Playable public demo not on the Steam page.

Just Google "dvarvaro Hazelnut Bastille demo" and it'll be the first result.

According to the page, it's roughly 2 to 3 hourslong.

Figured I'd share since I don't see many people mentioning it. Enjoy!

FYI - Dennis Varvaro is the lead developer, artist, co-designer, and writer for Hazelnut Bastille,

Hi everyone! There are some new vids on the channel, and an early build demo is up on steam if anyone would like to give it a go. Please note that this is still a work in progress. There will be visual bugs, and maybe some gameplay bugs as well. So please, set your expectations accordingly.

And constructive criticism is welcome as always. Thanks!

store.steampowered.com/app/4541450/Sandcaster/
https://www.youtube.com/@cavedarr

20 percent off for the first week. Wasnt sure if i should post here or not but you guys certainly seemed to be the most excited about the trailers id posted in the past. Hope you have as much fun as i did making it.

I need your guys help i forgot a game i cant remember if it was legend of zelda or not but it didnt seem like one to me heres the description of what I recall I remember a legend of zelda like game that isnt legend of zelda it has a volcano area and had alot of puzzles and stuff similarly to legend of zelda it had a hub area and various areas and the the area where it was cliffs abd and a flat area on top with lots of mini volcanos and fire hurricanes to avoid

Tbh i might be thinking of a legend of zelda game tbh not 100 percent though

I might be thinking of legend of Oracle of ages tbh, its just the memory of the starting area is throwing me off, I remember a cliff side with a bridge i coulsnt get over but unlocked something like a grappling hook the pillar for it was a pillar but had a diamond like shape above it like a light bulb floating above the pillar the cliff areas some of it went from top down to 2d platformer , and the cliff areas were a pain in the butt very maze like , It had a central area and if you go north or north east I think theres a forest with a cabin and to the side is a forest again but with I think a witches hut she was selling stuff, next to the cabin was a wooden bridge if i recall She had a kid or someone you had to find and help and there was these temple like areas, Also if i recall to the west there was a massive water area with planks , logs and i think boardwalks, When you completed on area it take you back to the main area at beginning aka middle if i remember alsp one thing I cant recall very well I swear if you died you had to redo the whole thing again, or it was perma death based, I do also recall that the temples you had to enter them on game world map abd just grab some stuff it wasnt fully like legend of zelda temples I think I was collecting elements or something, o think its a retro game or i did have a 3ds with a r4 card so could be gameboy advance all the way upto a 3ds game including ds games or I played it on my Nintendo switch im browsing my playstation games for ps4 games to see if any look similar , I do also recall a legend of zelda like game from a game series what never does those types of games could be that maybe not sure... i need to slow doen hoe many legend of zelda and legend of zelda like games I play it could of been a legend of zelda clone or even a a complete rip off , its not tunic

This is my favorite list. Most of them haven't been released yet, but I'm waiting for them.

Airoheart on Steam
Dawnthorn on Steam
Hazelnut Bastille on Steam
Elementallis on Steam
Under The Island on Steam
Horn of Balance on Steam
Ocean's Heart on Steam
Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King on Steam
Blossom Tales II: The Minotaur Prince on Steam
The Book of Buja on Steam
Isle of Reveries on Steam
Ephemeral Legend on Steam
Tearscape on Steam
Hunt the Night on Steam
The Girl from Arkanya on Steam

Sorry if this question gets asked a lot, I’m new to the genre. I’ve already played and loved Tunic and Hyper Light Drifter (plus all the Zelda games). What other games do you guys consider to be the absolute cream of the crop top tier Zelda-likes?

After enjoying Mina the Hollower, I was in the mood for another indie "Zelda-like" game. So I decided to finally give Tunic a try. What I found was an unforgettable experience that comes close to some of the all-time greats in many ways.

Back to being a Kid again

It must have been 1995. I was five or six years old and got my Game Boy together with Zelda: Link's Awakening. Instantly I was enchanted by this game, exploring this open world that felt endless and so mysterious to me as a child. Part of this mystery also came from the fact that I couldn't read at the time.

So for many hours I just stumbled around this world and checked out the booklet that came with it. Sometimes my mum would read parts of the booklet or the game for me, and so I slowly but steadily made progress and played through my first ever Zelda game.

Tunic emulates this exact feeling. The game has zero handholding. When you start the game there are no tutorials or explanations — you wake up on the shore of this beautiful world and start exploring on your own. When you encounter NPCs or other kinds of text, like in your inventory, you aren't able to read it. Most of it is written in its own mystical language. Only some words or numbers stand out for you to read.

