Next on my chronological list of SMT games to play was the first Persona game, but I didn't have it yet, so while I waited for it to come in the mail, I settled on playing something else relatively short and non-RPG-ish until then. The only thing I could think of out of the games I had recently picked up in another bundle of very cheap games from the resale mall was Alundra. I'd heard good things about it, but it was something I picked up on a whim more than anything. I barely even had much idea what sort of game it was, beyond some sort of action title. And so I bravely stumbled forth into this 2D Zelda-like game published in '97 by Sony (and made by a newly minted dev team staffed partially by Landstalker veterans). It took me about 30 hours to finish the (quite different) Japanese version of the game.

Alundra tells the story of the titular young man Alundra. Sent by a beckoning figure in recurring dreams, the story begins on a voyage to a far off village, and since this is a fantasy adventure from the 90's, the ship he's on inevitably gets sundered into pieces by a mysterious massive storm. Washed up on shore and saved by the village's blacksmith, he finds himself in a village of mysteries. A village robbed of its ability to create, villagers plagued by never ending nightmares, and a strange church on the hilltop that a few (looked down upon) villagers pray to for salvation. It's not the most original setup by any means, but it ends up going places I certainly didn't expect it to.

Alundra's story is a surprisingly serious and often quite dark one, and it repeatedly caught me off guard in just how large the body count gets by the end of the game. There isn't a lot of levity in the text itself, but that levity is sorta provided second-hand by the nature of it being an action-adventure game. The main theme of the story is not around how faith itself is bad, but how those who would seek to exploit people abuse their faith to manipulate them. It's a remarkably topical story for a Zelda-like game, and while it does have some trouble with setup and payoff at times (particularly around the blacksmith's story), I found it to be a quite story I really enjoyed.

The gameplay of Alundra is something I can best sum up with "Did you ever think that Link to the Past would be improved with more difficult puzzles, the addition of (often very hard) platforming, and a generally harder combat difficulty as well?" XD. It's a 2D Zelda-like game with tons of dungeons to explore, bosses to fight, sub-weapons to wield and even a few main weapons to experiment with. Dungeons and puzzles are all well designed, but as I explained before, it's just all pretty damn hard. There are some really brain bending mental puzzles, some absolutely fiendish platforming puzzles among the generally quite difficult ones, and bosses that while well designed take an awful long time to kill. This is mitigated by mid-dungeon save/heal points (though only one per dungeon, and sometimes not that well placed), the ability to get quite a lot of healing items to bring into dungeons, and a generally quite low price for failing any of the platforming puzzles.

But there are more problems than just an overall difficulty. Mind you, that difficulty is probably the #1 thing that will drive anyone away from Alundra. If you aren't very comfortable with 2D action games in the Zelda style, you're likely going to have a very hard time with Alundra, as it's easily one of the hardest games in the genre I've played. I actually managed to do the entire game without looking up any puzzle solutions (which I was kinda proud of myself for), but there were some that took me a heck of a lot longer to do than I thought they would. And the platforming may be already tricky, with tons of jumps right from the start requiring you to edge-jump if you want a chance of making it, but the camera perspective doesn't help things.

Alundra is a 2D game, and while some of you may've recoiled in horror at the word "Landstalker" in the start of this review, you can rest safely that this game doesn't have an isometric perspective like that. Unfortunately, what it does have is a more Zelda-like top-down view with LOTS of platforming toward and away from the camera (on the vertical axis). It's difficult to judge where you're going to land when jumping like this, and even though Alundra's foot hitbox is pretty big and you do have a very reliable shadow to guide you, you're still gonna have quite a time dealing with the jumping puzzles even if you're a veteran to retro platformers like myself. It's by no means a deal breaker, especially with how small the penalty for failure often is (almost always just a short walk back to where the start of the jumping puzzle is), but it can definitely get frustrating and is something very worth keeping in mind.

The presentation of the game is VERY pretty. Beautifully animated 2D art and animations (they've gotta be some of the nicest looking on the PS1, at least for '97) make for a beautiful adventure with a more earthy color palette than most other games in the genre tend to have. The music is also excellent, having both fun upbeat tunes as well as more somber affecting tracks for emotional beats. It isn't always perfect with the timing of when to use these (happy village music playing over emotional scenes doesn't happen every time, but it happens often enough to be weird), but when it uses them well it works damn good. There are 2D animated cutscenes as well, but it's more like just one cutscene, and it plays at the very end of the game to serve as a sort of flashback on how you got here as well as an epilogue. It's very weird to just suddenly have it there, especially with the main character going from his usual yellow to suddenly red hair, and it reads like something that was commissioned much earlier in development and ended up being far too different to the end product to actually use anywhere else ^^;. The game has a very 90's art style for its characters, and they look nice in those animated cutscenes, but I found them pretty darn ugly in the in-game portraits.

