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The most exciting thing about Cadence of Hyrule is how much it immediately feels like a game from the Zelda series. Aesthetically speaking, it’s somewhere between A Link to the Past and the cartoonish Four Swords games, but the Zelda roots go much deeper than that; This isn’t just a rearrangement of Crypt of the NecroDancer. Like The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds on 3DS, Cadence of Hyrule is a shorter, smaller riff on the classic 2D Zelda game with a unique twist, a game that strikes a chord with old fans but also feels fresh and exciting. This is our Cadence Of Hyrule Review.
Cadence Of Hyrule Review: About
- Platform: Nintendo Switch
- Developer: Brace Yourself Games
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Genres: Roguelike, Action-adventure game, Rhythm game
- Release Date: June 13, 2019
Official Trailer
Cadence Of Hyrule Review: Gameplay
In the opening of the game, Cadence (the main character of Crypt of the NecroDancer) is dropped into Hyrule through a mysterious whirlpool and has to choose whether to wake up Link or Zelda. From there, the game is entirely open – you’ll explore a randomized world map in search of classic Zelda items and the four dungeons that must be completed before storming Hyrule Castle, which has fallen into the game’s villain, the evil musician Octavo.
You’ll eventually unlock both characters, but being able to play as Zelda from the start is excellent and feels like a long-awaited correction from the series’ namesake that is often sidelined. The game doesn’t exactly tell you where to go at first, but thankfully the first hour or two of merely switching between screens, discovering your map and figuring out how your procedurally generated version of Hyrule fits together, is exciting.
If there are monsters on the screen, you should move in time with the rhythm of the game’s music, indicated by a marker at the bottom of your user interface, time your movements in four directions to avoid enemies driven out of the Zelda universe and attack. Each enemy has their attack pattern, and most have a clear “tell” – if a wolf looks like he’s about to jump, make sure you’re not in the square in front of it on the next beat larger enemies may have larger attack areas marked one stroke before attacking the ground.
It’s a system that shapes the game as a “dance” between you and your enemies, and this is appropriate because I almost always find myself bumping and tapping next to my movements. Learning the rhythmic patterns of enemies and getting to the point where you can figure out how to attack them best so that you can attack or defend yourself properly is a constant pleasure.
When you slip into the zone and feel that your movements and steps are perfectly synchronized with the rhythm and progress of your enemies, it is incredibly satisfying, especially as you find new areas and monsters during the game and slowly conquer them. Back in an area that you found intimidating early in the game and conveniently slaughtered all enemies, soothing the music and dropping the loot feels fantastic.
Attacks and interactions are automatic depending on where you are standing, with each screen divided into grid-based titles between which you move. Emphasis is placed on keeping your movements and your environment in mind beat-by-beat throughout the game, so it’s helpful that each song follows the same tempo. Once you tap it, you can move through the game depends on your ability to read the many different hostile animations and quickly turn off your movements.
The only exceptions are certain dangers in the game world that slow or accelerate the beat and an inspired puzzle that asks you to step to the beat of a well-known piece of Zelda music. The entire soundtrack consists of beautifully reworked pieces from the Zelda series, with some tunes as faster, more cheerful variations. They are all beautiful remixes of songs that many players will already feel strongly bonded to, and the usually consistent beat throughout the game keeps things manageable because you only really have to learn and get used to one rhythm.
There are also plenty of fun auditory Easter eggs for longtime Zelda fans. It is worth noting that there is also an accommodating accessibility option called “fixed beat” mode that prevents enemies from moving unless you move, eliminating the need to follow the rhythm. The Cadence of Hyrule also has light roguelike elements, but it is a very generous system that encourages you to use your consumables rather than store them.
If you die, you will lose all the keys you have collected, all the rupees, your shovel, your torch and all the stat boost items you have picked up. However, your vital equipment remains with you, just like all the weapons you have found. You don’t have to do anything more drastic than seeing your best sword or Hookshot again, which reduces frustration and keeps you focused on moving forward.
Many of these classic Zelda items are hidden in the overworld, but none are essential to get through the game. It’s entirely possible to make a determined line to any dungeon only, and the game’s timed leaderboards will entice many a speedrunner. But for the rest of us, it will be a challenge to find and use all the classic Zelda items to make the challenge more manageable, and it’s worth looking for the items distributed by Hyrule as they simply play a joy in itself.
The Cadence of Hyrule review understands how much the pleasure of playing a Zelda game comes from feeling you take on the challenge of your environment. After hours of learning and internalizing the rhythm of various enemy attacks, making you less intimidated by all creatures throwing the game at you is a great feeling. However, some items feel entirely unnecessary because they are not needed – for example, I have never actually used the boomerang, and even the bow feels insignificant.
The dungeons are fun but short, so you have to go through randomly generated floors full of monsters and eventually battle the classic Zelda bosses with a musical theme. These bosses all have beautiful designs that combine old favorites with new instrument-based powers, complete with amusing word names. There are few puzzles in the game; the dungeons are fully focused on combat and exploration.
I found that the last two of the first four in the overworld were extremely easy, as my version of Zelda had become quite powerful. But Cadence of Hyrule more than makes up for this with the challenge of the final trek through Hyrule Castle, which feels well deserved for the entertaining boss fight and the credits that roll afterward. When you’re done, there are plenty of tempting reasons to come back too.
Looking up every piece of treasure is a fun reason to spend more time exploring and fighting, and once you’ve found the right items, the map will tell you precisely where unclaimed treasures lie, and you can spin around at your leisure, making it easy clean up everything you missed. If you start over, the fact that the map is displayed randomly every time means that you will have a different experience, because areas look different or have changed layouts.
There are also Daily Challenges, which put you down as Link of Zelda in the beginning and let you compete on a leaderboard to see how far you can get in a single life, as well as a permadeath mode. These modes are only for more avid players who want to master the game, but it’s good to have the option. You can also play the entire game in co-op, with one player taking control of Cadence while the other playing as Link or Zelda, which is a great addition.
If one player dies, both of you go down, and if one of you moves to the next screen, the other player gets warped there too, so it’s essential to work together to get to the beat. The game works better as a single-player experience, but it’s an excellent choice to have.
Cadence Of Hyrule Review: Conclusion
The Cadence of Hyrule is a fantastic Zelda game in itself, even if it takes over the gameplay mechanics of another series. In addition to aesthetics, it nails the satisfying sense of exploration and increasing strength and enjoys the joy of discovery, as all the best Zelda games do. It’s an incredibly successful combination of two excellent game series and an experience that makes Nintendo want to do more exciting things with its main licenses.