Hazelnut Bastille is a Zelda inspired top-down action RPG adventure with puzzles, real-time combat and lots of secrets to discover as you explore its beautiful 16bit styled open world.
We actually covered an early build of Hazelnut Bastille last year and found it to be a very impressive Link to the Past-esque action RPG adventure. The latest build features an updated version of the dungeon from the previous build and also features a large open world to explore and lots of great new content.
Hazelnut Bastille tells the story of a young girl who arrives on the shores of a foreign land, with hopes of discovering fabled knowledge that belonged to an ancient race, with hopes of using it to reclaim something that was lost to her. This won’t be easy though – the land is full of monsters, puzzles and dungeons that stand between you and that ancient knowledge.
The current build of Hazelnut Bastille features a large chunk of gameplay that starts with you exploring a vibrant open world and ends with you tackling a puzzle and monster-filled dungeon. You have some useful abilities and there are a couple of friends to meet who can aid you by crafting useful consumables. They’ll come in handy too, as it can be quite a tough game, with scarce health pick-ups and scarce checkpoints that can send you back to the start of an area if you die.
The open world is a fascinating place to explore, but it is very easy to get lost at the moment and the game doesn’t really signpost that you can use your dash-attack ability to teleport across gaps very well (which can lead to lots of fruitless wandering around). When you figure out where you’re supposed to be going it’s great fun though, with lots to discover, a nice selection of enemies to deal with and challenging real-time combat.
Your route through the open world could do with a little more guidance, but even in these early stages of development Hazelnut Bastille is a very impressive game, with high quality pixel art animation, a fascinating game world and fun Link to the Past-esque action RPG gameplay. A beautiful 16bit styled adventure with a large, lush game world to get lost in.
Very important note: You can cross gaps by dashing then attacking!
Check Out the Hazelnut Bastille Kickstarter Page Here
Check Out a Gameplay Video Here
Download The Hazelnut Bastille Kickstarter Demo Here (Windows, Mac & Linux)