Shipwreck

Shipwreck
N/A
Metacritic
79
Steam
63.839
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$0.74
Release date
13 February 2015
Developers
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
79 (182 votes)

Shipwreck is a top down adventure game in which you must travel the land, explore dungeons, and defeat monsters to earn safe passage off the island on which you are stranded.

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Shipwreck system requirements

Minimum:

  • OS: Windows XP SP3
  • Memory: 1 GB RAM
  • Graphics: OpenGL 2.1
  • Storage: 100 MB available space

Recommended:

Recommended requirements are not yet specified.
Updated
App type
Steam APP ID
342490
Platforms
Windows PC
Mac
Linux
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Richie Bitchy
Richie Bitchy

I purchased an IDF CS:GO card for six cents on the market to compelte a badge pack. Upon leveling up on Steam, receiving a background and a logo, I got a 75% off coupon for a game called "Shipwreck". Now, everytime I've gotten a coupon, I've looked at the games and decided whether or not I should buy them. This was already three dollars. I read the synopsis and watched the trailer and thought it looked pretty cool. Plus, it would only cost me a dollar and change so I figured, what the hell ? One of the best games I've ever played. The storyline is about the unamed character who gets shipwrecked on an island. The initial text says: "You have landed on my island. I'll make sure you'll never leave!". You find a sword and get right into battle by entering a cave (I won't spoil). To take refuge from the storm, you head into town where the mayor debriefs you and enter a small land of fantasy, adventure, puzzles, monsters, and a tiny island tormented by storms that are definitely not just high air pressure fronts. I've never really enjoyed games of this type of gameplay. It reminds me of Pokemon, which I never liked. I am now considering "To the Moon" and "The Escapists", both of similar gameplay. Absolutely worth the coupon, and even so, the three dollars !

RedDreadnaught
RedDreadnaught

Shipwreck is a great example of how retro is done right.

All these indie games with pixel graphics are becoming tiresome. They aren't much to look at, and honestly they never were, but in the 80s that was all we had. You don't simply slap pixels onto a 2D map, add clunky controls and call it "retro" if it doesn't actually evoke memories of a classic while you play it. That said, if you ever played any Zelda games on the GameBoy Color, you will likely enjoy the top-down dungeon exploration in which you avoid traps, find chests with keys or giant hearts that add to your health meter, and fight bosses with a sword or bow. The music is definitely better than anything the GBC ever chirped out, and it's short enough to complete in an afternoon or two. There isn't much replay value and the achievements are all fairly easy to get, but clearly the developers had a very specific experience in mind that they wanted to emulate, and they totally nailed it. 9/10.

Remster
Remster

Shipwreck is a neat little zelda clone. The majority of the gameplay is going into 2D dungeons, solving the puzzles, and beating the bosses.

This is basically a bite sized version of a traditional zelda style. The overworld doesn't have that much going on it, and there are 5 dungeons you need to do to complete the game, all but the last being somewhat small. I feel like someone who is intimidated by the massive scope of a zelda would like this game as they can just concentrate on going to dungeons and beating the bosses. You can see my playtime above which is how much time I needed to complete the game, although there is a little bit more you can collect.

I believe the game could use a little more enemy variety in dungeons, there isn't a large amount of basic enemies in the game, and none in the overworld, making overworld traveling a bit boring.

Overall I did like the game, and I can see it being expanded in the future to become a grand adventure.

123
123

A awesome indie game it's fun if you have nothing to do and if you want to play a fun singleplayer game!

Swedon
Swedon

Fun game that you can waste a few hours on!

CtrlAltDestroy
CtrlAltDestroy

I didn't like this. The whole thing felt like a Game Maker tutorial project.

It's short. Really, really, really, really short. You can get 100% in less than 2 hours.

Graphics and screen size are built to be remeniscent of a Game Boy Zelda, but the high-quality sound effects and music clash with the 8-bit graphics.

Overworld is just a big empty maze with no enemies, no secrets, and no interesting puzzles. It's just a bunch of shrubs and dead-ends, like the developers simply forgot to add monsters, or decided there was no point.

Swordplay is painfully awkward, and enemies don't make a satisfying "crunch" sound when they take damage or die.

Dungeon puzzles amount to nothing more than "You have to go through hallway X before you go through hallway Y." There are only about six types of enemies to fight in the entire game, including bats with the most irritating flight patterns I have ever seen in any Zelda-like.

There's practically no story. No unsettling themes, no NPCs who tell you anything relevant, no huge conspiracy or plot twist. The bad guy is exactly who everyone says he is, and you kill defeat him to stop the storms and sail off the island just like everyone tells you to. The game makes no effort to hide the fact that you're just going through the standard motions of a Zelda game, but with none of the parts that make it fascinating or addicting, like using new items to solve puzzles or finding secret areas.

Any positives? Well, a few. In this game, instead of enemies dropping hearts, they drop apples, which you can collect and eat later when you need them. Alternately you can buy bread from the shop which heals four hearts at once. I thought that was very good idea.

The desert dungeon was a total blast. It was huge, had great atmosphere, and had some actual puzzles. It was the only time when the game felt like it was reaching its full potential. The Lighthouse was a bit annoying, but it was also a very well-designed and challenging final dungeon.

The soundtrack feels too overproduced to fit in a retro Zelda game. Nevertheless, it's quite pleasant to listen to.

Overall, I give this game a giant "Meh." It's not terrible, it just felt uninspired and pointless. Achievement hunters looking for an easy 100% should get this game. People looking for a homage to Link's Awakening should get this game, only if they're willing to lower their expectations to the absolute minimum. Otherwise, try Anodyne, which is a much more involved and heartfelt take on the same concept.

The Watching Shadow
The Watching Shadow

Shipwreck was a LOT of fun. As others have stated, this is VERY similar to Link's Awakening (LA) in various elements of the game. While it doesn't have the 2D platformer that LA did, it has a similar menu system with the ability to swap out what item is on what button. Throw in the usual "explore these dungeons, get these items, and unseal the final area with them" you've got a nice little Zelda clone here.

It feels like the game is a bit lacking in some areas. What I mean is, the inventory has some open spaces even AFTER I got everything. I'm not sure what that's about. The overworld feels empty as there are no mobs to fight. This is both good and bad as sometimes it does get annoying to fight things in the overworld, but at the same time it just feels too empty without them. Still, the fights and puzzles in the dungeons were rather enjoyable and weren't hard at all to figure out.

Steam says I have 2.8 hours spent in game. I actually completed it 100% in about 2.4ish (see my screenshots, heh). The rest of the time was just waiting around for the card drops.

If you're one that likes to equate hours to money spent to see if the game is "worth it" (I can see the logic in it myself), then I'd advise to wait for a sale. Regardless, I definitely enjoyed the game and recommend it if you enjoy Zelda clone type games.

