Since 2011, Minecraft player KurtJMac has been documenting his journey to the sandbox game's legendary glitched outer reaches through an online video series called Far Lands or Bust. This week, KurtJMac achieved the last big milestone before the end, passing through the boundary that marks the final floating point error boundary.
In a year filled with 100-hour RPGs, this "short and sweet" tribute to the best Zelda game is exactly what I need
04.04.2024 - 22:49 / gamesradar.com / Dustin Bailey
2024 has kicked off with a list of bangers ranging from Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth to Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, and as excellent as those games are, I'm growing increasingly desperate for more bite-sized titles to maintain a varied gaming diet. And Castaway, an upcoming indie that bills itself as a "short and sweet adventure" and looks like a perfect tribute to The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, feels like just the thing.
Castaway starts out just as Link's Awakening does, with your hero awakening on an uncharted island after a shipwreck. The difference here is that your crashed vessel is a spaceship, and you're out to rescue a very adorable dog from whatever dangers lurk on the island. You'll pick up weapons like a sword, pickaxe, and grappling hook that seem to be useful in both combat and puzzle-solving through the game's three dungeons.
Across Castaway's trailers, dev tweets, and Steam page, it's described as "concise," "short and sweet," "bite-sized," and a "tiny game," and those words are all music to my ears. It seems that the game is built for replayability, too, with a "survivor mode" and 50-floor challenge tower that unlocks after beating the main story, for those who really want more to chew on.
Developer Canari Games previously put out Lunark, which served as a tribute to a very different type of '90s game - it was a cinematic platformer in the style of Flashback or Another World. Lunark has enjoyed very positive reviews on Steam, so here's hoping another trip to a classic well provides similarly strong results.
Despite being 31 years old at this point, Link's Awakening has proven to be a particularly robust influence on modern games, spawning an excellent modern remake and inspiring the next big project from the Shovel Knight devs. Its place among the best Zelda games remains a topic of obvious debate, but it's always been a personal favorite of mine - and it looks like Castaway is well-poised to make the most of that old formula.
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