Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore is a side-scrolling platformer game featuring colorful and zany pixel art animation. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn’t do well, and if it’s worth your time and money.
Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore Review Overview
Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Nostalgic |
Looks and Plays Like a Flash Game Fails at Trying to be Funny Uninteresting Story |
Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore Overall Score - 40/100
Arzette is a game that only a very small population of the world will appeal to—the people who have played the Zelda CD-I games from the 90s. It’s loaded with references to these games but is absolutely unenjoyable if you don’t know anything about its spiritual predecessors. The Zelda CD-I games were just outright terrible, much like this game. It’s too simplistic for its own good, and straight-up looks and feels like a flash game from the 2000s.
Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore Story - 5/10
Arzette’s story is very generic and uninteresting. It’s the same old “save your kingdom by defeating an ancient evil” type of story we’ve heard a thousand times before. It’s loaded with references to its spiritual successor, the Zelda CD-I games, but they seem to rely on just referential humor. The jokes cannot stand on their own, and you’re left scratching your head thinking "What the heck?" if you haven’t played the CD-I games.
Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore Gameplay - 3/10
The game is faithful to its spiritual successor. As such, it plays almost exactly like the dumpster fire Arzette pays homage to. It’s far too simplistic to be enjoyable in this decade. It’s simple platforming where you slash your sword against the monsters standing in your way.
Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore Visuals - 3/10
I understand that the game intentionally looks bad as a reference to the CD-I games. However, it’s just really, really bad that it looks and feels like a flash game you could play on your browser. Again, if you haven’t played the originals, you won’t appreciate this either.
Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore Audio - 5/10
The soundtrack does well in making you feel nostalgic about old 90s games. However, it gets repetitive and annoying. It’s probably intentional, but the voice acting is too over-the-top for my liking.
Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore Value for Money - 4/10
The game costs $19.99. If you’ve played the Zelda CD-I games and want to experience them in a new way, then there’s a case for you to buy this game. If not, it’s definitely not worth your $19.99. You could even find better games online that you could play on your browser.
Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore Review | I Want to Zette This Game on Fire
The game starts with cinematics that explain the situation in the kingdom: the evil demon king Daimur, who once terrorized the kingdom 10 years ago, escaped the Book of Oakurin, a magical book your character Arzette used to trap him. The Jewel of Faramore, which was used to seal the book, was shattered into pieces. The shards from this jewel are held by Daimur’s lieutenants, whom you’ll have to defeat one by one. Your goal is to once again defeat Daimur and seal him for good.
The gameplay of Arzette is way too simple to be enjoyable in today’s modern age of gaming. It’s mostly simple platforming where you swing your sword at whatever monster is standing in your way. There’s variety in the types of monsters you face in terms of appearance and health, but they all just either damage you by touching you or by throwing projectiles at you. As you traverse deeper into the map, you’ll encounter checkpoints, which you’ll respawn at with full health if you’re ever taken down.
You start off with four maps, but more are added as you progress through the story. Each map offers different environments, enemy units, and points of interest. Some parts of the maps won’t be accessible until later in the game, so you’ll be going back and forth through these maps depending on your current objective. There’s an indicator in the map selection screen that tells you where you need to go, but there will also be times when there’s none, and you'll have to guess where you have to be next. This can be frustrating as it’s easy to lose your sense of direction and have absolutely no idea what to do next.
There are boss fights as well. However, these aren’t any more interesting, nor are they fun to play. For instance, I defeated one boss by jumping through trees and making acorns fall on his head. Another boss I defeated straight up just by spamming the attack button and blocking his projectile that he launches right after he teleports. There’s no thrill in fighting the bosses, and it doesn’t feel rewarding to take them down.
As you progress through the story, you’ll unlock new things like a shield that you could use to block projectiles, a backstep move you could perform by holding down and jumping at the same time, or a gun that shoots magic bullets. Unfortunately, these only add a thin layer to the game’s complexity, and is still way too simple to enjoy.
The only way I see people would appreciate this game is if they played the games Arzette used as inspiration. As someone who didn’t, I thought that the game looked terrible, the dialogue wasn’t funny, the story was generic, and the gameplay was too simple.
Pros of Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore
| Things Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore Got Right |
|---|
|
Nostalgic |
Nostalgic
As the sole pro of this game, I found it to be extremely nostalgic, even if I didn’t play the Zelda CD-I games. Much like the games from the 90s, Arzette is extremely simple, the graphics are terrible, and the soundtrack gives off retro vibes. The nostalgia factor would undoubtedly be higher if you’ve played the Zelda CD-I games before and played this one, given how there are a ton of references to these games, and a lot of parodies too that you would only get if you played the games.
Cons of Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore
| Things That Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore Can Improve |
|---|
|
Looks and Plays Like a Flash Game Fails at Trying to be Funny Uninteresting Story |
Looks and Plays Like a Flash Game
Both the graphics and the gameplay of this game are worse than some Flash games I played during the 2000s growing up. It’s too simple that it’s bland, and is too faithful to the CD-I games it’s inspired by. Those games are regarded by many as Zelda’s lowest point, uncharacteristically being of terrible quality. Arzette embraced these games’ art style and made it its own, but unfortunately, it’s still an eyesore to look at.
Fails at Trying to be Funny
The humor in this game just isn’t it. I don’t know if the gags and jokes in this game are all referencing something from the CD-I games, but nothing lands and it’s not funny at all. The most humorous it gets, in my opinion, is when the zany characters act really weird that it’s slightly funny. I never outright laughed at any of the jokes, but every now and then I found myself chuckling once and going “What the heck?”. Watching the cutscenes play out feels like watching a lame cartoon that none of your peers really watched, and didn’t get renewed for a second season.
Uninteresting Story
"Save the kingdom from a powerful evil" is one of the most used tropes in storytelling history. To succeed in using this trope, the story needs to find a way to be unique enough to stand out above the rest. Unfortunately, the story of Arzette is as generic as it gets and doesn’t have anything to make it stand out.
Is Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore Worth It?
Maybe If You Liked The Zelda CD-I Games
The game is absolutely not worth it. The story is generic, the gameplay is too simple, and the graphics are an eyesore. The only thing going for this game is its nostalgic appeal to those familiar with the CD-I games. Even then, I wouldn’t recommend this game at all.
Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore Overview & Premise
The demon lord Daimur has emerged once again after being sealed away by Princess Arzette for an entire decade. The Jewel of Faramore, which you once used to seal away the demon, has been shattered and is held by Daimur’s loyal followers. You must take them out and recover the fragments so that peace and prosperity will once again reign in your kingdom.
Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore FAQ
What is the Arzette CD-I Controller?
The developers behind Arzette worked with the publisher to provide CD-I controllers for those who wish to play the game in true retro fashion. The CD-I controller can be pre-ordered and is very similar to the ones that used to be able to run the Zelda CD-I games Arzette is inspired by.
Who are the voice actors Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore?
Fans of the Zelda CD-I games are sure to recognize Jeffrey Rath, and Bonnie Jean Wilbur’s voices, as they are present in Arzette and were the voices of Link and Zelda respectively.
Game8 Reviews
Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore Product Information
 | |
| Title | ARZETTE: THE JEWEL OF FARAMORE |
|---|---|
| Release Date | February 14, 2024 |
| Developer | Seedy Eye Software |
| Publisher | Limited Run Games |
| Supported Platforms | PC(Steam), PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch |
| Genre | Action, Adventure, Platform |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| Rating | ESRB E 10+ |
| Official Website | Arzette The Jewel of Faramore Official Website |
