REVIEW : Prodigal (PC)
Prodigal is a one-of-a-kind experience that offers a variety of reasons to spend a few hours — or more than 20 if the nostalgic appeal isn’t enough to entice you.
Welcome home
In Prodigal, you play Oran, who returns to his hometown after learning of his mother and father’s deaths. When you return home, you help your grandfather by mentoring Bolivar, his new apprentice. You’ll find an axe that will serve as your source of income from the beginning, allowing you to collect gold and other essential things as you progress through the dungeons.
You’ll find riddles, monsters, bosses, and, of course, treasure if you explore these places, as well as goods you can give to the townspeople. These are necessary to strengthen your ties with former acquaintances, revive friendships, and even develop a romantic relationship leading to eventual marriage.
Different individuals react to Oran’s return is an excellent highlight of Prodigal – some are joyful, some are apathetic, and some even hate him.
This is due to Oran’s character not being your usual adventure game hero. Oran vanished from the island without saying anything to anybody else after stealing money from his parents to fund his voyage. It’s up to us to take command of Oran and push him in a healthier direction for some much-needed character development, as his principles had become warped in the past. Examining Oran’s condition and how we may assist him makes the game incredibly easy to immerse oneself in.
Casual or challenging, the choice is yours.
Despite how small (but highly cosy) its universe is, you can probably immediately see that there is plenty to keep you occupied. Because the game does not hand-hold you, you can spend the majority of your time any way you choose — Prodigal’s very own programmer expresses his disdain for this, so you can be sure that the game gives you the freedom that other recent releases have failed us on.
You have complete control over your aims and agency in the game world; you can spend all of your time mining for new minerals, exploring the land’s dungeons, gambling with the gold, or wooing a lucky lady. It might be a quick action game to pass the time or a redemption story – or you can make it even more difficult for yourself by skipping the power-ups and attempting to speedrun dungeons. The options are limitless! As you are aware, we adore our relationship-building mechanisms.
Gameplay design
The design of dungeon bosses varies widely, and diverse techniques are used to defeat them. Dungeons have a particular flavour and a lot of care placed into their riddles, which get increasingly difficult as you go.
The suitable and evocative music tracks played particularly for their unique dungeons complement each dungeon’s ingeniously constrained design, making the experience feel all the more new and exciting as you walk through each dungeon for the rewards concealed within.
Not only has a lot of care gone into making the dungeons unique in terms of design and riddles, but also into how the difficulty level and required methods to progress gradually increase throughout the game – even though the mechanics themselves are kept simple.
The dread hand, which teleports you back to the beginning of the level; a lariat to grapple over gaps; and the rust knuckle, which breaks and moves heavy objects, are the three most crucial pieces of equipment you’ll need during your adventures. The many ways you’ll need to mix these tools to progress adds to the difficulty and complexity.
A seaside town worth coming back to
As you get to know the residents of Prodigal, you’ll discover a plethora of touching and depressing stories. The numerous personalities you encounter have a variety of amusing chats; even the unidentified townspeople make it enjoyable to approach every one of them. This attention to detail contributes to the town’s already lovely and healthy atmosphere.
Interaction with NPCs and character events are reminiscent of the Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons series. Unless they are currently engaged in a quest, characters will always have new speech lines on different days. The day-night cycle keeps the town alive and active, and NPCs will wander about to their usual areas to perform their daily activities, so you’ll pick up on each villager’s schedule as you go. Then you can make it a point to speak with them every day to express how much you care!
And, of course, when it comes to finding your future wife, nothing is more crucial.
The females all have individual personalities, and as you get closer to them by performing side tasks and favours, you discover more about them. The only drawback is that you’ll find it tough to choose just one of the females because they’re all so lovely in their way.
You can improve your relationship with them by paying them regular visits and approaching them for a chat whenever they have something new to say (as indicated by an emoticon sprite over them). Also, don’t forget about the gift-giving option. When cutscenes emerge to advance your budding romance with them, you’ll know you’re on the correct route.
Nostalgic goodness
The slick, retro sprite graphics and highly suitable OST drives home this feel-good feeling of revisiting our childhood favourites, as the title is immersed in the Game Boy Colour-style, Zelda-esque visual.
Sprites are well-crafted and detailed. Character portraits are varied and dynamic at various times in the discourse; they display multiple emotions and reactions that appear authentic and depict each character’s distinct personality and qualities.
The soundtrack is also ideally suited to the Game Boy-themed presentation. While the game is short and we stay in the exact locations for a long time, the soundtrack as a whole is memorable, with lots of highlights you won’t mind listening to again and again.
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