Hazelnut Bastille, a top-down adventure game, is being built by developers who are inspired by “the great lineage of superior design from the mid 90’s- the moment in time when mainstream 2D titles reached arguably their greatest level of refinement, in titles such as Super Metroid and Link to the Past.”
Hazelnut Bastille tells the story of a woman who has lost something valuable to her, and who seeks the promised gifts of mythological ancients in order to have that thing returned to her. To find those gifts, she’ll need to explore a far-off land, finding its buried dungeons and hidden secrets.
Like Link in A Link to the Past, the heroine is armed and ready to deal with her situation using a variety of weapons and magic, but with enemies having various weakness, she’ll need to learn which item works best in each combat situation. These same items can act as tools to solve puzzles when enemies are not about, playing through a mixture of combat and brain-teasing moments as the game tests both the reflexes and the mind.
The game will also feature many different items that the player can find, many of which have unique uses or can be combined with other items to make handy tools. Barring that, many of them can be sold or traded in quests to unlock special equipment or gain information on the world’s secrets.
A demo for the A Link to the Past-inspired experience is in the works, and will hopefully be released in early 2017. Players can learn more about the game for now on the Hazelnut Bastille site and through the game’s IndieDB site.