Abolish the Penny
Abolish the Penny

Shipwreck is a short (~2-3 hour) action-adventure game in the vein of a simplified version of the earlier, 2D Zelda games. The game features 6 dungeons total, each of which has puzzles, keys, and a boss. Items include a bow, sword, shield, and healing items. The game is developed primarily by two brothers and it shows as a labour of love; this is the kind of independent PC game that was being made before Steam became a big thing. At $2-3, the game is priced to reflect the short length. I don't think it's going to displace any of the Zelda games in the pantheon of gaming greatness, but it's a fun little game with a lot of charm and some enjoyable puzzling. I had a great time and ran through the game in one sitting. If short, simple, and sweet is what you're looking for, I think Shipwreck is worth a look.

Game has achievements and trading cards, although Steam recently changed trading cards so that they don't drop until 2 hours of play so you might not get any unless you take your time or idle the game afterwards.

Edit: One other thing worth mentioning. The music, while a little repetitive, has the feel of the late 90s-early 2000s PC tracking scene (.mod, .s3m electronic music). This really contributed to the feeling of playing something that would have been a cool shareware or independent game I would have stumbled on a decade or more ago. Really nice.

pokusan
pokusan

I got a coupon for this game after crafting a badge that made this $0.75 and it's normally $2.00. I wouldn't ultimately recommend this game unless you got it for super cheap and wanted to get a game to easily up your perfect games and completion %. Here's a few good things and mostly bad things:

Good
- Easy Perfect Game: The game will take you down all the necessary paths to get every single achievement and I got all of them fairly easily, with maybe only 2 dungeons giving me a little trouble on getting the extra hearts.
- Music: The music isn't extravagant by any means, but it is charming. Every place will have its own music and though it's composed very simplistically, it fits the game well. I actually would rather have the soundtrack than the game.
- Short: Can be beat in a reasonable amount of time. It took me about 3 hours, while it may take some a bit less or a bit longer, but you don't have to be too committed to this game to beat it, so it helps your overall perfect games and completion %.

Bad
- Story doesn't really matter: I found myself not really caring about the story. I don't think they ever gave the main hero a name and the gender is neutral. It could be a dude with a ponytail or a girl with a ponytail, you never really know. Either way, though it's only a $2 game, the story is pretty much non-existant and therefore, the game is just not worth investing your interest in.
- Overworld is barren: The devs must have focused all of their time into the dungeons for this game. While there is terrain in the overworld while you're walking around, there are absolutely no enemies. Just bushes that you can slice to try to find items and occasional butterflies that did nothing to deserve the deaths that I so swiftly gave them. Anyway, it makes running around the world uninteresting and tedious.
- Enemies: All enemies are pretty predictable and don't have much to them. The monsters during the dungeons all die in 2 hits from pretty much anything, but even the bosses are extremely predictable. They don't have much variety to their move set. It's easy to never die in this game, but also makes all these encounters extremely boring.
- Items: Most of the items in this game are pretty non-rewarding. I found myself using pretty much only the sword, bow, and shield. Everything else is kind of just there as an excuse to add content to the game.

I don't want to say this is a terrible game, because it at least gave me something to do for a few hours, but the bottom line is that I just didn't care about the story, characters, the mission, etc. Not because i'm complacent, but because the game seems like it doesn't care either. Get your shit done and get out of the game is the sort of rushed feeling I got from it.

神

Good simple game, reminds me legend of zelda old games and it has the old style of gba too xD

Libby
Libby

A pretty fun game. Even though it's shallow story- and character-wise, it's a great short game. Gameplay isn't anything new but it's still enjoyable. Delve into caves and dungeons, find the four crests and escape the island.

I would have liked a bit more depth and side-quests - some way to interact with the NPCs beyond them saying the same thing over and again. It does have it's limits but for the most part it's a great little game and worth playing if you want something light and light-hearted to mess around in for a while.

Carl James
Carl James

A good effort but a miss. Lots of little things that should have been caught before this was released or were noticed and the devs didn't care.
Pros
•The music is very nice and like the rest of this game borrows heavily from Legend of Zelda (not a bad thing)
Cons
•All sprites are comprised of the same size boxes so even if you see a clear path between objects you can't go through it and you will constantly find yourself getting hung up on the invisible square that the sprites occupy
•Tall sprites (trees, houses, anything taller than ground level) are set so that you cannot walk behind the second level of the sprite. If you are going to do this why not just have only single level sprites as proportion clearly wasn't a concern
•Pickaxe swings from the right while facing three directions and from the left while facing to the right which seems like someone just didn't want to animate this the correct way
•Personal preference but the attacks have no impact to them and either it was subtle or non-existant because I can't recall an impact sound effect again the enemies
•The controls don't know if they want to be NES/Gameboy or something else. I have no problem with an older control style to go along with the retro graphics (Oniken did this and the controls were great) but when you have three buttons and the start button mapped out why not just let us map an item to every button, or have a dedicated healing item button so we aren't constantly jumping into the item menu and out of the game? Doing this you are no longer following a theme and it gets in the way when it comes to playing the game.

To summarize there were a lot of stupid mistakes that drove me insane while playing. Brings nothing to the table but a watered down zelda with some good music and some lazy programming.

Pillypilou
Pillypilou

A little game, very funny. In the same gameplay as zelda and a difficulty present but not too much.

Twistor
Twistor

TL;DR: A short but okay hack 'n slash adventure with minor puzzle elements.

While a spawn of a genre pretty much defined by Legend of Zelda games (specifically NES and Gameboy versions), Shipwreck left me with a feeling of barely positive "meh". Let's get down to details.

In the beginning of the story there is a shipwreck that leaves everyone else but the protagonist dead or missing. It is a stormy night. You find yourself stranded on a beach and as the luck would have it, there's also a sword on the shore near you. You can swing it at a wide angle to attack monsters or bushes. Curiously but traditionally, both are filled with money and apples.

Moving, sword swinging and other item use is easy enough, even familiar if you have played other similar titles like the aforementioned top-down Zelda games. You've got only two slots for items, presumably because you have two hands and the interface has space for pretty much only two items at the time because of the art style. Considering that particularly in some boss fights, albeit also in some dungeons, you need to juggle three or four items in short succession, the limit of two items is rather inconvenient.

Continuing the story, after wandering around the beach for several uneventful screens you finally find yourself in a cave, a dungeon. The dungeons are by far the best part of the game: there are monsters, traps, locked doors and even some nice puzzles. If you are a completionist, you generally need to solve the puzzles to acquire all big hearts that increase your maximum health.

In later dungeons, the puzzles become mandatory, and this effectively makes those dungeons the best (especially the sand dungeon and the lighthouse). You can be stuck for a short while when pondering where to go, only to notice that you can fall to an unvisited room by jumping down a hole on a higher floor. Rooms could be dark requiring you to carry a lantern (in my concern the only valid reason for having mere two slots for items) to see around and some walls or boulders can be smashed broken with a pickaxe. Bow is used regrettably little being useful only in one or two boss fights.

