New indie games are released every day with some making a splash while others are hidden away. Available now, a new Zelda-like CD-i game has been released called Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore.
Judging by the launch trailer, it’s a brand new take on the CD-i games. Heavily inspired by two Zelda CD-i games, Arzette is an action adventure platformer developed by Seedy Eye Software and published by Limited Run Games. This is Seedy Eye’s first game development and they nailed the Zelda CD-i games look.
You’ll explore the Kingdom of Faramore in an effort to destroy the Demon King, Daimur. It’s available now on all modern platforms (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC) for $19.99.
What is Arzette? Zelda CD-i Successor?
Directly from their website, Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore is a spiritual successor “to a pair of infamous fantasy adventure titles.” Those titles are Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon.
It’s a modern take on the CD-i games with smoother gameplay animations but retaining the same animated cutscenes. The voice acting is distinct which helps its visual style. There’s a charm to these cutscenes as the Zelda CD-i titles were talked about a ton on YouTube 10 to 15 years ago.
Nintendo allowed Philips Interactive Media to publish three games from The Legend of Zelda series on their CD-i console. The two we already mentioned but the third one, Zelda’s Adventure, was different.
Unlike the previous games which were 2D side-scrolling action adventures, Zelda’s Adventure was from the top down perspective like the original Zelda game or Zelda: A Link to the Past. It also featured live-action cutscenes, less iconic than the cartoony visuals but still made fun of nevertheless.
All three Zelda CD-i games are non-canon to the Zelda timeline but are hot collectible items to those that can afford it.
Is Arzette Worth Checking Out?
If you’re a fan of these Zelda CD-i games from back in the day, it doesn’t hurt to check Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore out. The gameplay looks much smoother than the games of the past. In addition, the sprite work is visually pleasing with hand-painted backgrounds too.
While Arzette does look like a simple platformer with the visuals of a Zelda CD-i title, the team at Seedy Eye definitely put a ton of effort into the project to make this worth your dollar.
It’s available now digitally for $19.99 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC. If you’re more of a physical collector, Limited Run Games does have pre-orders for standard editions on all platformers alongside collector’s editions, a 2LP vinyl, a t-shirt, and a controller similar to the CD-i for PC/Nintendo Switch.
Are you interested in checking out Arzette? If so, on what platform? Let us know in the comments what you think!
