I remember this game being talked about a fair bit back when it came out as a really good "Nindie" title on Switch that was a loving tribute to Legend of Zelda games from the LTTP-era. It's on sale for like 50% off for Nintendo's post-E3 sale right now, so I decided to pick it up. While a very competent game, I don't think Blossom Tales is really for someone like me who's beaten all the other 2D top-down Zelda games already. I hunted around for goodies as much as I could but still apparently missed quite a few (or at least a couple, if there aren't actually 2 complete rows of hearts), and it took me about 8.5 hours to beat. While I did enjoy my time with the game to a point, I'd be lying if I said I didn't regret buying it at least a little.

Blossom Tales' narrative conceit is that it's a grandpa telling a story to his grandchildren. The game is very much in the style of a LTTP or GBC Zelda game, and doesn't so much wear its inspiration on its sleeve as it has it tattooed on its forehead, as it even opens with the grandpa wanting to tell them the story of the little boy in green who saved a kingdom beginning with H-, but the kids have heard it so many times he has to think of another story. The humor is silly, but the narrative is fairly spread apart enough that it's not really a super big part of the game. You really rarely have to talk people if you don't want to, but the grandpa's asides explain further goals or introduce bosses. There are twice where the kids will actually argue about what the story will be (like what kind of enemy you're about to fight) and you, the player, get to pick which one of them is right, but it only happens twice, so it's not really a mechanic/gimmick the game takes much advantage of.

The dungeon design is super duper simple. Basically every dungeon of the four in the game are just a series of rooms, sometimes branching off of a main room, full of either corridors full of traps, self-contained puzzle rooms, or monster arenas, and you have to complete that to get to the next room. You'll eventually come across a switch that will unlock the way forward in the aforementioned main room. Rinse and repeat. There will be a mini-boss and eventually a boss in there somewhere, but all 4 dungeons in the game follow that same formula. Again, it's competently done and can be quite fun, but it's hard to get excited about after playing so many actual LoZ games that do this so much better.

The music is very heavily Zelda-inspired, one town in particular very clearly opening with the first few bars of Zelda's Lullaby (I'm sure other places do that too but I don't know Zelda songs well enough to tell :P ), but there wasn't anything particularly great other than the blacksmith theme you barely ever hear because you're in the blacksmith for maybe a total of 20 seconds in the whole game. I found the graphical style fairly ugly, to be honest. The monster design, particularly the boss design, is pretty good, but the world felt fairly generic (albeit nice looking) and the NPC characters and player character all had oddly simplistic design compared to the rest of the world and it just didn't look nice to me at all.

The combat and item use can be pretty annoying as well. Unlike the GBA or GBC Zelda games where you can slash with impunity and it's always the same slash, BT has a 3-step slash where first it's to the right, then the left, and then a roundhouse swing and there is a slight pause in the momentum of the swings. This combined with the often huge enemy hordes you're fighting actually makes the combat fairly frustrating, compared to LoZ, as you just can't help but get hit because you can't kill stuff fast enough (most enemies take 3 hits to kill). Trying to fight stuff with the sword was almost always more trouble than it was worth, especially because your sub-weapons are SO much better.

Your items like bombs, arrows, and boomerang (among others) all just use a constantly regenerating "energy" so you don't need to refill them at a shop ever, but they also do like 3-times as much damage at your sword, which basically makes the sword your last line of defense and something you basically never want to use. This is made pretty annoying at how you can't actually sort the sub-weapon menu in any way, but that's a very minor annoyance. The combat may be frustrating at times (particularly before you have very good sub-weapons), but the game is actually really easy. It's one of the easiest games in this style I've played. The damage you take is super forgiving, and on top of that the game just spits defense, healing, and revive items at you quite a lot.

Verdict: Hesitantly Recommended. Blossom Tales really isn't a bad game, but it was not the game for me. If you just like the exploration, dungeon trekking, and simple combat of Zelda, you'll probably quite like this game despite the fact that it ever really presents a challenge. If you wanted to get a non-gamer or a kid into Zelda games, this is a great first-step into the genre with how relatively easy it is compared to most Zelda games. If you're someone who loves 2D Zelda, has played them all, and is looking for a new interesting or challenging take on the formula, however, Blossom Tales will very likely leave you quite disappointed even at the sale price going on at the moment.

# Would you enjoy this game:
Blossom Tales is very heavily inspired by A Link to the Past. It doesn't add a whole lot on top of that, but if you've already played that and want more, it isn't too bad.

# Moment to moment:
Primarily, you're walking around the world either fighting enemies or solving puzzles. Fighting is pretty basic and never felt like all that much of a challenge, especially once you get the bombs or bow. The three main types of puzzles are all classics (memory, sokoban and step-on-every-tile-once). Walking around the world itself is neither especially interesting or especially boring. A way to run would be nice.