Speaking of which, every dungeon has a boss fight of varying difficulty. Some are ridiculously easy, like the first crab boss (admittedly the first one should be easy) and the worm boss that just goes in circles and you can beat him without much resistance. Others are way more difficult and require you to study their attack and defense patterns closely. I especially liked the rock and slime bosses, the rock guy actually managing to kill me twice.

Monsters are only found in the dungeons. There are only few different ones and all of them die by swinging them twice - exactly twice. Sure, the slimeblobs split into smaller slimeblobs, but every slimeblob dies with two strikes regardless of their size. Same is true of every snake, ghost, spider and bat you see. Consistency might be the key but it's peculiar with monster healths. Monsters being rather boring it's a good thing that they actually stay dead after killing them, even if you leave the dungeon.

The cool twist of Shipwreck is that you can only heal (in addition to staying at the inn) by eating apples (and the occasional bread) that are found lying around in bushes and carried by monsters. Before the boss fights it is a good idea to stockpile food for additional health. Unfortunately, as money is found basically everywhere and there is a shop for food, this renders health a trivial matter later on.

I spent a long time exploring the small world after the first dungeon. The storm was still going on, but the world was empty of any other activity: no enemies, no people, basically nothing happening anywhere. When the storm finally ended, the town sprang to life (of motionless villagers but at least they talk to you) but there was still nothing going on in the wilderness. The wilderness is really an untapped opportunity for exploration and monster whacking for the developers. Just a couple of farm houses and a cemetery (where nothing exciting happens, as realistic as that is) doesn't really cut it.

In Link's Awakening you wanted to escape the island, and Shipwreck snatches basically the same storyline in that respect. There's a big bad boss that stands in your way but has hidden in the most inaccessible place possible: lighthouse is locked by four magical seals for some nefarious reason. In the case of Shipwreck though, let's just say that I was refreshingly disappointed that sometimes the bad guy is just the bad guy. With no special twist of any kind, I was nevertheless mostly disappointed, even though the boss was rather difficult and for once I almost ran out of food.

Lasting only 4 hours (even 2 hours for the faster players), I can tell that it's worth its cheap price. To me it was not a very special experience, but it was not all bad either, so I would score it as something between mediocre and decent. It might help with your Zelda itch but afterwards you'd need to fire up your old console anyway.

DragonElderX9
DragonElderX9

If you want something similar to Zelda but shorter and less depth, this is it. It's a fun game, but I wish there was more to it.

dstreet319
dstreet319

Shipwreck is a Legend of Zelda inspired game (mostly the Gameboy Zelda games) and if you have a few dollars to spend on a good game thats cheap I highly recommend this.

A Roaming Rabbit
A Roaming Rabbit

'Shipwreck' is simple top-down adventure in the vein of the original 'Legend of Zelda'. It will not take you long to complete and guides you along a fairly linear path, but the time you spend is relaxing and enjoyable. There's not much plot. The mechanics are easy to grasp. The puzzles will stop you for, at most, a minute toward the end, requiring little more than the use of your in-game map. It's gentle. It masters the basics.

As I played through, I wrestled with these elements, viewing them as shortcomings and missed potential. Everything is so cleanly executed and the areas demonstrate that the developers have a good grasp of the genre, so why not include more items or more complex dungeons?

Then I considered this: What if that's the point of it? If you think of it that way, this is an excellent adventure game for younger players new to video games. When I think of it in that light, it's just perfect the way it is and the content is right for the price, especially if you add in a coupon or a sale. Take it for a spin!

I hope the developers will continue to create, as what's here is an excellent model for more complex games suited for a wider range of audiences.

Zer0]{elvin
Zer0]{elvin

Fun all the way through. Plays like a Zelda game. Lots of hidden secrets to find. And it's $3 at full price! BUY IT!

Poshu
Poshu

God it's bad.
Nostalgia is a thing, but having purposefully added limitation like two equipment at a time, that you have to change every 5 seconds is a plague. The gameboy only had two physical buttons for god sake! Add to that a poor and predictable level design, uninteresting dungeons, a huge lack of feedbacks and you get a very, very bad game.

Ouroboros
Ouroboros

Let me sum up my opinion of this game: it feels like someone watched someone else play Zelda and got entirely the wrong idea about what makes Legend of Zelda a good series. Legend of Zelda is, at its heart, about puzzles and exploration. This game is pretty much just about action. And what works for an action-puzzler doesn't work for a nearly pure action game.

The combat is fairly bland, run up and swing your sword. Being able to shield-bash enemies is sort of interesting, but overall it doesn't do much new. There are other weapons as well, but I admittedly lost interest towards the end of the first 'real' dungeon.

The puzzles are... well, honestly, they feel tacked on. They're mostly of the 'step on this switch, open that door' variety.

The exploration is non-existent. Oh, sure, you can go off the path, but you just wind up on a completely empty and useless screen. The game feels like it punishes exploration rather than rewarding it.

Overall:

Graphics: 9/10. Probably the only really good thing about this game.

Music: 6/10. Not really good, not really bad. This might be skewed down a bit due to me playing this game very shortly after finishing Undertale.

Story: 4/10. It's an excuse plot. Not the worst I've ever heard, but not the best either.

World: 0/10. Full of empty screens, and almost all of NPCs draw from the same dialogue pool. Even the NPCs that don't do so have very little personality. Makes it feel like talking to anyone or going anywhere is a waste of time. If the devs were going to do this, they might as well have just put all the dungeons directly adjacent to the town and made the NPCs unresponsive.

Gameplay (Action): 6/10. Decent, nothing to really write home about. The combat is basically identical to the old 2D Zelda games, except your shield and boomerang are fused together. Killing enemies is basically mindless busywork. The first boss was okay, the second boss is basically a more frustrating version of Moldorm that takes up an eighth of the screen and summons minions.

Gameplay (Puzzle): 2/10. The puzzles just aren't good and leave almost no impression.

Gameplay (Exploration): -3/10. Yes, negative three. The game passively punishes you for trying to explore by presenting you with empty dead ends and backtracking. The worst part is, there actually are two health-ups discovered by exploring. They're inside peoples' houses, but give the impression that maybe if you go down enough dead-ends you'll eventually find something interesting.

---

Overall: 2/10

A quick note:

As I mentioned once or twice, I have not completed this game. Maybe it gets better towards the end, I wouldn't really know. However, I doubt the improvement is enough to warrant playing through the beginning of the game.

