A quick link to the past.

We almost set ourselves the challenge of writing this review without mentioning Link's Awakening. But as sure as a retro-styled 2D RPG includes hackable bushes, Castaway had so many similarities to the Nintendo classic that it would have been impossible. Despite our preference for a fresher take on the formula like the recent Kudzu, in fairness, Canari Games (Lunark) makes no attempt to conceal Castaway's inspiration. The surprising fact is that — even with all the similarities: the pushing puzzles, the hookshot, the waking up on the beach, the identical audio cues, and the almost cloned enemies (down to their very animations) — Castaway reminded us of other SNES and Game Boy games even more.

Castaway is a very short game. It took us around 30 minutes to beat the three bosses that represent the main threats on 'The Island', the story mode, and to rescue our cute little dog that was kidnapped during the opening cutscene. We spent about an hour on the secondary mode, ‘The Tower’, where we battled our way through 50 floors of increasing difficulty. Addiction took hold a little as we rolled here and there, picking up gold coins from fallen enemies and unlocking new powers – shields, sword buffs, even a protective orb circling the character like in a side-scrolling shooter. We appreciated that this mode was a crafted experience, with no sign of randomly generated levels.

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