Alundra [Game Review]

A friend of mine recommended the game to me when I told him that I would like to continue my acquaintance with the classic PSOne games, but did not know what to do. He proposed her, Alundra. Almost like “polundra” only instead of “po”, “a”. I think this will make it easier for you to remember the name. Here we take on the role of a young man named Alundra, who finds himself on a mysterious island, on which he was thrown by the waves onto a sandy shore after a shipwreck. People from Inoy, a village near the beach, helped him regain his strength and come to his senses. The boy was almost immediately sheltered by local gunsmith Jess, for whom he became the son he never had. Our hero is not an ordinary young man. He can travel through other people’s dreams. Alundra learns about her gift at the very moment when a deadly disaster comes to the inhabitants of the village of Inoya.

The demon god Melzas and his servants invade people’s dreams, turning them into nightmares from which they cannot wake up. Only Alundra, that is, you and me, can save the inhabitants of the village of Inoya. Thus begins a classic action-adventure game from the Playstation One era. Be patient if you want to see the ending of this story. You will need it..

Dream Warrior

From the first seconds of the game, you can see that Alundra is very similar to the series of games The Legend of Zelda. We play as a similar little guy, solve puzzles in dungeons, save the world from a big evil that has a name, and our hero, like Link, also has a princess. Only this one is less picky..

Remember girls: A real young lady will not disdain having a man jump on her head to solve a puzzle. A real young lady will say “you’re welcome” and will be proud that she has been useful. … It looks like this game couldn’t come out today ..

You could say that Alundra is a Zelda clone, but there are a few important differences. Firstly, the story is darker and a little more adult, touching on themes of people’s blind worship of religion, life and death, and even drunkenness in the family. Secondly, this is the main mechanics of the game – journey through nightmares villagers. Each nightmare that the main character enters is a unique dungeon with puzzles, mazes and a boss at the end, directly related to the personality and characteristics of the dreamer. The most amazing thing about these mechanics is that each of them has something new that you have not seen before in the game and an unexpected plot twist at the climax of the nightmare.

Don’t forget that Alundra ended Gamblingsitesnotongamstop.co.uk up on a mysterious island full of secret passages and places unknown to anyone, which means we need to study it thoroughly. Some places on the map cannot be reached without a certain item, others are skillfully hidden. The game world is expansive and rich in a variety of locations and enemies, making it a pleasure to explore.

I already told you what complexity is, but?

Alundra is not only an action adventure, but also a role-playing game. As the player progresses, he will gain new abilities, acquire useful equipment, increase the number of his life points and find more and more powerful weapons to fight with enemies. At the same time, the difficulty of the game will increase. At some point, Alundra’s difficulty will rise so high that you’ll start to seriously worry about breaking the buttons on your controller.

We’ve all played hardcore games. They are still coming out now and are even seriously becoming very popular. So, it would seem that complexity can’t scare anyone these days. But Alundra is a classic hardcore game and you might have forgotten what it really means or not know it at all. After completing Alundra, any modern, quote-unquote “complicated” game seems casual, laughable.

When I wrote that you’ll need patience to beat this game, I wasn’t exaggerating at all. Despite the fact that, in general, the passage takes no more than thirty hours, it took me seventy. These additional forty hours were spent by me on countless attempts to pass this or that point in the game.

The puzzles here force you to think outside the box. They are very unusual, different and creative, but very easy to get confused about. I often remembered the riddle with piano from Silent Hill, playing Alundra. This association arose for me because Alundra not only has really smart and difficult puzzles, but also very fun in the process of solving them.

Another element of the game, Platforming, requires pixel precision, and sometimes so that you can meet very strict precise timing. Jumping segments are extremely difficult. Sometimes you need to jump in a certain order, which you can only find out through trial and error. Sometimes for a period of time that lasts for a few seconds. If you hesitate and don’t have time, start all over again.

The opponents look very menacing, so much so that you don’t want to approach them.

The devil is not as scary as he is painted?

Alundra’s gameplay is extremely well balanced and fair to the player. Don’t be afraid, you won’t be thrown into the deep end right away. Some moments in the game will seem difficult only at first glance. Boss battles that take quite a lot of hit points with their attacks can be intimidating at first. But then it turns out that one of them in the arena where you are fighting with him has a “dead zone” where he cannot reach you, but you can easily. Another main villain is quickly killed by a certain type of weapon and you can find ways to evade his attacks or even extinguish them. And everything would be fine, but there is a “BUT”..

When I completed Alundra, I looked for Takeshi Kitano’s name in the credits. Because the endgame is hell. This is a hardcore gaming nightmare come true. Not only because of the sometimes annoying complexity of the puzzles and especially the platforming, but also the final boss, which turns out to be several at once with no way to save between them. And now they are really heavy and will not give you a break, especially the last one. After defeating them I can confidently say: “Have not played Alundra – casual”. You can quote me.

An adventure worth experiencing

The game is very well drawn in 2D style with a bright visual aesthetic, although in terms of the number of colors it looks more like a game from the SNES or SEGA platforms than a PSOne. The music fits well with the mood of the moment: you go on a journey to a solemn melody, and in a risky battle with enemies, menacing drums and a trumpet enter under the sonorous blows of a hammer on the keys of a xylophone.

The dungeons, terrain locations on the island and in the rooms are done superbly, but some elements of the gameplay in the game are repeated. For example, I would like to see unique ordinary opponents in the dreams of villagers, and not just those we meet in the open world of the game.

The main thing I cannot disagree with is that Alundra truly is amazing PSOne classics. A wonderfully enjoyable adventure game that has a dark tone and fun humor. Despite its similarity to games in The Legend of Zelda series, players remember it by its own name. That says a lot.