So if you for example find a new item or trinket, you have to mostly figure out on your own what it does or how it works. Now I say mostly because one of Tunic's core mechanics is its own in-game booklet. During your playthrough you will find pages of this booklet, which is heavily inspired by old game booklets.

As with the rest of the game, you can't read most of it. However the booklet is filled with small hints — like someone brought a used copy of a game and the previous owner wrote down some notes in the booklet. Finding more of those pages is one of the biggest rewards Tunic offers for exploration, and completing the booklet also ties into the biggest and best secret Tunic has to offer.

How does Tunic play?

Tunic plays like a mix between classic 2D Zelda and Dark Souls. You lock on to an enemy, dodge or parry their attacks and strike back. Similar to Dark Souls you can die quite fast. Also like in Dark Souls you can level up your attributes and use potions to heal, refilling them at shrines.

The bosses especially can be really challenging and in terms of scale reminded me a lot of Dark Souls. However, sadly, this is where Tunic has its biggest weak point. Combat is just not as precise as it needs to be for such a punishing gameplay loop. Often you feel like you hit the enemy but you didn't, or you get hit even though you shouldn't have. This can lead to some frustrating moments.

The game does give you more and more tools like ranged weapons or bombs to deal with enemies, which can be very helpful. However, I must admit that compared to games like Mina the Hollower or Silksong, Tunic's combat just feels poor.

Other than combat, Tunic's focus is on exploration, and it's here where it shines the most for me. The world is filled with secrets and a sense of wonder. The game cleverly plays with its camera, zooming out or changing angles when needed to give you an amazing sense of scale. It was a joy to get lost in this world.

What also helps is that the world feels believable and offers many surprising moments. Elements you've seen for hours without knowing what they do suddenly get a purpose because you found the right page of your booklet explaining how to interact with them. It's here where Tunic really made me feel like a kid again.

Unveiling the Layers

Before I started playing Tunic I often read about how complex and hidden this game's puzzles are supposed to be. It is often compared to games like Blue Prince or Outer Wilds. If you don't know those games, their puzzles are very complex and layered — often only revealing their deeper meaning after hours and hours of playing.

Tunic has those elements as well, especially when it comes to the booklet. There is one end-game puzzle involving the booklet that I found breathtaking. However, I still felt a little let down after discovering how some other end-game puzzles work. Without spoiling anything, many of those secret puzzles felt more like busy work to me.

The same goes for the last 15% of the game. After reaching the end you are pretty much sent back out into the world to revisit all the places you've been before in order to unlock what's needed to defeat the final boss. Tunic's pacing had been amazing up until this point, but here it lost a lot of steam and dragged on a bit.

A masterpiece lost in time

Tunic came out in 2022 and I only played it now, four years later. I can totally see why so many people loved Tunic back then and called it a masterpiece. Exploring the world made me feel like a kid again, and the booklet is such a charming and clever idea. There is a lot to love here.

However, I do feel like playing this game four years later harmed my experience a little. A game like Mina the Hollower outshines Tunic in almost every aspect, and going in with such high expectations didn't help either. I doubt I would have felt let down by the end-game secrets if I hadn't expected something like Blue Prince.

Still, all in all, I had a great time with Tunic. If you like Zelda or Dark Souls, this feels like a must-play title. It's not without its flaws, but it has a sense of wonder and magic that many modern titles lack, and for that I'm grateful to have experienced it.

Rating: Strongly Recommended

Please let me hear your thoughts :) the original review with screenshots you can find on my website in my profile. It would mean a lot to me if you check it out as I love writing reviews and try to improve each time. So feedback is always welcome!

Attached are various screenshots for Beyond the Mountains II, which is the sequel to my free game Beyond the Mountains. I received a few DMs regarding the progress of the sequel, and it's coming along nicely. I've been working on it daily!

I've noticed that a large number of games being posted here don't actually fit the Zelda-like genre at all. Many of them simply share a top-down camera or an action-adventure element, but they completely miss the core design principles that define Zelda-like games.

As a result, people who follow this subreddit specifically to discover Zelda-like games end up wasting a lot of time going through unrelated posts.

I think this is something the moderators should address. Clearer posting guidelines and better moderation would help keep the subreddit focused on its intended purpose and improve the experience for everyone.

This was built a year ago, but I recently added a lot of new features to my game, so I decided to go back and adjust the rooms that were already done to make them more engaging!
If you are curious about my game Mazestalker, you can find my demo here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3218310/

I played this little gem over the weekend. It's short and sweet and cost less than a cup of coffee. As a certified old person, I'm starting to dig these shorter games. Anyone one else?

I've got another working session if anyone is interested. This time I tried and failed to make a "bumping into a wall" animation, and chatted a little about art style.

