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Ittle Dew
PC (Steam)
It’s not a 2D ‘Zelda’ Sequel, but It’ll Do.
4/5 stars
“Ittle Dew” is the major 2013 multi-platform release from Swedish Indie developer, Ludocity, who have largely been out of the loop and haven’t released an Indie game since 2010, despite getting their start on the Xbox Live Arcade Indie Games Market way back in 2008. Of course, pushing out an endless stream of games in a short amount of time frequently leads to the ‘quantity over quality’ issue, so it’s actually a good thing that Ludocity decided to take their time with “Ittle Dew.” I first came into contact with this game when searching for something – anything – good to play on my Ouya. Yet, shortly after that first contact and an enjoyable playthrough of the demo, “Ittle Dew” appeared on Steam. Regardless of platform, however, “Ittle Dew” is an eye-catching, goofball experience that is kept from perfection only by its lack of scope.
Presentation
While the concept art included in the game’s extras show that “Ittle Dew” began life as a generic-looking, sprite-tile-based Game Maker project, the final graphics engine that Ludocity used in the game is anything but generic. Though the game is still entirely 2D, all of the pixel-based sprites have been replaced with flat-color, hand-drawn imagery that positively oozes unique style and gives “Ittle Dew” a look unlike any other game, despite the fact that many of the game’s environments and objects (such as statues) are copied directly from the original “Legend of Zelda.” In addition to their unique style, the visuals also include a quirky ‘scribbly’ animation on every interactive object/character that further builds upon the illusion that “Ittle Dew” takes place inside a demented coloring book.
The sound in “Ittle Dew” isn’t as spectacular as the graphics, but is pleasant nonetheless. The game features no voiceacting, but includes a catchy soundtrack of inspiring adventure tunes, some of which suspiciously follow the exact chord progression as themes from the original “Legend of Zelda.”
Yes, stylistically “Ittle Dew” is obviously inspired by the original ‘Zelda’ game that graced the NES back in 1987. Yet unlike the vast majority of Indie games that attempt to invoke nostalgia by copying obsolete video and audio styles, “Ittle Dew” pays homage to the game that inspired it while still being unique and fresh.
Story
The titular Ittle Dew is a strange, tomboyish little girl whose best friend is a health-potion-addicted Fairy Fox named Tippsie. These two misfits are, for unknown reasons, drifting across the sea on a raft, when suddenly they find themselves washed up on a mysterious island.
Smelling the scent of adventure, Ittle and Tippsie decide to explore the island… the fact that their raft is trashed and they have no other choice also helps spur them into action. Shortly after exploring the cheekily-named Tutorial Cave, Ittle and Tippsie come across an item shop run by a bizarre no-handed pirate named Itan Carver. Itan claims to have carved his entire shop and all its contents, despite having a peg for one hand and a hook for the other. Seeing Ittle and Tippsie are in need of a new raft, Itan offers to carve them one if they bring him the mysterious Artifact from the heart of the island’s castle.
The castle takes up the vast majority of the island’s surface area and is inhabited by bizarre purple-skinned girls wearing animal costumes, as well as anthropomorphic turnips and a variety of animistic objects. Unlike most games with bizarre, nonsensical enemies, “Ittle Dew” does attempt to provide something resembling a background for the Jennies and Turnips that Ittle must slay with homicidal abandon. While I enjoyed the quirky humor in this backstory and the fact that most of it is revealed as a series of comic-strip panels during the end credits, I still felt it was a little vague.
Thus we come to my main issue with the story’s vagueness: Who are Ittle and Tippsie, really? Where did they come from? How does the island featured in the game relate to the rest of the world at large? Essentially, “Ittle Dew” really piqued my interest in its game world, then left me hanging. I really want to see a sequel that both makes the game world more expansive than a single island and fleshes out the main characters.
Regardless of the occasional vaguery, “Ittle Dew’s” story, as brief as it is, still manages to include several quirky plot twists that I didn’t see coming from miles away. It elicited several chuckles from me, which is all I really need out of a goofball comedy like this.
