Very cute and cozy game to scratch your old Zelda itch with. You can tell the amount of love and effort that went into this, and it makes for a very comforting ride. I think it shows most through the dialogue, which never failed to make me smile at the very least, as well as the pretty graphics and overall art design, along with the area, city, dungeon and puzzle design. But although i loved the puzzles and the places the game takes you to, i have to admit i sometimes found myself losing my sense of direction and wishing there was something like a general map of each area, or a way to map your surroundings in detail yourself. Another downside is just how prone you are to fall into the water, and it gets frustrating real quick. Aside from that, i never found the game hard in the slightest, but being able to cheese your way through it with no real tension might also be a downside to some. Not to me, so i find the game really delivered a cozy and gratifying little adventure, making up for a great experience.

I had an itch for a blue sky RPG, and after replaying the first half of the Ys III remake and Ys VI, I went to start Legend of Mana again, only to find this on sale, so I took a chance. And it's a 100% totally just okay Zelda love letter that wants to be Link to the Past but plays more like the first Legend of Zelda.

It's hard to be mad at it because I felt the love in this, and seeing the very short credits appreciated how much work just a few people did.

That said, it can be incredibly frustrating and a little polish would help. For instance, it's really easy to fall in the water on accident, the "interact" button is also the "roll" button, so I frequently rolled when trying to talk to someone, and boss fights are uninspired. The game also ends with a whimper.

It is gorgeous, with beautiful sprite work and a lovely score, the dungeon design is solid, and the writing is clever and fun. There are lots of areas to explore and lots of side quests that are actually fun to complete. I'd guess I finished the game with ~90% of it complete (I had 15 hearts, I think, had completed 30 side quests, with one left incomplete, and had two gaps in my inventory screen), so clearly it was charming enough that I wanted to keep going.

A great game overall, feels just like a 2D zelda with some minor changes. Ocean's heart rewards long side quests with suitably unique feeling items, which really makes you feel good about solving cross-map puzzles.

HOWEVER.

If you plan to play this game, please save very frequently! The game has no auto-save feature, which doesn't sit well with me. I played on a lower end pc, playing the entire latter half of this game in one sitting up to a point close to the end before experiencing a crash. I had not saved the entire session. I since have not returned to the game, nor intend to, but my experience was great up until that point. I recommend this if you want a familiar adventure experience with a couple small twists.

just good enough to scratch the adventuring itch, if that's what you're after. very much a one-dev project with a variety of jank in its movement and controls. i honestly appreciate the imperfections; they add an extra layer to the experience and there's a lot of heart and raw effort in here to make up for the quirks. i enjoyed learning the map and finding the hidden nooks and crannies. the combat gets trivialized by the introduction of a spammable aoe that doubles as a universal block, but it's strangely satisfying to cheese all the encounters this way. the platforming is less fun; there are some frustrating segments to navigate, but they're not long and death is mostly a suggestion anyways.