Some comments for the devs:

Don't be disheartened by this review. While I didn't like the game, it was well programmed and fairly well put together. It's clear that you guys are passionate about games, and even if this game wasn't great, it shows potential. It just maybe needed to be cooked a little longer before being pulled out of the oven. If you're looking to make a game like this in the future, here's some observations I've made about where I feel this game fell short and how to fix it (which is admittedly subjective, but no harm in mentioning it):

1. The most obvious issue is the lack of point to exploration. If you give a player an option to go somewhere, there should be something in that place, even if it's just an NPC saying 'why are you on the roof of my house?'. You clearly have a talent for good looking graphics; even including some interesting landmarks could be good. If I wander down a side-path and come to a dead end, my reaction would be a lot better if that dead end is the edge of a canyon looking down into a rushing ravine than if it's just a wall of the same trees that are everywhere else. That strategy tends to work better in 3D games than in 2D games, however, and I admit to still being frustrated upon going north from the village due to not being able to interact with the headstones or enter the windmill (mostly since I didn't know it was and wasn't expecting it to be the final dungeon). Honestly, the bit about the windmill could have been solved by putting a visible lock on the door, which would change it from an annoyance to an objective. In general, expect that a player will try to interact with anything that looks unusual, and will always go in every single direction except towards the main quest until there's no other option. If there's a way to leave the road, you can't just make the road pretty and ignore the places off the path.

2. The second most obvious issue is the NPCs. Generally speaking, it's better to create individual dialogues for each separate NPC. I'm not trying to be condescending, there are reasons to program global dialogue pools like the ones in your game. However, dialogue pools like that are generally more of use if you have NPCs that might spout off a single line of dialogue on their own before walking away, or situations where NPCs are chatting with each other in the background. Random pedestrians, in other words. For situations where the NPCs stay in one place, giving them even one line of unique dialogue would make them feel less generic than drawing from a universal pool.

3. With regard to the puzzles being bland, I again admit that I didn't get very far, and that the later puzzles might be better. The shield doesn't really seem to lend itself as much to puzzling as the boomerang from Legend of Zelda does, but that itself might be a reason to do things a bit differently. If you're trying to make a Legend of Zelda style game, all required items should generally have a use in the puzzles. The player will want to play with their new toys, and if they don't do anything beyond granting an advantage in combat, it makes them less interesting.

4. The story honestly is probably fine. It's an excuse plot, and nobody really expects an excuse plot to be great. It would be nice if the antagonist actively tried to prevent you from progressing somehow though.

5. A bit more enemy variety would be good. The first dungeon had one enemy type, the second dungeon had two. Not really that high a priority, but it might be nice.

I am genuinely looking forward to seeing what you're next game is, for what it's worth. You guys do seem to pay attention to feedback over on the game's forums, so I imagine that your next game will be a bit less empty.

RiRi™
RiRi™

I was getting into it for a bit then I realized it was quite boring...

There is no overworld monsters, none. It feels empty like a maze.
There are only four dungeons. There is no replayability either.

That isn't even my biggest problem... My problem is that there is NO way to play this game anymore. I get an unknown error that requires me to contact the developers for assistance. I was partially through the Desert Dungeon during that. I got this game on sale, I knew of the negativity this game but continued to get it because achievement hunting... Couldn't even get those.

All in all, the game is pretty bad with fairly any good points other than their pride in the music.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Pros
The controls work.

Cons
This game is incedibly uninteresting. The Town is too big and house NPCs that have no pupose. It's also over designed, I struggled to find the store at times. The overworld ,in general, was devoid of life (Butterflies do not count). It needed to be more of an open space with enemies. Enemies needed to respawn. The music did nothing for me. There was basically no story to engage me. Also why are were there so many item slots when you get half the amount of items? How come you can't stock up on items before the lighthouse?
Again The game wasn't bad, just dry, boring, dull, bland, etc. Good thing I purchased it on sale.

MindfulOcean
MindfulOcean

This is one short game, and in spite of that I know I'll never finish it. Everything about this game is incredibly bland. Nothing about it makes me want to press on. There is no story to speak of, the graphics and music are nothing special, the controls are stiff and awkward, and the dungeon design is atrocious. The developer clearly looked to Link's Awakening for inspiration when they designed the game, and I do appreciate the idea behind the game and the general setting. But it's just such a slog. There is no fast travel, one item store, no checkpoints in the dungeons, and a completely lifeless overworld.

roronoa[GR]
roronoa[GR]

While the game is not horrible or bad, it fails to be a good game, its a mediocre game.
The pricing at 3€ is fair since its short but the game feels empty and it barely scratches that "zelda like" game itch.

The overworld has a really nice tune but its empty, literally 0 (zero) monsters and its just a poor maze with dead ends that feels like its been like this to stretch the game lenght and tbh feels insulting for the gamer.
The dungeons are themed but are boring with boring puzzles (if you call them puzzles) and every single enemy, except the bosses, dies in 2 hits. The only challenge is the that the enemies are untouchable for one second after each hit, only then they will hit you because they lack any AI to be challenging, they never attack you directly.
The bosses have paterns but they are really easy and beating them gives zero satisfaction.
The game showers you with useless coins that can be used in the only shop of the game for food to replenish your HP and arrows, but you find plenty of those inside the dungeons.
The story is barely there and there are absolutely zero interesting characters.
Furthermore the game lacks any secrets or collectibles, there are 7 heart containers to find that are incredible easy to find and 2 minigames that offer a time trial, but once you complete them you will never want to play again.
The 8-bit graphics sometimes feel ok and other times feel soulless. Their point is to mimic the classic gameboy zelda games and they achieve that, offering that retro feeling and nostalgia.
The only decent part of the game is the music that offers a couple good tunes, the overworld music is actually pretty good.

Strangely, while the game is the definition of boring, i did not had a bad time, mainly because i bought it to "scratch that itch", but it barely scratched it.
If the devs had put more content in it, better and more complex dungeons, a real overworld, more monsters, better boss fights (even a nice destruction effect after you beat them) and a real story (even a simple one but with a vilain and a few other characters just to exist) it would be actually decent. But in the end the game lacks all those that make a game enjoyable and memorable, there was potential.

Buy it only if you want some "zeldaish" action, to boost your game completion (you can "perfect it" in 3 hours) or if you find it really really cheap.

themusicman37
themusicman37

This game has no reason to exist. There are other games, better games, that all do exactly what this game is trying to achieve and they are all named 'The Legend of Zelda'. It is almost an exact copy of 'A Link to the Past' except they removed all the challenge, interesting story and intrigue, and epic scale. The game felt like it was holding my hand throughout the entire thing. I am not a great gamer, but I've done this before, haven't I? You don't have to tell me to explore a dungeon! That's what I'm here to do! The puzzles, when they were presented, were on the level of a small child, which was almost insulting. The combat was a joke. The story was boring and the reason for progressing was arbitrary at best.
The worst part of all was that the game tricked me from the beginning. I bought it for its Zelda-like qualities, hoping that it would take the foundation that Zelda left and build something new. This is not what happened. It turned out that its Zelda-like qualities were, in the end, all that it had to its name. Do not buy this game. Play 'A Link to the Past'. You'll have far more fun.

