First off, I should probably clarify that Delver’s Drop isn’t officially related to Nintendo or The Legend of Zelda in any capacity. Rather, it is an awesome looking, new, fully funded Kickstarter project that borrows many aesthetic features from the SNES adventures of the series. Which is a good thing, as I’m sure you’ll all agree.
Created by Pixelscopic and Ryan Baker, Delver’s Drop is essentially what would happen if you took a tablespoon of Zelda, mixed in a pinch of Diablo, and threw in a heaping helping of mystery. Players can choose from various classes, all with their own strengths and weaknesses. Item management and hunting look to be key factors, as well as dungeon crawling.
What I find most interesting about the game thus far is that all of the playable characters are essentially convicts. They are given the opportunity for freedom by their jailers, but must find it by delving into a large, mysterious, constantly shifting chasm below their prison, the Chill. This compelling moral ambiguity helps to further distance this project from merely being a beautiful clone of Zelda.
Also of note is the feature of “semi-permadeath” wherein characters die once defeated, but their class retains all their experience and levels. More interesting is the fact those lost delvers return as something called Undelver Wights, whom you can slay to reclaim your lost loot.
There’s a lot more to this game, but you can enjoy reading it all on their Kickstarter page. Delver’s Drop is due to be released for PC, Mac and Linux in October and iOS, Android and OUYA in February of next year.
