Full of nostalgia, ridiculousness and classic Zelda of yore gameplay; 3D Dot Game Heroes is the game that is effortlessly always true to itself.

Developed by Silicon Studios and published by From Software in Japan, SouthPeak Games in Europe and Atlus in North America (Love me that Atlus), 3D Dot Game Heroes follows the story of your very own pixilated 3D block hero who is summoned upon to save the world from the evils of the Dark Bishop Fuelle and his plans to resurrect the Dark King Onyx.

Story

The 2D kingdom of Dotnia is a peaceful place, until one day an evil Dark Bishop throws the world into chaos by turning everything into 3D! On top of this great peril, the princess has also been kidnapped! The king sends out a call for a hero and so, equipped with the heritage of a previous hero who once smote great evil ages ago, you traverse through the world in hopes of restoring peace. To do this, you must explore a series of dungeons. Each dungeon represents a different region: Forest, Desert, Water, Fire, etc. and is accompanied by a sage who endows you with a new magical power. Eventually, all your questing will lead you to the Dark Lord’s evil castle for the ultimate showdown.

Gameplay

Along the way you will run into various towns and NPC’s with all sorts of quests and dialogue for you to discover. Completing these frequently odd requests will net you the classic heart containers, bottles, and sometimes even new swords. The swords vary from such weapons as Mallets, Home Run Bats, Rare Fish, and of course, Beam Sabers showcasing pure hilarity. Most ridiculous however is the sword combat itself. Transferring the idea of having your sword become more powerful with a full health bar, 3D Dot Game Heroes takes this a step further by generously allowing you to have a sword that can basically sweep across the distance and width of the entire screen. Blacksmiths are also available to upgrade sword characteristics including: Length, Width, Power, Spin, Beam (allowing your sword to shoot a ranged beam) and Pierce (allowing your sword to go through terrain objects). Additionally, some swords include special effects that range from increased movement speed to reduced magic costs.

You may think that all this would make the game incredibly easy, being able to literally hit your enemies from clean across the screen, but this is quite the contrary; 3D Dot Game Heroes is hard. It will often occur where you will immediately lose your full health status, and be rendered down to a simple little stick of a sword. Suddenly, you’ll find yourself getting repeatedly beaten down, your health dwindling, with the chances of returning to your full health and over-powered sword slipping farther and farther away. Difficultly isn’t limited to combat either. Despite having an easy to read map (once you’ve discovered a few areas so its not all just blacked out) finding your way to certain dungeons can be challenging. Dungeons themselves may also prove to be too much for some people. I know a number of people who gave up on the game after losing their way — With the Desert Temple in particular claiming more then its fair share of deserters. The game world is also riddled with extra areas and new things for your hero to discover. Most importantly, and with the vaguest of hints, is the quest to save the princess, which is actually completely optional. Another ridiculous find is the random warp point in the game world that leads you to the upgraded Hookshot. It isn’t a necessary item to complete the game but it will be necessary for a few of the sidequests and as far as I know, they never give you any hints on where you will find it. Despite the almost child-like humor and story telling, this game expects you to be a man and stop asking for everything to be simple. This idea is fully displayed within one of the hardest settings of 3D Dot Game Heroes: Spelunker Mode. By naming your hero, “Spelunker” you will access a mode in which you will die in one hit. This is not for the faint of heart, but you will be treated to some absolutely hilarious new dialogue that adjusts for having such a weak hero (needless to say, people have very little faith that the Spelunker can get the job done). Spelunker Mode can also be accessed by viewing the Spelunker cut-scene in-game.

On top of the core gameplay, 3D Dot Game Heroes is also chalked full of mini-games located at the various inns. Most of them are simple and short games (Dash Circuit can take some getting use to), but the real gem lies within 3D Dot Game Heroes version of Tower Defense, aptly titled: Block Defense. Fully fleshed out, this “mini-game” is a potential time sink for anyone who enjoys Tower Defense style gameplay. Each of the five tower defenses plays differently and requires different strategies to get perfect scores; I warn you now, you may find yourself spending way too much time playing Block Defense and before you know it you wont even remember what you were suppose to be doing. The English release of the game also features several extra Block Defense maps that were originally only downloadable content in Japan. These are accessible in the main castle, after you beat the game.

Aesthetics

The graphics set the tone of the game splendidly. The 3D rendered pixilated world works incredibly well in combining a classic feel with polished and eye-catching visuals. Thankfully, the game also utilizes very bright and cheery colors — a seemingly rare move to make in games these days. This art style also serves an even greater purpose as an unexpected additional bonus of 3D Dot Game Heroes: Designing your own character. The simplicity of having your character made of blocks allows for very easy design, potentially resulting in hours spent trying to design your perfect hero. The process also demands for several different designs, fitting with the various animations such as walking or attacking. If art or design isn’t your strong suit, there are several templates for you to choose to either take as they are or to alter. Personally, I went with the white hair and the badass scarf look, and after a few alterations, was tremendously satisfied with the hero I would be saving the world with; However, I am remiss to have never created a Sackboy, missing out on the chance to have my very own 3D Dot Sackboy Hero.

Sound

The sound effects are perfectly incorporated into the world, as you will hear the classic bleeps and bloops of old-school gaming; only they’re much crisper and cleaner bleeps and bloops. The soundtrack could use a little more of a boost though. 3D Dot Game Heroes manages to emulate the sound of those classic songs, but none of the original scores come with any of that fond sentiment.

Conclusion

3D Dot Game Heroes dares to be the game that isn’t really trying to please anybody. Despite often being described as a Zelda clone, that description surprisingly does this game a disservice because the game is packed with so much character and charisma it really can only be regarded as its own entity. While being unapologetically itself, it isn’t trying to hold your hand either. If you need linear, if you need direction, if you need measures in place to make sure you don’t actually miss something really important because you didn’t fully discover a dungeon, you will most likely hate this game. If you need the game to deliver a serious story, building up for a climatic ending, and can’t be bothered with a game whose opening message is basically, “Hey! Your the lineage of the great hero and there is evil a foot, HAVE AT IT!” then you will probably hate this game. If you need a game that doesn’t allow you to miss any quests because you couldn’t be bothered to check “From Cave” between every temple, then you will hate this game. If your looking for a game that isn’t filled with missable achievements/trophies and doesn’t have lofty requirements like beating the game without dieing, then you will have to look elsewhere. But, if you are looking for something fun with tried and tested gameplay, hilarious dialogue and unique storytelling that also remains uncompromisingly itself, look no further then 3D Dot Game Heroes.