MikeC
MikeC

Short game that isn't without problems, but still fun.

Less than two hours of content, movement control is a bit wonky and the story is a bit thin, but the combat is satisfying, the game is hard enough to provide a challenge and the music is pretty solid.

Not the best Zelda like out there, Anodyne is better in almost every way, but for the price, especially on sale, it is decent title.

Shadow the Edgehog
Shadow the Edgehog

a MAZEing zelda-clone. Looks good, very cheap, very short, hard, and very tedious.

I'll repeat - this game is a MAZEing.

Chocobolical
Chocobolical

An overall enjoyable minigame. Although it copied Legend of Zelda way too much and didn't really have any original elements in it, and the story is really simple and straight forward, the creator of this game has done well for a small and short project. It would have been better if the dialogue of people have more variety, since even after I saved the island that little girl is still telling me to get out of her house. It's not like I'm purposely trying to be a pervert, I'm just being an RPG player.

Allthegoodnamestaken
Allthegoodnamestaken

Maybe I'm expecting too much for a game I paid barely a dollar for, but games that wear their inspirations this openly have to be compared to their source material. As much as Shipwreck desperately wants to be Link's Awakening, it mostly accomplishes highlighting how brilliantly that game (and the similar A Link to the Past) was designed by doing everything markedly worse.

The first and most prominent issue is that the hit detection simply doesn't work. I've stood next to an arrow trap and been hit by alternating arrows despite not moving and the arrows all theoretically hitting the same spot. I've been hit through my shield. I've been hit by a boss that wasn't even close to me. These issues are compounded by a combat system that gives enemies entirely too many invincibility frames and sometimes no interrupt/knockback at all. The fact the devs give out on-use healing items so frequently and cheaply suggests to me that they knew the combat was fundamentally flawed and opted to work around it by effectively increasing player health by as much as 30 hearts rather than attempting to fix it.

Next, the game world is over-designed. There are loads of screens that serve no purpose whatsoever except to pad out the overworld, town, or dungeon they're part of. Some of these screens don't even have anything to interact with - they're literally just time-wasters. The game's characters were designed in a similar fashion. There are loads of NPCs, even compared to the far larger Link's Awakening, but many are recolored versions of eachother (even important ones!), none have any character, and almost none even have unique dialogue. Almost all of the NPCs will say the same few lines if you talk to them enough times, one of which is along the lines of "There's not much to talk about on such a small island." It's true, but if the devs knew that, why did they make 30 different characters to talk about it?

Next, and somewhat confusingly, the game is also under-designed where it matters. The dungeon puzzles aren't interesting or difficult. There's no Big Key equivalent and maps are missable, so you may unknowingly walk into the boss room for the biggest anti-climax ever. Houses feature no interactive items and are almost always empty. Items that are always interactive in games, like gravestones, aren't. The world feels like a rough draft of a Zelda-like based on a second-hand account of Link's Awakening rather than an attempt to recreate the character or detail of those games.

Finally, some minor complaints: Moving diagonally (needed for shield usage) is unreliable with a gamepad. The soundtrack is largely inoffensive, but lacks combat music, meaning boss fights are occasionally done to gentle ocean music. The enemies are overwhelmingly clearly derived from existing Zelda enemies. The game inherits Zelda's issues with meaningless money - there's nothing to buy except bow ammo and healing items.

Shipwreck would be a perfectly functional game in a hypothetical world where Zelda or other imitators like Anodyne and Ittle Dew didn't exist, but unfortunately for it, they do. If you've played those games, Shipwreck will likely be as disappointing for you as it was for me. If you haven't, I'd strongly recommend doing so instead of playing this. I can only really recommend Shipwreck if you're desperate for a new Zelda-like and you're choosing between it, broken games, or flash games. It's not a particularly bad game in the grand scheme of things, but it commits the cardinal sin of being a below-average game in a crowded genre absolutely loaded with better options. I don't see much of a place for it.

LuckyRoot
LuckyRoot

I usually don't play RPG games, I've never played the old Zelda series, and this game was my first time playing one of such particular style. However, "pleasant" was the word and feeling that kept occuring to me throughout my entire gameplay. Not too easy, not too hard, but pleasantly challenging, calm, delightful, adoring, and puzzling. Not to mention that this felt like one of those games where achievements really makes you satisfied. The boss battles felt very balanced as well. This is one of the few games I would really like a sequel to happen for. I sincerely thank the game for the pleasant experience it offered.

Hexrowe
Hexrowe

Sweet, short and simple! Shipwreck feels a lot like a combination of Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (and I say that as someone who actually kinda enjoyed Mystic Quest, for what it was). The controls are basic but sufficient and even elegant in their simplicity, the graphics are charming in a very retro way, the story is elementary (hah!) and the puzzles as straightforward as they come - this game isn't going to challenge your skills or make you rack your brain, but I think it's a jolly little nostalgia trip for those who grew up with 8-bit and 16-bit console RPGs and a nice little relaxing waste of time for anyone.

Leylz
Leylz

Love this game :)

Something about it fits my very small list of needs in one single game...

blackmantaray
blackmantaray

This short and sweet Zelda-like will have you feeling like you've discovered a long lost Game Boy Color game. Great music to boot!

گρяїפפąŋ: :ΞҲÍŁӘ
گρяїפפąŋ: :ΞҲÍŁӘ

Ambitious, but modest.

What a wonderful and enjoyable title.
For what it is missing in spice, it makes up for in balance and all the basics~

+ Simple and satisfying
+ Classic action-adventure
+ Beautiful music and great sound design
+ Detail and love by developers is obvious
+ Call back to Zelda franchise and uses the exact title system from GBC iteration!!!

- Short, but sweet
- No overworld map (not needed, but having in-game art and "uncovering" the island would be fun)
- Linear
- Combat comes off more as frustrating than satisfying, no finesse
- No hope of a sequel or follow-up (???)

Rascalnicough
Rascalnicough

"Shipwreck" is a game I had left on my wishlist for a long time before I finally picked it up on the cheap. I am prone to getting the "Zelda itch" for top-down action-adventure games with atmospheric dungeons, challenging puzzles, memorable characters, engaging story, and -- maybe most importantly -- secrets and treasures. Playing "Shipwreck" has left that itch virtually unscratched.

I hate to be too hard on "Shipwreck", though. The developer -- Brushfire Games out of Seattle-- is obviously a small independent operation, and I am sure they put tons of love into their product. There is a lot of effort on display here, but not enough for me to recommend this game.

Controls for "Shipwreck" are pretty responsive and intuitive, and I dig some of the soundtrack. However, spritework, story, writing, environments, goals, and that ever-elusive "game feel" just don't cut it.

I was unable to feel immersed while playing "Shipwreck", which is disappointing, as it is in the same style as some of my favorite games. Perhaps I have been spoiled by similar titles from producers with bigger budgets and greater pools of creativity and experience, but I still think "Shipwreck" walks an awkward line of wanting to experiment while trying to pay homage to its predecessors.

