodies are obtainable now that I have a new ability to reach new areas I could not reach the first time. This really hit home and made it a true Zelda like experience that I've been hankering for since Breath of The Wild.
Let me just quickly disclaim that I have not played Crypt of The Necrodancer. Brace Yourself Games' other title which Cadence of Hyrule is based off of. So I can't compare how similar the games are in regards to game play or features. However, the first thing that struck me while playing the first ten minutes was the homage it played to past Zelda's amazing array of music and sound effects. Link to The Past immediately came flooding back upon hearing the teleportation sounds and cave/dungeon music. This really helped pull me back into the Hyrules universe. I am also a huge fan of nostalgia evoking elements in games. Especially when it comes to games I played during my childhood.
Cadence of Hyrule is also strikingly beautiful. Pixel art mimicking the 16 bit era with some incredible hand drawn sprites and animation. The attention to detail is top notch with a huge variety of enemy and environment types. I never found myself getting bored of tired of seeing what was happening on screen.
Now, the best part. The soundtrack. Zelda fans will immediately recognize remixes of past Zelda tunes. They match perfectly with the games' Rhythm based game play.
They're upbeat, fun, and I found myself tapping my foot throughout the majority of my time playing. Here's to hoping the team releases the OST on physical media or on one of the major streaming platforms.
I finished the main campaign in about 6 hours and I would say I got about 70 percent of the collectibles. It's a fairly short affair. However I am a man of quality over quantity. This was fantastic Zelda spin off which absolutely did not overstay its welcome. While I maybe could've done with two or three extra dungeons. I thoroughly enjoyed Cadence of Hyrule. Especially the 2D top down view which brought me back to the days of yore.
Another win for the Switch and a really big one for the Indie scene. Brace Yourself Games has proven that they can absolutely do one of Nintendo's biggest IP justice. I would love to see what they could do with the likes of Metroid or possibly Mario.
If you like Zelda, Rhythm games or both. You could do a lot worse than taking a dive into this wonderful Indie title. I for one wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone looking for what is definitely the best Zelda spin off to date.
All images belong to their respected owners
Score9.7/10
Playtime: 6 hours
Platform: Switch