Sights & Sounds
- The visual design looks pretty good, honestly. The cartoonish top-down perspective evokes A Link to the Past, but that seems very intentional
- The character designs are pretty cute, featuring a bunch of cute fruit and veggie designs
- The soundtrack has no business being this good. I actually looked forward to entering a new area or dungeon just to hear the music
Story & Vibes
- By refusing to pay his taxes, Turnip Boy has angered the local authority, a corrupt allium named Mayor Onion. He sends you on a series of errands to knock some of the principal off your tax bill. Zaniness ensues
- That's about it. The title of the game is Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion. If you were expecting a profound exploration of the human condition or white-knuckled action, you're in the wrong place
- The humor is hit-or-miss, but then again, I find that's true of most games that lean into absurd humor. When it lands, the most it elicits is a chuckle. When it doesn't, it makes you cringe inwardly
Playability & Replayability
- The resemblance to SNES-era Zelda titles is more than just visual; the gameplay loop is similar as well. You collect tools and equipment to clear dungeons that contain bosses and sometimes more tools and equipment for clearing more dungeons. Cyclical, but a tried-and-true formula
- The controls are quite similar too. If you've played a (top-down) 2D Zelda game in the past, you'll feel well-acquainted. The nice part is that you have a dash for dodging attacks. My one complaint is that equipment can only be switched with the shoulder buttons. A d-pad quick wheel implementation would have felt far less clunky
- Throughout your journey, you'll also collect various hats, but these are just cosmetic. You'll also wind up finding additional documents beyond your tax bill to rip up for achievements
- If you just want to race through the game, there are accessibility options for making yourself invincible or upping your damage. The game felt fair enough that I didn't bother touching those settings until the post-game
- That's right, there's post-game content. There's a small rogue-like mode available after beating the main story that contains some additional achievements and boss fights
- I 100%ed the game and there's already a sequel out, so I don't think I'll be back
Overall Impressions & Performance
- Honestly, not a bad little game. Not very challenging or long, though, which prevents it from leaving much of an impression. Still, there are worse ways to spend ~2 hours
- It's only listed as Steam Deck Playable, but didn't notice anything suboptimal about how it looked or ran
Final Verdict
- 6/10. It's an okay experience that left a mildly positive impression. It's fairly fun, pretty short, and usually on deeply discounted somewhere, so I'd recommend it if you're looking to scratch a Zelda itch and only want to commit a couple hours and dollars to scratching it
- The visual design looks pretty good, honestly. The cartoonish top-down perspective evokes A Link to the Past, but that seems very intentional
- The character designs are pretty cute, featuring a bunch of cute fruit and veggie designs
- The soundtrack has no business being this good. I actually looked forward to entering a new area or dungeon just to hear the music
Story & Vibes
- By refusing to pay his taxes, Turnip Boy has angered the local authority, a corrupt allium named Mayor Onion. He sends you on a series of errands to knock some of the principal off your tax bill. Zaniness ensues
- That's about it. The title of the game is Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion. If you were expecting a profound exploration of the human condition or white-knuckled action, you're in the wrong place
- The humor is hit-or-miss, but then again, I find that's true of most games that lean into absurd humor. When it lands, the most it elicits is a chuckle. When it doesn't, it makes you cringe inwardly
Playability & Replayability
- The resemblance to SNES-era Zelda titles is more than just visual; the gameplay loop is similar as well. You collect tools and equipment to clear dungeons that contain bosses and sometimes more tools and equipment for clearing more dungeons. Cyclical, but a tried-and-true formula
- The controls are quite similar too. If you've played a (top-down) 2D Zelda game in the past, you'll feel well-acquainted. The nice part is that you have a dash for dodging attacks. My one complaint is that equipment can only be switched with the shoulder buttons. A d-pad quick wheel implementation would have felt far less clunky
- Throughout your journey, you'll also collect various hats, but these are just cosmetic. You'll also wind up finding additional documents beyond your tax bill to rip up for achievements
- If you just want to race through the game, there are accessibility options for making yourself invincible or upping your damage. The game felt fair enough that I didn't bother touching those settings until the post-game
- That's right, there's post-game content. There's a small rogue-like mode available after beating the main story that contains some additional achievements and boss fights
- I 100%ed the game and there's already a sequel out, so I don't think I'll be back
Overall Impressions & Performance
- Honestly, not a bad little game. Not very challenging or long, though, which prevents it from leaving much of an impression. Still, there are worse ways to spend ~2 hours
- It's only listed as Steam Deck Playable, but didn't notice anything suboptimal about how it looked or ran
Final Verdict
- 6/10. It's an okay experience that left a mildly positive impression. It's fairly fun, pretty short, and usually on deeply discounted somewhere, so I'd recommend it if you're looking to scratch a Zelda itch and only want to commit a couple hours and dollars to scratching it