Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King

Where The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild broke free from the long-held conventions that the green tunic-clad hero’s adventures had been built around, Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King pays an irrepressibly charming tribute to them. This quest to save the Kingdom of Blossom from eternal darkness is a standout addition to the Nintendo eShop for Nintendo Switch, and one that I’m certain many will enjoy sinking hours into.

Visually the game continues to pay its respects to its influence. The world is broken into squares with each one hiding new areas themed to the dungeons. There are plenty of nooks and crannies to explore. The game can be run through in about 10-12 hours depending on how much I wanted to dig around. Blossom Tales scratches an itch I have of wanting to venture through Link to the Past once a year. It is well-designed if not a bit cliché in its approach.

Judging a game on its own merits is very important. However, when a title happens to borrow just about every aspect of its design from an iconic game series, it’s hard not to acknowledge. Claims could be made that a game like this is nothing more than a shameless clone, but thankfully in the case of Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King, the developer has intentionally crafted it with a sense of love and admiration of classic Zelda games.