The existence of indie games is, I am coming to learn, a wonderful thing. As the bigger developers that dominated my childhood move away from creating the games that defined my childhood (well, asides from Game Freak, who literally haven’t changed in the entire time they’ve been a thing, for better and worse) the void is filled by smaller studios run by people who often grew up with the same games that I did and actually give a damn about their continued existence. This has mostly benefited the Metroidvania genre – and oh, how I miss Castlevania as a franchise, and Metroid games that aren’t crap made by Mercurysteam – but every now and then something else comes along to pander to my nostalgia goggles.

Enter Arietta of Spirits, a charming game reminiscent of 2D Zelda games of old I bought immediately.