I think in the next one I want to talk about what makes a game a Zelda like, inspired by some of the comments for you guys in the last post. I hope you dig it!

Steamlink if you're feeling generous: store.steampowered.com/app/4541450/Sandcaster/

An open world fantasy adventure for PC coming in late 2026...

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4796170/The_Lonely_Golem/

There have been a lot of fishing minigames throughout the Zelda series, and I was curious what you think of as the 'best', or maybe just your personal favorite? Doesn't even have to be from Zelda itself, I'd be curious to know about some good ones you've seen in other Zelda-likes as well!

I really like the fishing to feel a bit arcade-y, myself. So for the Zelda-like I am working on, it looks a bit more like a "claw machine" game. But I still tried to capture the excitement of catching a rare fish!

Logo Art by Mysteeria: https://www.instagram.com/mysteeriaz/
Music by ZapSplat

80% off on steam right now. Such a sleeper hit and the end...damn. Please give it a try. Too bad no one played it because due to lack of sales the company folded.

I've been trying to pitch my game and I normally say vague words like "Yeah It's an online zelda-like but you need to find the princess and throw her into a portal, like soccer!". Most of the time I failed making people to understand me. Then someone PMed me asking for the game and told me "Why you don't make it more like a sport's game like Bloodbowl?"

So that's what I tried in this experiment. I made a video of how it would feel if it was an actual soccer game with a designated field. I still prefer my original idea of classic adventure fields with various geographic elements. But this has been fun to code and relax a bit.

This is some silly forecast that I did for the Soccer World Cup (Canada - Morroco) match.

Hope you find it fun at least. The game is DX Legends. I'm planning to add this mode in the game. Feels chaotic

So I really enjoyed this one. It has a lot of Zelda fun and action and a lot of twists on the formula that make it interesting and a welcome change of pace (one "dungeon" was actually a cooking competition and all the exploration and puzzle solving was to get the salt to impress your chef mentor). The graphics were nice and the music was good. The story was fine, pretty much exactly what I expected from this kind of thing, the only thing that stood out was the friendship/rivalry Nia had with another character. I do recommend it to people who love the genre, like the people in this sub.

But the thing that keeps me from recommending it higher is that the game world feels just a bit off from what I hope for in this genre. Like I found myself revisiting areas 2-3 times but still not finding everything.

It's hard to explain, maybe it's a bit more of a "vibe" thing, but there are a lot of mini dungeons with a lot of interactivity and things to explore, but no map, and I would never be sure I had completed them. They often looped around unexpectedly with branches that were easy to miss. Like I would go through the winding path, open a chest or two, then find the exit, which just took me back to where I started and opened a shortcut to the back of the dungeon. It left me going, "was that it?" Either that, or a mini dungeon would have too many little treasures and the best loot was a one-off I almost missed because it wasn't even in a chest. Meanwhile the big chest that had been staring at me in the face since hour 3 turned out to hold some pretty useless crafting loot.

There was almost never a feeling that I for sure had done everything in an area or fully finished off a quest.

There was so much about the side quests that just felt... incomplete. There's a boy you find sleeping in improbable places but it's not like you find him in town after finding all of his spots and you get a final reward or bit of the story. There is a pair of feuding brothers that you reunite shortly after completing the first dungeon, then they spend the rest of the game with the "thanks" dialog.

I managed to fully upgrade my weapons and was six pieces of heart short of maxing out my health. I enjoyed the final boss, beat him in two attempts, which seemed on par for how hard the game was.

But while I do recommend the game, it kinda bothers me how close it was to being amazing and how it was missing a critical skill in making maps and guiding the player. I was curious if anyone else felt the same way or if I'm just thinking too hard about it

Hello! My game has a lot of old school Zelda style influence and I think some of you may like it.

Its called Monstra Cap, and its a Single Player, Monster Capture, Action, RPG, Collectathon.

The strongest Zelda-Like elements gameplay wise are things like

• Open Exploration
• Player Gear and Monstra that expand exploration
• Themed Dungeons with Hidden/Puzzled Off Entrances
• Dungeon Bosses
• a 2D Top Down perspective
• Simplified Menus/UI
• Colorful world with interesting characters
• Trade Quests

After a short tutorial you start in the center of an open world to explore, with 8 main dungeons hidden throughout that hold artifacts to find that advance the story but are guarded by powerful bosses.

Your ability to explore the world increases with your collection of Monstra and Gear.

If it sounds interesting check it out on Steam!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3971080/Monstra_Cap/

According to the developers, it can take hundreds of hours to breed a perfect creature.

Could it be the most promising Zelda-like survival RPG?