"Shipwreck" is certainly not worthless and is far from junk. I think there is a lot to learn -- for both Brushfire and other aspiring game designers -- by playing this game, dissecting it, and reflecting upon it. If you have the time and means to play "Shipwreck" and are interested in making games, I recommend you do so. I also think this game could be rewarding to new and younger players. However, if you are an experienced gamer looking to lose yourself in an exciting new world, you may want to steer clear of "Shipwreck's" unpolished and sometimes choppy waters.

There are not many games on Steam like "Shipwreck" that I would recommend. One exception, however, is "Anodyne", another game that is not perfect but was, to me, shockingly immersive. Off of Steam, "Link's Awakening" would be my go-to, and is most likely what inspired "Shipwreck".

The_A_train
The_A_train

I was looking for a relaxing, pretty, but to too fast game to play when I was, how do you say, in an alternative frame of mind.
I came upon Shipwrecked. It has nice colors, pixel graphics, and a nice soundtrack. The game is pretty linear and reminiscant of the Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening. Really reminds me of a Turbo Graphics 16 era game. It was only 2.99, well worth the price of admission I'd say.

Jötunn
Jötunn

fun adventure game. Reminds of me when playing The Legend of Zelda handheld series, not as long and complex as LOZ:Minish cap for an example, but I do enjoy playing this game.

Netherfiend
Netherfiend

A pretty simple but solid action adventure game in the vain of the original Zelda or maybe StarTropics. Nice retro graphics, and a nice soundtrack as well.

E.Vil.
E.Vil.

I absolutelly recommend Shipwreak to everyone! This game brings me to the past, to a good old days when I was little boy playing games on MS DOS, like God of Thunder for ex. So this game is gorgeous for me! Long enough to fill the taste and short enough to not get you bored. Simple raw game play mechanics when everythings works just as you expect it. And also there is some stuff behind main storyline! Awesome! ABSOLUTELLY AWESOME GUYS!

hpwombat
hpwombat

Game is a Zeldalike (Think NES, SNES, Gameboy, etc. Zeldas) and so far, does it well. Health is healed with food that is equipped as an item instead of hearts and fairies, inns instead of lake fairies. Also like Legend of Zelda, the game is full of puzzles and traps. Shipwreck also gets into play without a long set up or narrative to sit through, which often slows my enthusiasm. If you like Zelda games, this game does the series a great homage and is fun to play.

Implojin
Implojin

This game plays like someone wanted to make a 2D Zelda clone, but didn't realize what made those games fun.

There are no secrets, no hidden walls, no rewards for exploration here. No fun little item interactions. Just a whole lot of empty screens, and a game that feels like the developers ran out of budget after finishing the sprites.

It's a shame, because in playing through it I kept thinking to myself, "This could have been fun and full of heart if only they put a bit more effort into it."

omegapegepege
omegapegepege

AMAZING soundtrack, fun dungeons, and pretty good combat
bit empty world, only a few items, but overall this is a fun 2.99 game that is a good timekiller. I would reccomend Shipwreck

mitternachtgoblin
mitternachtgoblin

Well polished Zelda like game with female protagonist.

Beautiful music + Pixelart. Quiet short.

Id love to see more!

Leshi
Leshi

This game is a little gem for the retro game lovers and for Zelda fans. A littlle bit short , a little bit confusing some part of the game , but still a good game.

Sounds: 6/10
Music: 10/10
Graphics: 10/10 (Because i love the pixel art)
Story: 5/10

Trevor Pickard
Trevor Pickard

Reasons For Recommended:
1. Very well designed
2. Like Legend of Zelda, puzzles are well-made
3. Bosses are interesting and well thought-out
4. Easy to obtain achievements, most are obtained by merely playing the game

Not as Good:
1. Story was vague and almost boring
2. Only 3-4 hours gameplay
3. Not a variety of weapons

Comments:
I like the gameplay but it is not a very long game. I think that the creator of the game could have added more a variety of weapons to make the game more interesting and allowing more difficult puzzles. The story was a bit vague and could have used more characters.

Main Plot:
A ghost haunts a lighthouse. The ghost causes storms to ravage the island, thus ships can no longer travel to and fro. The hero, a young adventurer, crashes their ship during one of the storms and agrees to get rid of the lighthouse ghost. In order to do this, she must collect the four seals to open the door to the lighthouse.

WorthyD
WorthyD

This game is pretty fun. It feels closest to Link's Awakening than any other Zelda game.

Pros:
Great top down game play
Easy to pickup and play
Good sound track

Cons:
Short
Weak Story
No world map

I look forward to more games by this development team.

officer idiot (real!)
officer idiot …

Yes. It is a Zelda-like game. Many aspects are. It may not be as long or replayable as Zelda, but it is a fun game. I'll never forget the satisfaction of finding something I wouldn't have or receiving that 100% in the end.

TLDR: a great game where it counts.

cuerden
cuerden

A mixed bag. Insofar as it goes, it does what it sets out to do well, but it's short, and you'll have every item you're going to get by half-way through, with the last three dungeons free of any items. The bosses are the best thing about it, the dungeons only have three or so unique enemies each, and can become a slog - though I do like the switch puzzles. The items are a lantern, a bow, a sword, a pick that basically works like a sword and is only ever used in one dungeon, and a shield, plus healing items. Besides the pick being necessary to fight one boss, and to open up the entrance to the dungeon, none of these are ever used for any purpose besides the obvious ones. Indeed, after doing a trial where the crossbow hits targets, it's never used for anything but attacking again.

The game system is good, and it plays well, but I'd hold off for this group's second game.

o hai mark
o hai mark

Shipwreck was developed by Brushfire Games in 2014, and is the first game produced by the studio which is headed up by two brothers and has a few other folk who worked on the project.
I'll go over a few aspects of the game below and rate them on a scale of 1 to 10.

Story/Writing: 3/10
-----------------------
The story starts out with the protaganist shipwrecked on an island due to a storm. They find out that the storm is being caused by a ghost that moved into the local lighthouse. After that, the story is about as basic as you can get. Find 'x' number of seals to open the final dungeon. Nothing wrong with a straightforward narrative (Know what I mean, Mario?), but there is very little aside from this going on. No other plots or anything going on. A few NPCs that talk about not liking the storms. Nothing really special.

Art Design: 5/10
----------------------------
A lot of the sprite work is nice, but there seems to be some inconstency in the sprite designs between characters and monsters and what-not. Shading, outlining, etc are different between different sprites and just fails to feel cohesive. The dungeons all have nice themes and the various areas look distinct and feel like they fit in with what the area is supposed to be (ie, desert, swamp, forest, etc). The HUD and design elements of the world are definitely an homage to The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, if you hadn't already seen that from the screenshots.