The last thing worth commenting on is the changes between the Japanese and English versions of the game, as if you're going to play the English version (which I think it's a safe bet virtually everyone reading this review would be), you should go in knowing that it was localized and worsened by none other than Working Designs. In their usual fashion, they made the game significantly harder (giving the already overly tanky bosses FAR more HP) and the writing significantly worse (I guess they were trying to add some levity, but it just does not work with the original tone at all, at least from what I've seen of the English version). Alundra still seems overall fine in English, but from what I have seen it is quite easily an inferior product to the writing and balancing in the original Japanese version.

Verdict: Recommended. Alundra would be a highly recommended game if it didn't have the camera perspective or difficulty issues, but it's still a damn fine game. I enjoyed the hell out of it, and managed to put 30 hours into this thing in only three days I was having so much fun. I'd hesitate to call it a hidden gem on the PS1, but it's definitely one worth checking out if you're into 2D Zelda-like games and aren't afraid of something a bit harder than you're likely used to from Nintendo's offerings in the genre~.

it's the best non-zelda zelda game out there, and to be fair it's not right to call it a knock off considering it not only does its own thing, but in many ways does things better. It actually has a deep story with interesting relatable characters, the world is fun to explore, the puzzles are clever and the soundtrack is fantastic.

Its a real shame the sequel was terrible and we never heard from Alundra again. If youre a fan of zelda games and are looking for something in that style to play, this is the one.

Underated game that a lot of people like to label "cheap zelda-like knock off"
And while the protagonist looks may give that vibe, and maybe the combat to some degree is similar, the TONE of this game is completely different than zeldas.
Alundra has a much darker story, compeling character with crazy story development. YOU WILL get attach to some character/s, and things will most likely happen to said character/s.

While the puzzles can be hard and sometimes straight up confusing, if you like good puzzles i can't give you enough encouragement to try this game, it's beautiful.

The only thing i can certainly say it has aged a bit badly is the platforming, since it's a 2D game with "3D" platforming, your eyes might sometimes fool you into thinking "oh, i can make that jump, there's no much height difference from both points" only to realize the other point is a bit higher than it looks and you fall, and that can get annoying sometimes.

I can proudfully say that this is probably my favorite game of all time, and definitively one of the main reasons why i like gaming so much

A gripping Zelda style dungeon crawling RPG for the PS1 that unlike its inspiration it featured a much darker and gruesome story along with much harder bosses and an eerie atmosphere based on religion and fantastical elements. It was gripping, its characters were appealing and while the way its characters are drawn is very much a product of its time you can get past it for how it plays and you explore the world.

The saved data for it got lost so I wasn't able to finish it, but got quite close from what I gathered.

The game feels like an extended set of lost tales from Brothers Grimm, but rather than looking back from a contemporary viewpoint with academic classifications, the game creates a palpable sensation of actually living in the midst of a dour and disturbing world.

The atmosphere is so dark and evocative; you really get to know the inhabitants of this small village. You like them and you hope for them. Even when someone dies who you barely knew, it still feels like a loss in how the death reverberates around the village. You even hear that the person who is lodging you had a big loss in their life too. It is sad to hear and colours your interaction with them. The atmosphere of loss is both central and a constant peripheral figure in the experience. The village itself feels surrounded on all sides by apprehension and darkness. Akin to medieval fairy tales, which liked to paint the outside world "beyond the village" with foreboding dread, Alundra succeeds to double down on this ambience. That the area is beset by some sort of demonic figure further underlines this sense of a lost fable.

Any joy that you do find, like a tavern, a gilded falcon or some children playing, is beautifully juxtaposed against all of this dark atmosphere. Like any good fairy tale, it signifies and works to remind us of the joys and perils of our life.

On a ludic footing, the game is even stronger. Each of the game's puzzle dungeons are unendingly clever, meticulously designed and palpably rewarding. The rush of figuring out a tough one (of which there are many) never gets old. You can almost sense the clever mind of the designer wryly setting the traps and switches in place. Pleased. And not in a immersion breaking sense, more so in a warming and philosophical sense. That the designer of a certain puzzle, may actually be dead (circa 2023), and yet the ghost of their design lives on in eternity. In Alundric form.

Indeed, playing a game from 1997 (and no doubt worked upon years prior) came with its own unique wistful emotions. In such a young industry, the notion of developer death has rarely been explored by others or myself before. In another 25 years, we can almost be certain that most if not all developers of Alundra may be dead. It is shocking and bleak to think about. And yet the game persists. Its puzzles always ready and in place for the next Releaser. Alundra is a game which can make you think about this. Not only for its theming of villager death that persists all around you, but because many of its puzzles feel so personal. They all feel created by a happy human who had an "aha" moment. And when that "aha" moment dawns within you, it is like a torch has been passed and set within you, as you grasp the exact same thing the puzzle designer did. A flicker to the past...

