Treasure Adventure World review

Reviewed on: PC

I confess that this week I judged a book by its cover.

With the game installed I started playing and was quite wary of what I was seeing: a cute little game full of frills with the controls responding as if I were playing an NES classic. I’ll go further: I felt like it was 2004 when I took a chance playing MapleStory, and I confess that memory is not the best. But as I kept playing I ended up bonding with the protagonist and his chatty parrot companion; I explored every corner of the map and before I knew it 4 hours of play had passed. So yes: Treasure Adventure World is very good!!!

Child (Captain) Hook

The story begins in the best “Sessão da Tarde” style (the Brazilian afternoon family-movie slot): you are woken by your granny and she reminds you it’s the day to celebrate 5 years since they adopted you (after finding you memoryless and alone in the world). Considering it’s still a birthday, your pal of a granddad gives you a really cool present: Socks!!! Just kidding, actually he gives you a map. Perfect, the day goes by fast (by the way, there was no cake to celebrate) and granny sends you to bed. Then a stalker parrot (he noticed you have a map) shows up at your window and invites you to travel the world in search of 12 fantastic treasures!!!! There, the starting gun has been fired!!!

What’s this game about?

The adventure takes place across your non-stop travels through the 16 islands in the game, but don’t think each of them represents a “stage” (as is common in the platformer genre). The concept here is an open world, letting you choose your path and have fun your own way. The objectives won’t be given right away and you will need to explore the area and work out what needs to be done to continue your journey. That said, be clear that you will feel a bit lost at the start, but when it sinks in that you will have to travel A LOT for certain quests to be finished, you will relax and be ready to enjoy the adventure to the fullest.

The graphics are pretty, not least because all the game’s art is hand-drawn. The music is lively and leads the game’s rhythm well, whether you’re in a town or in the middle of a cave. The gameplay is as I mentioned at the beginning of the Review: it’s very retro, but nothing a few minutes of readjustment won’t solve. The narrative puts on a show of its own. Details of your past will be revealed as you progress and fill you in on the protagonist’s story, but what I highlight are the interactions with the secondary characters. With sharp humor, without being crude, the game will make you laugh with some really cool gems, like when the pirates (after attacking you vigorously) ask you to wait a bit because they need to go home to fetch more cannonballs.

About the upgrade system: this is where the game gets you. Right at the start of the adventure it becomes clear that your character will need to develop abilities in order to overcome some obstacles and reach new points on the map. And the game flows so well in this quest for evolution that it doesn’t let you rest until you manage to finish the objective “of the moment”. The only problem is that many times the game will slap you and whisper in your ear “You are not ready”, making you take your little boat and look for whatever it takes to slap back (and there go a few more hours of your day).

Well, here’s a quick summary of everything you will find over the course of the game:

.Dungeons – Everything a Dungeon needs to be good is here: darkness and fun puzzles. The puzzles are even so well designed that in several situations you will have the answer right under your nose and not realize it.

.Living environment – One of the coolest things when playing a game with an open world is the passage of time and shifting weather. So, friends: there is dusk and there is dawn. There is sun and there is rain (and storms too). The cool thing is that although this game gives the idea of being something extremely simple, all these changes have some effect on your journey, with quests that can only be solved in a certain period, or characters who are sleeping and will make you wait for dawn to be able to talk to them.

.Side quests – Without much ado: they are fun to do and the dialogue always makes for good moments. Try not to leave anything behind.

. Secrets – As a good exploration game, the whole map is packed with secrets, whether secret passages or places marked for you to go with your shovel and dig up something valuable (even if it’s a carrot).

Adventure of long standing

Treasure Adventure World is actually a remake/remaster/rewhatever of Treasure Adventure Game, a little game from the same developer that was released in 2011 and whose download was always offered for free. At the time only two people worked on the game, but after so many awards received and with more funds to invest, we were gifted with this new game that apparently will once again draw the critics’ attention at awards time.

Speaking of the developer, all the love and care Robit Games put in so that you, old gamer, feel at home playing Treasure Adventure World is clear.

Worth buying, Lincoln?

It is. A lot!!! It’s about 20 hours of play, several endings available and well-crafted boss fights. Take on this game without prejudice and take advantage of it coming out for just R$ 19.99 on Steam. For everything it offers without becoming tiresome, it is an investment that will hardly make you regret it. The only thing that takes some of the shine off all this (at least for us Brazilians) is that the game is not available in our language, Portuguese. Which is a pity, since more players could enjoy not just the game but the story, which is really cool.

STORY: 9
AUDIO AND VISUALS: 9
MECHANICS: 9

Review made on the Steam version kindly provided by Chucklefish