Gameplay
“Ittle Dew” is a classically-styled top-down action/adventure game in the style of the 2D entries in Nintendo’s ‘Legend of Zelda’ franchise. The player can move Ittle in 4 cardinal directions, push blocks, stand on switches, and swing a stick from the outset. However, the game also features three ‘Zelda’ style tool upgrades that enable more puzzle solutions to present themselves. Unlike many games in this style, the player has access to all of Ittle’s tools simultaneously (after finding them), as each tool function is automatically assigned to one of the face buttons on the Xbox 360 controller.
Where “Ittle Dew” differs from the classic ‘Zelda’ formula is in its focus on the puzzle-solving element of that franchise almost to the exclusion of everything else. “Ittle Dew” is a game of dungeon exploration where every room features one or more locked doors that can only be opened by solving a spatial puzzle. There are no keys, and very few doors simply open when every enemy is killed. Instead, the puzzles focus on sliding blocks, pressure plates, stationary explosives, torches, and a variety of other environmental objects that interact with each other in clever ways, as well as tools that incorporate freezing and teleportation mechanics. While most of these puzzles are slow paced and cerebral, there are a tiny handful (approximately 3) in the optional Master Cave that gave me fits due to a sudden tonal shift toward quickness and precision. I loved the entirety of the main game’s puzzles, but the Master Cave extended “Ittle Dew’s” duration in a negative way by presenting puzzles that not only failed to mesh with the style of the main game, but also required uses of the game’s tools that were never fully explained, resulting in a lot of blank staring at the screen and repetitive trial and error guessing in order to progress.
Since “Ittle Dew” focuses so much on puzzles, it should come as no surprise that the combat isn’t all that hot. Ittle’s default stick weapon isn’t quite long enough to make it effective in combat, especially when enemies are inconsistent in whether or not they suffer from knockback or hitstun when Ittle whomps them. The tool upgrade that replaces the stick as Ittle’s primary attack doesn’t improve the range, either. It seems that the primary reason for the combat being a bit iffy is that, despite the animation showing it, Ittle’s weapon doesn’t actually hit diagonal tiles. I’m sure this limitation was built into the game for the sake of not breaking certain puzzles, but is makes clearing rooms of enemies (who respawn every time Ittle leaves and returns) a chore. Even worse, the bonus boss at the end of the Master Cave is a 100% combat encounter with no significant puzzle elements. This combination “Ittle Dew’s” combat issues with a questionably-designed boss encounter had me grinding my teeth through dozens of needless deaths.
Of course, death in “Ittle Dew” is not a big deal. Ittle begins the game with one heart of life, with most enemies removing one quarter of a heart per hit (though some remove half a heart). Ittle can find ‘pieces of paper’ to scribble extra hearts on by thoroughly exploring the island, with four pieces of paper granting an extra heart (with a maximum of four hearts available for finding all the pieces of paper). Losing all her hearts just restarts Ittle at the beginning of the room she was in (or in the case of the final (not bonus) boss, the phase of the encounter she was in). It’s also possible to restart a room from the pause menu in the event of an irrecoverable botch-up in a puzzle, or the player getting Ittle trapped with no way out.
Ultimately, though, “Ittle Dew” is an incredibly short game. There is a Steam achievement available for clearing the game in 3 hours, which I can see happening if the player skips the Master Cave (and the other bonus dungeon), as I only spent 10 hours doing absolutely everything. Even more insane, however, is the Steam achievement for clearing the game in 15 minutes, as well as the in-game leaderboard that keeps track of players’ lowest times across the globe. I’ve never been a speedrun fan, and the fact that “Ittle Dew” has speedrunning built into the core of its design artificially limits it to being an incredibly short experience that loses a lot of its charm and ‘aha!’ moments when players are encouraged to burn through it as quickly as possible, over and over again, for the sake of chasing a spot on a leaderboard. I’ve never understood the mindset of people who obsessively and repetitively play a short game over and over with artificial goals in mind.
Overall
“Ittle Dew” is a great callback to the origins of the action/adventure genre, and hits upon a significant part of why 2D ‘Zelda’ games were great. Despite its amazing presentation of bizarrely lovable characters and story, however, “Ittle Dew” is just too short, with occasional moments of unnecessary frustration. If any game needs a sequel, though, it’s this one. If Ludocity can switch gears and provide an epic, sprawling adventure instead of speedrun fodder, they could have an enduring franchise on their hands.
Presentation: 5/5
Story: 4.5/5
Gameplay: 3.5/5
Overall (not an average): 4/5
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