Castaway Gives Players a Short But Sweet Pixel-Art Adventure Inspired by The Legend of Zelda

Castaway is coming to PC and with it brings a beautifully sweet pixel-art adventure that players will notice was inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.

This year is filled with a variety of indie games and AAA titles, including Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth. While those games are amazing in their own right, there are many players who are growing increasingly tired of longer games that take nearly 100 hours to complete.

Castaway Brings a Short But Sweet Pixel-Art Adventure

Castaway Gives Players a Short But Sweet Pixel-Art Adventure Inspired by The Legend of Zelda — Castaway is an upcoming pixel-art adventure game that seems to have been inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and gives players a short but sweet title to play.
(Photo : Canari Games / Screenshot taken from Steam)

This is where Castaway makes waves as an upcoming indie title that describes itself as a "short and sweet adventure" and seems to be a tribute to The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. The game begins similarly to Link's Awakening where the hero wakes up and finds himself on an uncharted island after being involved in a supposed shipwreck.

Players will immediately notice that the difference between the two titles is that in Castaway, players will find that their crashed vessel is a spaceship and they will later find that they are tasked to find and rescue a dog from the dangers of the island, according to GamesRadar+.

You can explore the island and pick up weapons such as a sword, pickaxe, and grappling hook, the latter of which could be useful in both combat and puzzle-solving moments. The game itself features three different dungeons.

Castaway's trailers, developer tweets, and Steam page describe it as "concise," "short and sweet," "bite-sized," and a "tiny game." Despite its relatively short playtime, it seems like this indie game was made with replayability in mind. It features a survivor mode that has a 50-floor challenge tower that can be unlocked after beating the main story.

The game's developer, Canari Games, was also responsible for Lunark, which sort of became a tribute to a very different classic '90s game. It was billed as a cinematic platformer that was made in the style of Flashback or Another World. Fortunately, the company's previous title enjoyed very positive reviews on Steam so many fans are eager to try out Castaway soon.

Inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening is one of the most popular Zelda games in history and Castaway seems to be taking the title's central premise and making it its own. The indie game boasts promising sprite visuals, 8-bit inspired tunes, and some new items, said Time Extension.

The new indie game comes as Link's Awakening was first released more than three decades ago and has had a robust influence on many titles in modern times. It also spawned an excellent remake that featured improved graphics but largely the same gameplay.

The protagonist in Castaway is named Martin, who will have to face three boss fights in the main story mode. One of the game's key features seems to be accessibility as it allows players of all ages to play it through what it calls a "pacifist" mode that has no enemies for players to fight. It also includes an "invincible" mode that makes you unkillable, according to GamingBolt.