Preview – Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King
Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King from Castle Pixel can’t be released soon enough for me. I was fortunate enough to play a preview build of this super charming retro-style action RPG and it’s the best thing that never came out for the SNES. It’s like playing The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past as told by the grandfather in The Princess Bride. If that doesn’t make you immediately want to play this game, then we have nothing to talk about. The preview build is (I’m just guessing here) about a quarter of the full game, but it’s more than enough to put this on my list of games to watch for in 2017.
Blossom Tales – The story
Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King is fairly unique in its presentation. The story is being told to a pair of young children, Lily and Chrys, by their grandpa as they sit around the fire. Much like the beloved movie, The Princess Bride, this allows for some heartwarming interruption and change in narrative direction from the children. Blossom Tales takes this so far as to actually let players choose what sorts of enemies they’ll encounter at key plot points. It’s a fresh, unconventional approach to storytelling that works incredibly well.
What would an indie game be without nods to its inspirations? Blossom Tales sprinkles references to other games throughout. There are conspicuously hung posters for Rex Rocket (Castle Pixel’s previous game) in houses throughout the village. There’s a loving joke referencing Shovel Knight if you’re paying more attention than Chrys is. But more than anything, there is an endless stream of content paying homage to the greatest Zelda game of all time, A Link to the Past. Cut all the grass and smash all the pots; you know you want to.
The game play
Yes, Blossom Tales is very much a tribute to A Link to the Past. The environments, enemies, and weapons will all be very familiar to anyone who has played that classic title. I’m not saying that this is merely a re-skinned version of it, but the inspiration and similarity is undeniable. However, Blossom Tales executes it perfectly and then improves on the original concepts. For example, the sword spin is present, but it can also be used for a powerful leap attack. There’s a bow and arrow that’s useful for piercing certain enemies, but it’s also used to solve brazier lighting puzzles by shooting arrows through fire. The preview build also allows for the upgrading of the bow into a triple bow. Hopefully there’s more of that sort of mechanic in the full version when it releases.
All of my favorite sub-games are present from the old Zelda series. There’s a race to win a heart piece, gambling, and lots of digging to be done. Thankfully, the digging is aided by discolored pieces of ground to indicate where treasure is found. I spent hours digging up every piece of ground in A Link to the Past and I’d rather not repeat that experience. Blossom Tales indulges the best of my nostalgia while cutting out the tedium I try to repress like so many memories of high school. And if you’re the forgetful type or just don’t have enough time to marathon the game, there’s even a story log to help you remember what you were up to.
Coming soon™
The worst thing about Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King is that it isn’t actually out yet. The official word is that it’s scheduled for a Q1 2017 release, so I can’t even give you a day to mark on your calendar. Circle everything from January through March and hope for the best. When that magical day does finally come, Blossom Tales will be available on PC through Steam. In the meantime, check out the announcement trailer and follow Castle Pixel on twitter for news and updates.