# Gameplay experience:
The one really clever twist is that this all takes place under the framing device of a grandpa telling a story, and occasionally the kids will inject something into the story. Otherwise, you're mostly searching for the three MacGuffins needed to wake the titular king and all the fighting and puzzle solving is there to make that a challenge. There's some side quests along the way, and some optional puzzles to get the usual extra hearts or gear. All of this is slightly marred by the fact that the designers always take any idea one step too far. There's one too many sokoban puzzles, the trail of falling tiles you need to run across is a little too long, the rooms stuffed with bats are a little too big, etc.

# What keeps you playing:
Gameplay? Being easy isn't a bad thing, but if you're going to invite comparison to A Link to the Past, Blossom Tales is a little underwhelming. I think that mostly comes down to the enemy design and selection of puzzles as the combat tools you have are a fairly standard mix. Unfortunately bombs beat most enemies and none of the puzzles require much in the way of clever use of the tools either.

Aesthetics? There's nothing wrong with the graphics or sound design, but nothing outstanding. There's not a whole lot to talk about game-feel-wise either.

Story? The framing story with the grandpa telling a bedtime story to his grandkids is a nice touch and used well. As a bedtime story, the plot makes as much sense as anything. It's cute but not anything thought provoking, but maybe that's what you want.

This has to be the best 2D Zelda clone I have played to date! Loved the over-world, Loved the dudgeon and like the concept of a grandfather telling the story to his grandkids.
The amount of secrets lying around and the items are most handy.
I guess my concern is the music is fantastic and memorable, but has a short loop and repeats itself frequently.
The need for more was there at the end as the game takes about 11 hours to finish. An extra one or two dudgeons and some side quests would make this as good as a 2D Zelda itself! A minor gripe also is I wish the pixel art style was a little more detailed. Regardless, the game was great value also and hope a slightly more polished sequel is in the works for me to grab

A bite sized 2D Zelda-like with more emphasis on combat than puzzles. Enjoyed the first 4 hours of the 8 hours it took me to complete this game, however halfway through you get bored of the extremely linear dungeons with the same 2 repetitive puzzles, of which are block pushing puzzles and tile stepping puzzles.

Combat is fluid and fun, but there's only so much you can do with combat in these types of games. I do commend the items which are very useful for combat and you won't only be relying on the sword.

The pixel art is nice however it lacks a certain charm and identity the 2D Zelda games have. With a little more budget and creativity, this game has the potential to be extremely solid, which is why I look forward to playing the sequel.

I recommend playing this only if you are craving more 2D Zelda.

Blossom Tales is a charming Zelda-like with a lot of personality. The framing device is a grandpa telling his kids a bedtime story, and his narrative pops in and out of the story throughout. Even better, the kids will argue about what happens in the story - what kind of boss are you about to run into? What kind of puzzle is up next? And rather than be cosmetic, we get to choose which kids' idea grandpa goes with in the story - which shapes what we do next. It's not transformational, but it's a really neat way to integrate the story into the gameplay.

This is, unfortunately, one of the only really original ideas in the game. If you've played a 2D Zelda (or even another Zelda-like), then all of this will be familiar. Get four heart pieces to add a heart to the health meter; park bombs on cracked walls to break them open; get the bow and arrow for range combat and dungeon puzzle solving. It's all very familiar, but done well and with a lovely art style.

Wanted to mention the music in particular as a standout - Josie Brechner's score is a superb chiptune accompaniment to the game, often richly atmospheric (the frost zone them is incredible) and always setting a great mood for the dungeons and areas.

With some more original ideas I think this would have been more interesting, but it's a solid little game regardless.

Pros:
+ a competent homage to classic 2D Zeldas
+ Lily is a memorable protagonist
+ colorful art style and impressive particle effects
+ a large overworld with lots of optional challenges
+ combat is snappy and satisfying
+ progress and pacing are swift and concise
+ difficulty curve is moderate enough
+ movement speed is quick enough
+ writing is quiant and flowery
+ meta-narrative elements offer surprising options...

Cons:
- ...but sadly appear to rarely
- item management is a bit cumbersome
- most NPCs have nothing interesting to say
- health replenishment system is a bit wonky
- the general design doesn't evolve much from the Zelda formula
- very little post-game content

Magic Moment: Chosing what enemies to fight on the overworld for the first time.

Playtime: 9 hours with most of the map explored and 13 hearts collected.

Verdict:
Blossom Tales is a competently made homage to the classic 2D Zeldas. It emulates the combat, overworld design, and exploratory nature of its forbearers well, but offers little in terms of innovation. While the meta-narrative is a unique twist, the different routes offered in specific situations only rarely affect the gameplay. Still, the colorful art style and flowery writing help in giving the game a distinct identity, and anyone interested in re-exploring the concise, streamlined action adventures of the 16-bit era will find plenty to enjoy here.

Play it and then play the sequel.