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I really enjoyed it The brave squirean action-adventure game in the style of the classic Legend of Zelda Title. It has not just one, but two bizarre art styles: one reminiscent of children’s picture books, another in which the hero is depicted as a miniature toy that comes to life in a child’s room. The game is most often depicted in the former, where screen transitions are accompanied by the turning of a page and the middle of most levels are aptly folded where they meet. The eponymous hero has many adventures with his friends Violet and Thrash, both of whom embody noble and righteous virtues as they triumphantly defeat the forces of evil time and time again. At the end of these journeys, the Plucky Squire comes home and writes about it all, because of course he is Also a bestselling author in the land of Mojo. It is a game with all the ingredients of a children’s classic, something to share with the children in your life to encourage them to dream big and bold. As I played the game, however, I found myself wishing that The brave squire actually believed in its audience as much as it claimed.
You see, The brave squire falls victim to one of the most well-meaning, but nevertheless extremely annoying sins of modern gaming and obvious tutorial everything. If it allows the player to jump out of their storybook for a 3D platform level, then The camera pans across the entire stage to outline the intended path before you even set foot in the world. Even within the confines of the 2D world in the book The brave squire will often provide humorous narratives via screen texts And a corresponding voiceover that adds more spice to the game, but also clearly communicates what is happening with each At almost every step of the game has no faith in your ability to find solutions and paths on your own, preferring to bombard you with answers before you even have a chance to think for yourself. It’s a frustrating twist in an otherwise charming story.
Because of this design decision, which turned out to be the result of the well-meaning intention of the developers of All Possible Futures to create a game that is fun for children of all ages, The brave squire can feel like it’s too forgiving. Considering there’s already a hint system that you can use by talking to a character called Minibeard on puzzle screens, this approach feels like an overcorrection, especially given the locations from which The brave squire draws his inspiration especially from The Legend of Zelda.
The Legend of Zelda is, it goes without saying, a classic. It is one of the most influential games of all time and it is also tough as nails. The original title is full of mysticism and opacity, which famously made it exceptionally difficult to complete. It gave players a number of tools and trustworthy they could use every single one of them to explore the intricacies of the overworld and the dungeons. Yes, there were rooms hidden behind walls that were indistinguishable from normal, indestructible ones, but back then enjoyed the ability to bombard every single wall in sight to search for secrets, and The Legend of Zelda welcomed these player-driven explorations.
A few years ago I decided that, given my admiration for Breath of the WildI was supposed to play one of the groundbreaking titles in the series and booted A connection to the pastwhich is conveniently available on the Nintendo Switch via the Switch Online service. In it, I encountered a bundle of nerves called Red Goriya, who mimics Link’s movements like a mirror image. Since it has armor on the front, I couldn’t just shoot an arrow or hit it with my sword and hope it died. It took me a frustratingly long time to figure out that I had to shoot an arrow and then turn it sideways to land an attack on it, but this breakthrough has stuck with me for years because it made me realize what was expected of me without treating me as if I didn’t have enough intellect and imagination to figure it out. The Zelda The series has always rewarded players for problem solving, inventing solutions to puzzles that truly challenged them and overcoming those obstacles. should feel like a real triumph.
The brave squire starts to hit that vintage ethos towards the end of the game, but given the short running time, there’s very little time and space for the best puzzle and platforming designs. Most of that is reserved for the final two chapters, when the game deems you worthy of being relieved by a narrator who won’t stop taking you by the hand. They don’t necessarily stop dictating the game’s plot, but they take a bit of a backseat to a series of challenges that finally unlock the game’s full potential. Otherwise, The brave squire seems simplistic and even infantile in places, which feels like an insult to the children who are supposedly supposed to be entertained by the topics.
I don’t believe The brave squire goes so far as to treat its players as completely stupid, but it also seems to have no confidence in them, be they children or adults like me, that they understand it. And I think it can stand it! When children understand the ambiguity of The Legend of Zelda back then, they can certainly solve The brave squire without the game shouting its answers. There are ways to bake accessible design (which in turn The brave squire does as an optional mechanic) into a game without compromising the novel discovery experience that Games of this type are often known for.
It would also be possible to simply let players experiment without rewards or secrets, allowing them the creativity that is promoted in the game. The brave squire will introduce new mechanics that literally change the world by allowing you to tilt pages and let gravity affect elements of the book, but then preventing you from using them in places where the designers deem them unnecessary. Even if the solution to a problem wasn’t found in using this tool, I wish it would let me not just use it sparingly and, worse, take it away from me. Let me bomb random walls and push giant blocks back and forth. Dare to let me, or the kids who play this game, dream a little. It won’t hurt anyone.
At the end of the day, I understand that The brave squire simply wants to be inclusive. Its developers want to guarantee that any player can get through this adventure, fall in love with its themes, and continue to spread the genuine joy I had playing it. But along the way, it undoubtedly loses something that made its predecessors as timeless and influential as they are, and that is a genuine belief in its players that is more than just superficial.
