Hazelnut Bastille: first trailer and a playable demo of this action-RPG inspired by Zelda: A Link to the Past!
Scheduled for 2019, Aloft Studio unveils a first official video of its game "Hazelnut Bastille" and offers you to try a playable demo!
A worthy heir to Super Famicom games like "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past"(from which it borrows the overworld, dungeons and progression system) and "Seiken Densetsu", Hazelnut Bastille, a top-down view 2D action-RPG game, looks like it came to visit us right from the early-to-mid 90s.
While waiting for a more accurate release date, the developers offer a playable demo in exchange for an inscription to their newsletter.
The first official trailer does not try to hide its obvious resemblance to Zelda 3!
| WHO WILL MAKE THE MUSIC? | |
|---|---|
 The very composer of Secret of Mana(and Seiken Densetsu 3!), Hiroki Kikuta, is in charge of the OST!You can listen to its magnificent timeless masterpiece(kinda butchered in the remake, by the way) on Youtube here. This was the golden age of games, I tell you. I'm curious to see what he's cooking for Hazelnut Bastille! By the way, just to tell you how cool this guy is, he also collaborated on the OST of Tangledeep! (You can get the game and the OST on GOG!) |
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| You've got to admit it looks gorgeous. The developers are so nostalgic that they decided to stick to the 4/3 format for now. I wouldn't say no to 16/9 though, this time. And I hope they plan to add a CRT filter!😋 |
One negative note: you play a girl. YES, AGAIN.
(Random game: try to count the number of games which have been released in 2018, in which the hero is a female. Good luck.😂)
At this point, I'm not sure anymore if we see so many girls in games because the trend is to be a feminist, or if it's because most gamers are guys and they just love to see girls in games? (After all, my best - male - friend does love to select girls only in Street Fighter V. And Dead or Alive games too...)
FEATURES
- Classic open-world overworld like Zelda 3, with lots of dungeons!
- Zelda 3 combat system(apparently?)
- A proper RPG inventory, with a little crafting system, and LOTS of items to cure your various conditions!
- Lots of NPCs will give you sidequests! Talk to everybody and improve your character!
- Glorious 90s-style 16-bit pixel art, almost exactly like on the good old Super Famicom!
- "Metroidvania progression"? I'm not sure what they mean by that, but I assume that like most Metroidvanias, once you acquire a new skill, you have access to previously unreachable areas? It was already the case of Zelda 3 and we didn't call it a Metroidvania, though... Whatever.
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| This reminds me of the second best underrated action-RPG on Megadrive: "Soleil", also called "Crusader of Centy" in USA. Hmm? Which is the first best action-RPG? Oh, that's Landstalker, obviously. |
| Did you know? | |
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| Hazelnut Bastille is being developed with Unity Engine! What do you mean, you don't care? Fine, fine. |
Recommended game!
Secret of Mana is one of the few choices you have on PC, if you want a proper old-school Japanese-style action-RPG. 
Not gonna lie to you, the game feels completely unnecessary if you have the original on Super Famicom, or even play an emulated version. And well, the new blocky 3D graphics might appear atrocious to nostalgic people who prefer pixel art. There ARE a few good additions though, like some nice Japanese voices, possibility to switch between the great old OST and the new butchered one, and last but not least, I find the combat much more satisfying. In the original game, it felt too slow and clunky.
If you loved the original game, you should appreciate this one too!
Here, I put again the website address in case you missed it!
Will you pay attention? ALOFT STUDIO - Hazelnut Bastille
Tell us what you think after you tried the demo! 😉👍
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