In a year filled with 100-hour RPGs, this “short and sweet” tribute to the best Zelda game is exactly what I need

2024 has kicked off with a list of bangers ranging from Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth to Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, and as excellent as those games are, I’m growing increasingly desperate for more bite-sized titles to maintain a varied gaming diet. And Castaway, an upcoming indie that bills itself as a “short and sweet adventure” and looks like a perfect tribute to The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, feels like just the thing.

Castaway starts out just as Link’s Awakening does, with your hero awakening on an uncharted island after a shipwreck. The difference here is that your crashed vessel is a spaceship, and you’re out to rescue a very adorable dog from whatever dangers lurk on the island. You’ll pick up weapons like a sword, pickaxe, and grappling hook that seem to be useful in both combat and puzzle-solving through the game’s three dungeons.

Across Castaway’s trailers, dev tweets, and Steam page, it’s described as “concise,” “short and sweet,” “bite-sized,” and a “tiny game,” and those words are all music to my ears. It seems that the game is built for replayability, too, with a “survivor mode” and 50-floor challenge tower that unlocks after beating the main story, for those who really want more to chew on. 

Developer Canari Games previously put out Lunark, which served as a tribute to a very different type of ’90s game – it was a cinematic platformer in the style of Flashback or Another World. Lunark has enjoyed very positive reviews on Steam, so here’s hoping another trip to a classic well provides similarly strong results.

Despite being 31 years old at this point, Link’s Awakening has proven to be a particularly robust influence on modern games, spawning an excellent modern remake and inspiring the next big project from the Shovel Knight devs. Its place among the best Zelda games remains a topic of obvious debate, but it’s always been a personal favorite of mine – and it looks like Castaway is well-poised to make the most of that old formula.

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