Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore [Xbox]
Developed by Seedy Eye Software (a clever play on CD-i) and published by Limited Run Games, Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore is an interactive action-adventure game inspired by the infamous CD-i Zelda titles from days gone by.
Leaning heavily into the cheesy intro story with accompanying static visuals - though the crayon art is actually quite charming here. Once the game begins the cutscene animation style changes to a cruder look, more akin to the hand-drawn CD-i titles that inspired it. The story tells of how after a peaceful ten years, the evil Daimur has returned to wreak havoc - and Arzette is Faramore’s only hope. Upon his release, Daimur entrusted the five jewel shards that were used to imprison him, in the hands of his minions - so Arzette must hunt each of them down to recover the shards in order to banish Daimur once and for all.
Two difficulty modes are available straight off the bat; normal and Casual, with casual having weaker enemies and health drops available. Even on the normal mode, Arzette doesn’t feel too punishing, due to the unlimited number of lives, as well as levels being broken up into manageable chunks - so even if you do happen to perish, you won’t be sent too far back. Arzette plays in an almost metroidvania style, with individual linear levels accessible through a level select screen, each with additional sections or areas to uncover as you progress - so a little bit of backtracking is required at times. You must activate beacons in certain levels, and recover various quest items from others, in order to fulfil all of the tasks set out before you, eventually leading you to Daimur himself.
After completing the game, you will unlock additional modes, including a Hero mode (harder difficulty, with no health drops and harder enemies) as well as a Boss Rush mode, where you must go through each of the boss levels with no breaks - this option comes with the addition of being able to do it in either Normal or Hero difficulty, as well as being able to toggle between normal items (that you’d typically have gained by the point you reach each of the bosses), or to face the bosses with only the Sword of Faramore.
As you progress through the main story, Arzette will gain access to a shield in the form of a giant floating ring, as well as a magic gun to shoot down different coloured magic barriers (with each colour of magic being unlocked individually). These will all eventually be upgraded further, with the shield becoming reflective (bouncing enemy projectiles back at them); the gun having more magic colours - and eventually a purple magic that will work with any colour of magic; and even the Sword of Faramore will get stronger, dealing far more damage once upgraded.
Each level has different collectibles to be found, with a record of everything you’ve found/yet to find viewable from the level select screen. Candles must be found in order to unlock banners that will usually lead to rewards such as extra health or upgrades. Each level also has a collectible coin, with these often being hidden behind invisible openings, or breakable walls. There are plenty of rubies to collect in the levels that can be spent at the shop back in Faramore Town too, which allow you to buy items such as bombs which come in handy for your quest of locating hidden treasures. A bonus level can be found in each of the main world levels, accessible through a little floating scroll; these give you opportunities to gain lots of rubies, as well as perform challenges such as navigating through the dark to find a hidden exit (having oil-lamps will be useful here), closing all of the doors à la Hotel Mario, and more.
There are a fantastic variety of characters for you to interact with, each with humorous cutscenes and dialogue. The first NPC type character you’ll meet is Cypress, who upon finding him, looks just like a new enemy type so you’ll inevitably try to kill him (triggering the interaction by hitting him with your sword, just like in the old games). Important Quests are logged in your Quest screen so that you can check them at any time if you’re lost, though it doesn’t give a whole lot of information so you’ll need to bear this in mind. Thankfully, places in the world with something of interest for you to check out will be highlighted in the world map with an exclamation mark. The world is interesting, with well varied locations, each with beautifully hand-painted backgrounds and plenty of detail; character designs are unique and fun, with tonnes of personality shining through. The soundtrack, by Jake Silverman, is phenomenal - perfectly evoking the classic, retro vibe, whilst remaining fresh and extremely catchy - it’s definitely one of the better classic-styled soundtracks I’ve listened to.
Part of the charm of Arzette is its very old-school feel; lead developer Seth ‘Dopply’ Fulkerson (who previously released fan remasters of both Link: The Faces of Evil, and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon) made it very clear that despite being a more modern take on the CD-i titles that inspired it, it remains loyal to its inspirations at its core, with the developers sticking to a similar colour palette, frame-rate and resolution of the CD-i animations. Additionally, Rob Dunlavey - one of Arzette’s artists - worked on the Zelda CD-i games, too, further ensuring that this spiritual successor will feel familiar to fans. The voice actors for both Link and Zelda from the CD-i games, even make an appearance here, with Jeffrey Rath as both the tutorial voice and the character of Skelvis (a bone-shaking Elvis skeleton); and Bonnie Jean Wilbur as the narrator, which is a fun little nod for fans, too.
Overall, Arzette ended up providing a really fun experience, with plenty of humour and a decent cast of characters to interact with and assist. A pretty cool, retro-styled physical Collector’s Edition is available from Limited Run Games for $89.99, with an optional CD-i controller available alongside it (for an extra $35), and this is super fun and intriguing - and I must admit, I really want one - though it won’t actually be released until September! So if you want to give Arzette a go, and you’d rather not wait for the physical release, you can pick it up digitally for £16.74 on the Xbox Store.
In the end, we decided to give Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore the Collecting Asylum rating of 8/10.
Are you interested in Arzette? What do you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
Thank you to Limited Run Games for the Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore Xbox review code!
