Take a Look at This Indie-Developed “Spiritual Successor” to Zelda II!
Posted on November 03 2020 by Charles Xavier
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link can usually be found pretty low on fans’ list of favorite Zelda games. This title suffers from unforgiving difficulty, and tedious sections of grinding, coupled with the fact that it doesn’t quite feel like a Zelda game. The game is by no means terrible, but even for someone like me who appreciates it, I have to admit it has rough patches. I’ve always felt like a remake could redeem this installment, but at the moment that seems unlikely. Fortunately, an indie-game by Zero Infinite Games could fill that void! Into the Eternal is an ambitious “spiritual successor” to The Adventure of Link that will release in 2021 on all current gen consoles, provided that it meets its Kickstarter goal.
From the looks of it, the game will feature a top-down overworld with enemy encounters that will shift to side-scrolling gameplay. Like Zelda II, there will be small labyrinth areas such as caves and forests to explore, villages to restore health and magic, as well as gathering side-quests; plus, there will be proper dungeons too. Into the Eternal will also include unique features, such as fishing, farming, and use of skill boards to upgrade the protagonist’s skills.
The game’s plot sounds interesting from the Kickstarter description, but it definitely borrows many story beats from Zelda‘s lore:
“An unknown sorcerer has infiltrated the kingdom of Felsand and cast a terrible curse upon the royal family – their bodies turned to solid stone. High Priest Valadar scrambles to recall all of the palace’s guards from their duties to track down the assailant. Sneaking in among the group of kingsguard is Cavin, courier (a fancy word for “errand boy”) to the princess.
Needing all the help he can get, Valadar allows Cavin to join in the quest. It is believed that “The Eternal” has been opened by the socerer, and he procured powerful magic from within its halls. In Felsand, and much of the world, they believe in “Eternity”, a series of books detailing the creation of the world and the origin of its inhabitants.
The Eternal is a legendary palace that has been shut for millions of years – awaiting a warrior capable of solving the riddles to enter it and retrieve the powerful weapons within. This hero (or villain) would have the power to bend the will of the world.”
Obviously heavily inspired, this title promises to keep the good aspects of Zelda II, and cut out the bad portions:
“Into The Eternal is inspired by Zelda 2 on the NES. An under rated and misunderstood game that, while flawed, probably gets more hate than it deserves. Our goal is to keep the features people love, and alter the ones they didn’t. Puzzles will be more logical, and the difficulty will be more fair. “
Overall, the game is advertised to have hundreds of hours of content – but none of this will be possible if the game does not reach its goal of $5,000 USD by Wednesday, November 25th, 2020.
You can watch some gameplay footage in the video above, and if you like what you see, definitely consider making a donation to the project over on the game’s Kickstarter page!
Does Into the Eternal interest you? Would you like to see an official remake of The Adventure of Link that addresses the original’s issues? Sound off in the comments below!
Source: Zero Infinite Games (via Nintendo Life)
Charles is a Senior Editor at Zelda Dungeon. He is a Visual Development artist focused on enviroments and pitch paintings. Check out his Instagram and Twitter to see his latest artworks, a lot of which is Zelda fan art! His favorite candy is Skittles – he feels the world should know this.
