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).