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Very funny and light-hearted adventure; wonderful presentation and music; solid puzzle-solving gameplay
Some puzzles might be too difficult; very basic combat
The Legend of Zelda is, without a doubt, one of the most influential franchises in the video game industry, creating not only certain game mechanics, but an entire genre of Zelda-like games. Throughout the years we’ve seen many creative spins on the formula like Ōkami and Darksiders II, each with a very unique personality and few gameplay changes that made them stand out. While Ittle Dew lacks the big budget of said games, I think it has just as much heart and personality.
The game has you playing as the young cheerful adventuress, Ittle Dew, and her always sarcastic sidekick, Tippsie, as they crash onto a mysterious island full of adventures. The most important thing to know about the story in Ittle Dew is that it is a hilarious parody of all the Legend of Zelda tropes. With many plot-points being punch lines, I honestly don’t know what else could be said without spoiling the surprise. With that in mind, the story itself is rather basic, but it truly shines thanks to very witty dialogue. While exploring the dungeons, I slowly began to adore encountering new enemy types, as the interactions between them and the main characters are just as weird and funny as, let’s say, something out of an animated series like Adventure Time.
If it wasn’t obvious enough, Ittle Dew plays just like a Zelda game, although with a greater emphasis on solving puzzles. The hub-world connects different locations, designated to specific item uses, and The Castle, your main location that gradually opens up as you progress through the story. The structure of Ittle Dew is not as simple, as you don’t actually need to collect all three items to finish the game. Only two will also do the trick, but getting through the game would become noticeably more difficult. I don’t recommend this approach on your first try, because the core game is already more challenging than your typical Zelda. The challenge comes not from relatively basic combat, but from the puzzles themselves. The way they work once again will be pretty familiar for Zelda players– moving blocks and hitting door-opening switches. The way they are designed, on the other hand, is a completely different story. Puzzles are a lot more intricate than you might expect, and some of them had me scratching my head in confusion for a very long time. Thankfully, the difficulty of puzzles ramps up to eleven only in optional side-dungeons, which usually reward the player with more heart pieces and collectible cards.
The thing that immediately grabbed me as I booted up the game was its charming art style, which very effectively combines The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker with Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island. With bold outlines and popping colors,Ittle Dew looks like a Saturday morning cartoon show. The designs are very simplistic, but they work in the context of how the overall style was constructed. Surprisingly,Ittle Dew also boasts some very lovely music, which has some Zelda traits in it, but ultimately feels somewhat different.
Depending on your exploration and puzzle solving skills, Ittle Dew will last between three to six hours. It is not a terribly long and epic adventure, but one that has a lot of heart. If you truly love the Legend of Zelda series and adventures in general, Ittle Dew is the perfect game to remind you why that love exists in the first place.
Nintendojo was provided a copy of this game for review by a third party, though that does not affect our recommendation. For every review, Nintendojo uses a standard criteria.
