I think it's really sweet that this whole game is just genuinely appreciative of the CDi games and the resulting YTP scene. It never punches down on its own source material or even defaults to some irony-poisoned take on the matter; it's just a continuation of games that, despite all reason, managed to resonate with people in their own weird way.

Gameplay wise this definitely shows in how the elevator pitch is pretty much just "CDi Zelda but playable". It's a rather short game that, crazily enough, isn't pushing any narrative boundaries, but the extra gameplay polish makes the quest hunting really palatable. One of my friends got into speedrunning it with some sequence breaks and has the world record so I'd say the world design has to be doing something right.

I know the main draw for most people is the meme factor, so I'd say it lands pretty well. Arzette is the distilled mythos of the CDi girlboss Zelda and her reactions to whatever arbitrary characters show up next are pretty good. The story isn't winning any awards, although Arzette's dad dying gives off some "overly verbose YTP lore" vibes which was fun. I don't think any of these people are going to end up iconic enough to where I'll see them singing Stronger than You next month but they were fine on their own. Really the only things that felt off were the blatantly sauceless Morshu and the one random Castlevania reference. Also I swear a Bubsy line snuck in somewhere.

Overall, I think it's a very cute game that provides a chance to reminisce on some old shitposty memories. Not really anything more than that, but I figure that was obvious from the get-go.

Reviewed on Feb 16, 2024


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