{"id":9512,"date":"2018-01-04T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-04T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/blossom_tales_the_sleeping_king"},"modified":"2018-01-04T19:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-01-04T19:00:00","slug":"review-blossom-tales-the-sleeping-king-switch-eshop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2018\/01\/04\/review-blossom-tales-the-sleeping-king-switch-eshop\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King (Switch eShop)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"\">\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Screenshot 1 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/87116\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/87116\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Blossom Tales Switch Screenshots0\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p><a class=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nes\/legend_of_zelda\"><strong>The Legend Of Zelda<\/strong><\/a>-inspired adventure that is\u00a0<strong><a class=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/blossom_tales_the_sleeping_king\">Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King<\/a><\/strong> follows the adventures of Lily, a noble Knight Of The Rose tasked with saving the Kingdom of Blossom from eternal darkness. You&#8217;ll need to traverse five challenging dungeons while solving puzzles, using special weapons, items and abilities and slaying every monster in sight. The unique twist here is that the story is actually being narrated by her grandfather, while Lily and her sibling listen intently by the fire. And, just like every grandchild out there, the two kids can&#8217;t stop breaking the immersion by interrupting their elder.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Screenshot 2 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/87119\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/87119\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Blossom Tales Switch Screenshots6\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>A story within a story may not sound like the most imaginative concept, but what it does is provide the game with a certain level of flexibility. This method of narration makes the game\u2019s storytelling and gameplay more dynamic \u2013 with choices as to how the adventure plays out occasionally left up to the player. Do you want to fight a mob of archers or take on a group of bandits? That&#8217;s for you to decide. This requirement to make decisions acts as an inventive way of keeping aspects of the game fresh and the player invested. It\u2019s also used as a way of linking every element within the game together.<\/p>\n<p>With this approach to storytelling in mind, what remains is a game heavily inspired by a well-known series. Yet it rarely comes across as a cheap knock-off. It\u2019s the lovingly-crafted universe that gives this title its own sense of identity. It draws on key components of the Zelda series \u2013 including the dungeons, special items, weapons, heart containers, elements of adventure, boss battles and puzzles \u2013 and uses this template to create a similar yet fresh experience.\u00a0 Other familiar aspects are interaction with townspeople, breaking pots and buying items from vendors around the game world.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Screenshot 3 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/87117\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/87117\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Blossom Tales Switch Screenshots1\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Inventory management is nothing out of the ordinary \u2013 swapping between the necessary items with a few simple button presses. There\u2019s also a world map doubling as a dungeon map when necessary and noting points of interest, and then there\u2019s the log book keeping you informed about Lily\u2019s adventure. Save points are presented in the form of portal stones (which can also be used to teleport) and ensure the overall challenge provided by the game remains balanced. There are a number of recognisable weapons such as a sword (enabling Lily to perform Link\u2019s trademark spin attack) and shield, and then special items to unlock (including bombs and a bow). The boss battles typically encourage you to utilise specific weapons. The usual methods to take down these enemies range from throwing bombs to repeatedly slashing a target.<\/p>\n<p>As well constructed as the entire package is it does lack a certain level of refinement that makes the Zelda series so fantastic. Intentional as the imitation may be, there\u2019s not quite the same level of charm or intrigue. This can be pinned on the storyline \u2013 which simply isn\u2019t as engaging as it potentially could be. Ultimately, the story behind a story along with the abrupt and stilted nature of the narration from time to time detracts from the immersion \u2013 even if it does promote dynamic game design.<\/p>\n<p>Setting Blossom Tales further apart from the title it idolises is the design of puzzles and the layout of the dungeons. While it does an impressive job recreating and merging various ideas seen in older games of this type and reworking them, it doesn\u2019t have quite the same level of polish as you may have previously experienced. Some areas drag on, and a number of puzzles become predictable over time. There are definitely a lot of switches to activate and doors to unlock as well and environments aren\u2019t always laid out as efficiently as they could be. Enemies can occasionally seem overwhelming, too. Apart from these minor problems, in terms of the gameplay, it\u2019s one of the better Zelda alternatives on the market.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Screenshot 4 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/87118\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/87118\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Blossom Tales Switch Screenshots2\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>The artwork in Blossom Tales is what you might imagine a remake of particular retro games to look like. There\u2019s the familiar top-down perspective with bright and colourful pixel backdrops filling every inch of the screen. Each environment in the game has stunning light effects and is filled with intricate detail. The downside in this department is the character art. Lily\u2019s design is rather bland yet everything else from rats to monsters look fine. Apart from this, the animation is lively and this is all further enhanced by a compelling soundtrack channeling themes of heroism and adventure. It admittedly does become a tad repetitive from time to time, but you can&#8217;t fault its ability to capture a certain level of nostalgia.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"conclusion\">\n<h2 class=\"heading\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>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\u2019s 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. While it\u2019s not as flawlessly executed as the series it draws inspiration from and it doesn\u2019t add anything particularly groundbreaking, it&#8217;s still a heartfelt tribute to the earlier entries in Nintendo\u2019s long-running series.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Legend Of Zelda-inspired adventure that is\u00a0Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King follows the adventures of Lily, a noble Knight Of The Rose tasked with saving the Kingdom of Blossom from eternal darkness. You&#8217;ll need to traverse five challenging dungeons while solving puzzles, using special weapons, items and abilities and slaying every monster in sight. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9512\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}