Throughout these years I have made several reviews of games that have been inspired by the saga of The Legend of Zelda, there have been excellent games that shine by themselves and others that are merely clones that do not contribute much to innovation. It is not bad to be inspired by other games to create a new one, but it is always necessary to bring something new so that, even if the inspiration is quite obvious, the end result is something worth remembering. The game I am going to talk about today, may not be a very well known game, nor in the emblematic ones inspired by The Legend of Zelda saga, but it is a game that despite its obvious inspiration, knew how to bring new things and new elements, to make it a game that can shine by itself and have its own personality.
Today's Retro Review is about: Golvellius: Valley of Doom.
The story of this game focuses on the search for the princess of the kingdom of Aleid, which is a kingdom that after having gone through many years of peace, has now been tormented by the attacks of demons that have endangered its population and creating chaos. Due to this disaster, the King of the kingdom of Aleid, has fallen ill due to the concern for what these demons are causing, so that in such a situation, his daughter and therefore, the Princess of the Kingdom has gone in search of a herb that has the name "Mea". Princess Rena went in search of said herb to the lower part of the Valley of the Kingdom, however, much time has passed and she still has not returned. The villagers fear the worst and that is why a brave and determined hero, named Kelesis, is going to embark on the mission that can bring peace back to his kingdom, he decides to go into the most dangerous part of the valley in what will be the mission of his life.
Graphically it is a decent game, it is not visually spectacular, nor has the best designs of characters, enemies or scenarios, but it is not a game that looks bad to the eye, although of course, due to its age, Golvellius: Valley of Doom is a game that looks quite old, although this is not a negative factor (in my opinion) I'm just highlighting an aspect of this game that is quite obvious. Golvellius: Valley of Doom is a game whose colors are striking, but in some scenarios, due to the overexposure of certain colors is a little saturated, for example, in some scenarios predominates in green, both in the "floor" of the stage, as in the background of the stage, so there is no adequate contrast to make it visually "beautiful", so to speak, although it does not happen many times.
The character designs are simple, but they achieve their purpose, they look good on screen, as well as the enemies, which are quite varied. The design of the exterior scenery is simple, but well decorated with the few resources that were used, it reminds a lot to the first The Legend of Zelda, they are very similar styles, also, it keeps a lot of similarity with the designs of the dungeons, which, as I will deepen a little in another section of this post. When we are in the outdoor scenario, the screen will be placed in a location similar to the classic The Legend Of Zelda, that is, with the area or zenithal camera. While some dungeons the screen will change completely to a horizontal scroll mode or a vertical mode (changing the game to almost a Shoot em up), although as I mentioned, this will deepen a little later. In the changes of the type of mode, the scenery will also change a little, although not very drastically, it is still a visual change that is present.
At first when I had just a couple of minutes playing the music of this game I was not liking at all, I found it boring and simple, but as time went on I was slowly liking it more and soon I was moving my feet to the rhythm. The music of Golvellius: Valley of Doom in general terms is good, it manages to entertain and goes according to the aesthetics and the type of game it is, which is an Action RPG game, in which the adventure will be one of its strengths, so it manages to convey that sense of adventure, action and magic quite well. The sound effects are also good, although a little simpler and simpler, they manage to fulfill their main purpose.
Golvellius: Valley of Doom is basically an Action RPG of all life, which is strongly inspired by the saga of The Legend Of Zelda classics, but having its point of difference at the time where we enter the dungeons, as the gameplay and the camera point changes completely, being a game which has 3 different gameplay modes, but maintaining its essence of Action RPG game. When we are out of the dungeons, that is, in the general map of the game, Golvellius: Valley of Doom will be a totally classic game to what would be any Action RPG, basically and for better example, at this point of the gameplay, it will be very similar to what would be the first The Legend of Zelda, with a slightly more expanded view of the scenario, full of enemies that we may or may not defeat and with some freedom of movement, but everything changes when we go into the dungeons, being able to switch between a horizontal scroll mode, being practically a platform game and the other mode would be something very similar to a shoot em up.
In the "platforming" mode, so to speak, when we get into a dungeon of this style, the game will change to a fairly conventional, simple but entertaining "action platformer" mode, in which we must advance horizontally in a scenario also full of enemies, where at the end a final boss awaits us. The other game mode, as already mentioned, is practically a shoot em up mode, in which the screen and the scenario will change completely, resembling a classic shoot em up game, with the screen advancing automatically, while we must advance our character so that he does not fall behind, while we try to eliminate as many enemies to advance more easily, likewise in each dungeon stage, we will also find a final boss to defeat.
Golvellius: Valley of Doom is a game that despite its obvious inspirations in The Legend of Zelda saga, manages to stand out among other similar games, having 3 totally different game modes and although it does not move away from the topics of the Action RPG genre games, where we will also get items to improve our character and basic action controls, it is still a game that tried to be innovative in what it proposed in the gameplay and its mechanics.