Gameplay: 4/10
-------------------------
At first the controls felt a little clunky, but I got used to them pretty quickly. The puzzles and dungeon designs really leave a lot to be desired. Most puzzles are really just walking through mazes or walking around obstacles for several screens to hit a switch. There was one dungeon that had a puzzle that got me for a couple of minutes involving some teleporting. Otherwise the dungeons feel bland in their layout. The overworld has a lot of area to explore, but most of it is pretty empty and just leads to dead-ends. It doesn't feel like a lot of them have any purpose other than to take up some extra time as you try to find the dungeon entrances.

Sound Design: 6/10
--------------------------
The music is really nice. They went a little unconventional by using a lot of acoustic guitar and woodwinds/pan flutes. The music fits the areas really well, and I found myself really enjoying it. Most of the tracks are very chill and would be great for background music while you're working on other stuff. The sound effects get the job done, but I turned them down becasue they were very loud in comparison to the music. Nothing really special about the SFX though.

Final Verdict: 4/10
----------------------
It's not bad, it's just not particularly good. I'd rather give this a "neutral" rating, but since it's not an option, I'll give it a positive. If it cost any more, I'd have given it a negative rating. I think this developer will definitely make some good stuff in the future. Everyone has to start somewhere, and with this as the basis for their company, I think they have a good start.
It's very short (took me around an hour and a half to beat) and it's only $2.99 USD. Or just wait till the next steam sale when it's $0.99 USD.
Do yourself a favor, though, and spend the extra dollar to get the deluxe edition with the soundtrack.

Bits & Bobs
-----------------
This is just a section for various thoughts that don't really reflect any of the ratings.
~ I know that they were emulating the style of Link's Awakening by using the two button format for your items, but it was kind of annoying to pop open the menu to equip healing items, heal real quick and then go back to the menu to re-equip whatever else you had. Especially in areas where you have to use your lantern to see and need your weapon to attack. Felt a bit too frantic, but that's just a nitpick.

Alerya
Alerya

The game's story is basic and not interesting at all, collect the seals and defeat the ghost. That's it. The game is very easy to beat. A little story about the ghost would have been nice.
I would have recommended the game if the story was interesting.

Good points :

    • Interesting puzzles even though very simple
    • Nice music
    • Combat is well thought
    • Great variety of enemies from one dungeon to another

Bad points:

    • Very weak story
    • Bosses are too easy
    • Achievements are not challenging
    • Very short game

DarkHearts78
DarkHearts78

Easiest way to explain, The First Legend of Zelda.

You move around and it transitions screens to a different dungeon.
The ability to equip 2 items, first and second being a sword and shield.
You can pick up a big heart and get more hearts to heart.

Overall, a good buy for an escape from shoot man guns XIV.

Marcus Awesome
Marcus Awesome

Shipwreak is Awesome,everything is great in this game, its just like the old Zelda days, but way too easy. Devolpers bring It On with more games like this and keep everything the same,
but make it harder and a longer story.

Over all I give this game a 10/10, because it accurately captures a pure Zelda inspired gameplay and exploration feeling.

aquatorrent
aquatorrent

My playtime: 3:14:48 (based on in game clock, 100% achievement).
Grindy Achievement: No.
Optional Achievement: Yes (3 achievements).
Difficult Achievement: No.
Developer Response: Yes (~4 months).

*Note that i bought this game on a discount which costs around $1.

Intro

Shipwreck is a Zelda-like RPG game where you find yourself stuck in a problem island. There are 6 dungeons in this game with unique bosses at the end of the dungeon.

Graphics

The game uses pixelated graphics and it looks bold and enjoyable. It shows a unique theme in each area. The mapping looks decent with a lot of empty houses in the town.

Music

The music sounds relaxing. I really love the music, especially the ones played in the town. It has a relaxing and cheerful vibe.

Story

The game doesn't focus on the story too much. The dialogues explain the important things properly and it doesn't sound weird at all. Although you can talk to most NPCs, you can't talk to the guards.

The game

This game has an auto save. It is quite short; It can be completed in around 3 hours (less if you are not aiming for 100%). As i said before, there are 6 dungeons in total and these dungeons can be completed in around 30 minutes (the first dungeon might take faster while the last dungeon might take longer). The dungeon varies from 1-6 floors in total.

The dungeon itself works like Zelda games; you explore a room, find a map, open the locked rooms, and fight the dungeon boss. The map itself might look weird since it doesn't cover the map in detail (and there is no world map), but it's not really a problem except for the last dungeon since the dungeon is more complex than usual (i even missed a key because i was not paying too much attention when i played the game).

There are a few additional item that you can also utilize to advance the room, such as torch and pickaxe. There is also an additional crossbow in addition to the original sword and shield. While the pickaxe can work like a sword (although it can only hit in a straight line), the torch is more like a passive thing; you equip it in your item slot and you'll have more vision in the dark. However, the dev seems to love this concept very much, to the point that i have to kill the enemies with sword and torch because of the dark room. Some enemies can be hard to kill without taking damage with no shield and because i have to use the torch to light the room, i'll have to take some damage in that room. I think there are better level designs that the dev can take without exploiting this fact.

Just like any other zelda games, you can gain "heart container" (called "big heart" in the game) to gain an extra heart and some health restoring items. Unlike zelda games, you can keep these items (up to 9) and carry it anywhere you want. You also can use the item anywhere and anytime you want as long as you still have some heart left. This makes it easier to kill the boss, especially since there are 2 health restoring items in the game.

The bosses have their own attack patterns, although they can be killed by just attacking it. Some bosses need to be killed with certain item, although the boss' stature or location might already give it off. The boss might take a few hits to kill and sometimes, it might be hard to kill without taking damage. You'll have no problem in finishing it off once you know what to do though. If you're afraid of dying, you can just stock on health restoring items in advance since the boss will die before you run out of it. However, if you, by any chance, die, you'll be teleported to the dungeon entrance and have to start over. It's a good thing that you'll be teleported out of the dungeon once you kill the boss though.

Pros:
- Auto save
- 6 dungeons
- Unique bosses
- Interesting dungeon design
- Health restoring items

Cons:
- No world map
- Dying in a dungeon will teleport you to dungeon entrance
- There are a lot of dark rooms that require torch to clear

Conclusion

This is a fast paced zelda-like game. There are 6 dungeons in total and you can have up to 3 additional items for your journey.

Should you buy this game?

Yes.
I highly recommend it at $1, although it's okay with the original price. It has a very short playtime though.

Castayr
Castayr

If you're a fan of the top down zeldas then you will most likely enjoy this game. Its not quite in depth as most zelda games are but I easily got a few hours worth of enjoyment out of it. Its somewhat challenging, I completed it 100% on my first play through although I do like to explore everywhere.

UnOriginal_Bastard
UnOriginal_Bastard

A little bit of Zelda, a dash of game boy colour vibe, some stock parts of RPG classics which all boils down to a nice little time waster. Easily worth a couple of bucks and will keep you entertained for about 2-3hrs give or take. Solid entry for a first game from a small developer.