For this, Alundra is not only a great action, adventure game, it is a great adventure through the past. Of someone's meticulously placed traps, their wry switches and cheeky timings. Of their hints, their ingenuity, their clever use of assets and their fairhanded safety nets.

Akin to any medieval folk tale which works to give us a glimmer into the past, no matter how bleak or dark; Alundra achieves this and becomes gaming's ultimate, playable folk tale.

Matrix Software's Alundra employed linear, slow burn storytelling and jumping to their Zelda-like action adventure. If the aesthetic and narrative set them apart, the challenge found in their platforming, enemies and puzzles across all dungeons is what really lifts it above a simple Link's Awakening reskin. 20+ lengthy trials that span a wide range of ideas, contained in an equally dense and disorienting overworld. The gameplay isn't perfect - however, and those faults can make for a patience-testing experience: From the confusing platform layouts to the 'reset-heavy' rooms, to the odd collisions & late-game difficulty spikes. But overall, this work proves that they could do much more than copy the classics.

Pros:
+ tells a consequential story full of existential themes
+ timeless pixel art style with beautiful effects and pretty sprites
+ the overworld is smartly designed to be incrementally explored
+ progress in the overworld is always explicitely tied to progress in the story
+ main dungeons are long, complex, and intricately designed
+ relation between internal and external architecture of dungeons feels organic
+ dream exploration element is unique and carries surprising psychological depth
+ dream scenarios are tailored to their respective events and characters in the story
+ combat feels punchy and weapon effect are varied
+ bosses are diverse and their designs are memorable
+ puzzles are difficult but varied, ranging from logic to time based puzzles and beyond
+ collectable equipment is actually worth it and makes the game noticeably easier
+ the central town is constantly changing and its inhabitants are evolving with the story
+ fortune teller in town offers an organic guidance system
+ the outro movie is a fun send off and feels like an actual prize for beating the game

Cons:
- the difficulty of all gameplay elements is infamously brutal
- progress in dungeons is sometimes tied to imperceptible elements of the scenery
- perspective can be confusing and some jumping challenges require pixel perfect timing
- dialogue is extensive, slow and can only be fast forwarded with a button press ...
- ... while finished dialogue windows close by themselves, even if they explain puzzles
- bombs are the most effective weapon for large parts of the game
- there is no (easily acessable) map of the overworld
- the warp system is pretty well hidden and usually saves little time
- bosses are damage sponges and take forever to kill
- some collectables are missable without warning
- shops and their economy do not work: items are either too cheap or too expensive
- soundtrack is so-so, with tracks like the overworld theme becoming grating quickly
- sound effect design is awful; weapons have no punch and enemy grunts sound terrible
- Alundra himself is a boring silent protagonist with the most 90s anime design
- Working Design translation is full of awful pop-culture references, blunders and non-sequiturs
- vague English puzzle descriptions makes solving them more difficult
- translation team was arrogant enough to put themselves first in the credits

Best Dungeon: Lake Shrine / Exterior. Much more intricate than it seems at first.
Worst Dungeon: Fairy Shrine. The underwater jump mechanics are cool but navigation gets tedious.
Worst Puzzle: The famous "saints order" puzzle in the crypt early on. Almost impossible to discern due to the terrible translation.

Magic Moment: Finally solving one of the tough ice pillar puzzles and getting a powerful weapon as a prize.

Playtime: 27 Hours with all dungeons and 45 Falcons, played in PS1 emulator on PS4.



Verdict:
Even after over 20 years, Alundra has lost almost nothing of its initial appeal: its puzzles are challenging and varied as ever, the action is brutally difficult but always engaging, and the story offers enough twists and turns to keep at it for the extensive playtime of almost 30 hours. Even to people like me, who played it shortly after it came out, this is still an involving experience, that - not least thanks to its timeless pixel charme and character design - has lost nothing of its quality, and is still one of the best Zelda-likes you can play on any Sony console. You should consider turning off the sound, though, because that particular element of the game has certainly not aged well and is a definitive flaw in an otherwise great package.

Playing this once is a treat for any fan of the action-adventure genre. Considering the brutal difficulty of the game as a whole, however, playing this on an emulator with the rewind feature or save states at close hand is highly recommended (unless you really want to test the limits of your patience).

A really solid and nice-looking Zelda acquintence that just has a few elements that keep me at arm's length. Mainly, keeping track of quests and where to go seems a little obtuse (and seems to be enhanced by having a character you literally need to pay to remind you what to do next) and for a game like this while I'll still follow the story I feel like I shouldn't have to try that hard to keep track of things. The slightly isometric look of things also added little frustrations constantly of how to interact, where to move, etc. I do think the spritework is really pleasing to look at, and a pretty funny localization for how often people are sarcastic or rude to you. Might be able to breeze through this one later but it's not holding my attention well.