Shalnor Legends: Sacred Lands

Blossom Tales and Reverie are much stronger titles in this genre that found a way to be similar but also different from Nintendo's legendary franchise in their own ways. Shalnor Legends pales in comparison to any Zelda game. The use of "Legend" in the title is the only real link between these worlds.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with Shalnor Legends, which only took me around six hours to finish. I still have upgrades and collectibles to seek out whenever I feel like jumping back into the action. It’s a good game if you are craving a 2D Zelda-inspired experience on the Switch, though I would have preferred a little less grinding for the upgrade system. I would have liked to have checked out some of the other upgrade paths, but ultimately felt that they weren’t worth the theoretical time required to grind out their components.

Despite some annoyances with a few of the enemy designs and the grindy nature of the game’s upgrade system, it is still a decent game. The good art and level design certainly help in that regard.