Ever since BOTW, I’ve had a craving for more Zelda games. With Nintendo continuing to hold back its classic 2D Zelda games from the Switch, I’ve had to get my Zelda fix from games like Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas and Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King. Then when I heard that Devolver Digital were bringing one of their newer games minit to the Nintendo Switch, I couldn’t wait to experience first hand this new take on the classic 2D Zelda formula.

So what does minit add to the Zelda formula you ask? Well it takes some of the classic aspects of 2D Zelda games and mixes them with a sprinkling of Rogue-Like elements.

The Story

While most games focus on making your in-game character’s life last longer, Vlambeer’s minit condenses your player’s life down to just one minute. After your unusual looking protagonist picks up a cursed sword, his/her life is reduced to a GroundHog Day-like cycle of just 60 seconds. With an eye ever on the life timer, you the player, will need to solve puzzles and unlock upgrades to help get the protagonist to the Sword Factory, which is manufacturing these cursed weapons.

Though the story is minimalistic, the game is fleshed out by charismatic characters that will give you side quests to do along the way. The writing is humorous and the way some of the dialogue is used throughout the story is extremely clever and funny. For one example, you talk to a tortoise that speaks very, very slowly. What’s so funny about that? Well you only have a life of 60 seconds, so listening to him ramble on for 45 of those seconds is a quick way to burn through a life. There are some other humorous examples but I don’t want to spoil them for you.

The Game

The game is played from a top-down prospective and has a very simple two button control scheme. A is the action button (usually swinging a sword) and B being a life reset. Though your life only last 60 seconds, any progress made during a previous life is saved and rolled over to the next one. Therefore, if you unlocked a door in one life and then died, in the next life the door will already be unlocked for you. This is the real hook of the game and something I found extremely satisfying, as I was making a little progress with every life. This form of progression reminds me of games like Rogue Legacy and gives minit its Rogue-like aspect.

In addition, it adds a touch of a Metroidvania aspect to the game as the map is opened up the more items you have. From the start there are areas that are obviously saved for later and I think the developers deserve credit for clearly marking those areas as inaccessible. They usually did this by using time to show the player ‘ok my life isn’t long enough to get through this cave, I must need an item (like running shoes) to get through it quicker.’ However, when you have most of the items in the game, it’s so rewarding running through areas quickly that you were stuck in earlier.

By far my favourite aspect of minit is its exploration. The developers drop you in the game with no hand-holding and leave you to find your way through the game tip toe by tip toe. Because there’s no obvious direction, it means the player can play the game in any order they want. Therefore, this freedom means the order I experienced the game may be totally different from the way you experience the game. This reminds me of the original Legend of Zelda minus the dungeons.

The way the game is intertwined and connected is extremely impressive. It was so cool heading off in a direction and completing puzzles to be rewarded with an item that I knew was needed in another area of the map. The puzzles themselves are relatively easy, however, what’s difficult is working out what an item’s purpose is and where it needs to be used in the world. It’s engaging enough to carry you through the ‘story’ and have you beat the game. Whereas in some other games with similar mechanics, it leads to a lot of head scratching and frustration.

There is combat in the game. However, I feel like it was put in the game because it’s a video game trope to have combat in nearly every game. The combat was never really a challenge and even boss battles were straight forward and easy. I really wish Vlambeer just made minit a game about exploration and puzzle solving, as those aspects of the game shone so much brighter than the combat.

Art and Music

The art style of minit makes it stand out from other indie games that are realising on the Switch.

Much like every other part of the game, the art style is minimalistic and seems like an ode to the old-school graphics of the Game Boy. There were some things I didn’t like which I’ll mention later. Nevertheless, though the colour pallet is a simple black and white and the character models are all a little strange, I couldn’t help but love the style of minit. The main character looks a little like a 4 year old’s drawing of a duck. With just a head and beak with legs coming out of the head. However, it fits perfectly with the game’s quirky atmosphere and writing. Furthermore, in movement minit looks exceptionally stunning. It’s mind blowing how artists Dominik Johann and Katy Calis got so much beauty out of black and white pixels!

The music accompanied the game nicely but the characters were voiced in that irritable mumble language, which games like Splatoon 2 and Yooka-Laylee are voiced in. Usually, I hate this in video games, however, the strange mumbled voice acting seemed to work in minit and I didn’t find it that annoying.

Problems

The only problem with minit was that it was hard to distinguish items in the environment that you were supposed to interact with. The was especially so in the factory and when playing in handheld mode. Some of the machines and buttons that were supposed to be pressed look exactly the same as other machines in the factory. Therefore, there were times where I’d be stuck and just go around hitting everything to see if it would trigger something into moving. This is really a small complaint, it more of just an FYI for any of you that plan on buying the game after reading this review.

Secondly, and not really a complaint from me, is that the game is short. I finished it in less than two hours and for some people that might be a problem considering the game costs €9.99. However, even though I finished the game, I only did it with 61% completion so there is still more cool stuff for me to find. Plus, there’s a new game+ mode for anyone who wants to play through the game a second time. I’ve said what my stance is on short games in my review of Her Majesty’s SPIFFING, so go and read that review if you want more info on what I think.

Conclusion

Honestly, minit didn’t scratch the Zelda itch for me. However, that isn’t a bad thing. I think the clever design and beautiful art style of minit make it stand out on its own as a fantastic game. The exploration in the game is never boring and the connection between the puzzles, items and progression throughout the game continually kept me engaged and wanting to finish it. Though in it’s nature minit is a short game, I think it is well worth it’s €9.99 price tag and is a must play for any indie or Devolver Digital fan that owns a Nintendo Switch.

Therefore, I give minit by Vlambeer and Devolver Digital my rating of

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