2nd Class Janitor - Wilco
2nd Class Jani…

Tags: Topdown - Zeldalike
Additional Tags: Delete Local Content & Remove from Library

TLDR: Outcompeted. Limited play area. Only appeal is simplicity, which is also a major drawback.

Does not do enough. Art on sidebars not sufficient to compensate for lack of play area. Bland. Generic. Boring. Somewhat engaging due to simplicity. Xbox360 pad helps a lot. Still clutters the library and distracts from better titles in the subgenre.

Phone-port Zelda-clone with Xbox360 pad support, minimalistic 2D sprites. Very simple barebones gameplay and level design and fairly fast progression with miniature everything. Controls fairly and simply. Animations are ugly but predictable and help with the controls.

Relius
Relius

It's basically a bite size Zelda candy. I enjoyed every minute of it.

Ninjato
Ninjato

Shipwreck is a very fun little game, but I can't help but feel like the developer forgot to add enemies to the overworld.
So far I've only encountered enemies in the dungeons, which makes for a big empty world to explore. Other than that it's very good. It's a fun game in the spirit of The Legend of Zelda, Crystalis, Alundra and the like. Hopefully it gets a sequal!

Sirozha
Sirozha

Shipwreck is a short zelda-esque adventure game. The story is simple: You are shipwrecked on some cursed island. You have to collect four magic thingies and defeat a ghost in order to return home.

There is an overworld where you can talk to characters and buy stuff like arrows and food to refill health, but you don't really need all that, 'cause the game is pretty easy. There aren't any secrets in overworld and the ones in dungeons are pretty easy to find. The game features 6 dungeons(including tutorial) which end with you fighting the boss. The dungeons are small and bosses feel boring and uninspired.

Graphics are ok, made me feel nostalgic for Game Boy Zelda games. The music is good, but there aren't that many tracks, one for each level.

Pros:
+ Nostalgic feelings
+ Good soundtrack

Cons:
- No secrets
- Short levels
- Useless items

The game looks bad in comparison to Legend of Zelda. I wouldn't recommend buying it unless you've played all the good games in the genre and hungry for more.

James with the Games
James with the Games

Wow I actually finished two games in one day that's a first! This is sort of like a Legend of Zelda lite. It's smaller in scale, has less dungeons and isn't as memorable. But it still is pretty fun. The thing in this game that will probably bug people most is that for example in most LoZ games whenever you do the most complicated puzzles in a dungeon you are usually awarded a dungeon item, and a boss key. In this game there are NO BOSS KEYS AND NO DUNGEON ITEMS! Often times you will do a rather long puzzle to receive a single key, or in the case of the desert dungeon 1/4 SWITCHES to open the door to the boss. You can often walk right in the boss room without realizing it. I did that on the second dungeon and got wiped the floor with.

Also unfortunately the game is a bit too forgiving. Enemies only are in dungeons, and once you kill them they don't respawn even if you die. And most of the hazards (which they emphasize in this game) isn't enough to kill you. plus the game gives you enough gold to fill your 999 cap TWICE by the end of the game meaning you can easily stock up on healing bread.

But this game is not that bad, there are tons of things better, but its not bad.

erc
erc

Shipwreck is a short, cutesy top-down adventure reminiscent of the GB/GBC era handheld JRPGs. It was primarily created by brothers Gravelyn with art and music contributions by Ty Lagalo and Dan Waters respectively.

There isn't much in the way of a story: basically, you get shipwrecked on an island unknown to you and learn from the town inhabitants that the frequent storms are caused by an entity which dwells in the said island's lighthouse. You agree to help the folks out to earn your sail back home.

Just like a classic Zelda title, the gameplay mainly revolves around traversing dungeons in search of the four seals that act as a key to the haunted lighthouse, your final destination. The dungeons themselves are more-or-less multi-layered environmental puzzles, each themed differently from one another, that you need to overcome with the tools at hand. You get your sword and shield early on, followed by a bow and a pick-axe coupled by a lantern. Each dungeon is populated by an assortment of two-hit baddies and a boss which serves as a guardian to the seal to be found within. The scope being limited, there isn't much else to do in the game world apart from overcoming each dungeon one by one. This being a Zelda inspired title, there isn't any levelling up and the interaction with the overworld (which is devoid of any random encounters or enemies, by the way) as well as the townsfolk is bare-minimum. Even if you search every nook and cranny, it takes 3 hours at most to see everything the game has on offer.

Still, considering there's only four guys behind it, Shipwreck's successful at evoking a feeling of byte-sized nostalgia. What it lacks in depth and length, it makes up for it with lovely pixel art and heartfelt, moody music. The relative ease of progression, alongside the basic two-button control scheme and a bug-free ride add up to the overall 'feel-good' experience.

If you are fond of the time you've spent with the portable adventuring titles of olde, Shipwreck's well-worth its asking price. Plug in your gamepad and go for it in a sunny afternoon.

Neoglitch
Neoglitch

This little Zelda clone is not a BAD game per se... but it's definitely not as good as other Zelda clones, let alone other Zelda games. It's not terrible... but it's kind of bland.

The pros: Great music!

The OKs: The dungeon design, the puzzles, the boss battles, and the overall gameplay. They are NOT bad, but they are not specially good - they are just acceptable.

The cons: The world feels BARREN! The overworld has no enemies at all, and when you do kill some of the few enemies in the dungeons, they never re-spawn.

Also, it's annoying that there's no run functionality (like in the GBA Pokémon games), which makes backtracking tedious and a bit annoying.

But overall, I still recommend this game if you are a fan of Zelda clones, and want to relax and unwind for a while with a game that doesn't present much of a challenge.

But get it ONLY on sale - I just can't recommend this game at full price.

Note: If you are looking for a much meatier game, Blossom Tales is probably much better than this one (haven't played it yet):

http://store.steampowered.com/app/446810/Blossom_Tales_The_Sleeping_Kin…

Grigolia
Grigolia

hello Zelda. long time no see :)

Spooky Mulder
Spooky Mulder

Delightful game that is totally worth the very small price tag (esp. during sales when it's $0.75). I think all of the positive reviews are accurate and the negative reviews are accurate as well. The negative reviews mostly say it's short and feels like a game that someone made in a game-maker tutorial. That's not untrue. But for all the countless hours I put into crafting my own games, back in the day, on Official Hamster Republic, I never once actually finished a game. This is a finished, charming-looking game with a surprisingly good soundtrack. Well-worth the full price of 2.99 and definitely worth the saleprice of 74 cents.

tuxdelux
tuxdelux

Umm... ha ha.. it is okay, I guess. It starts in a little gameboy-like window, plays like a gameboy type game, and it is pretty simple. Not deep: no skills or upgrades. All that said, it is pretty nice freshman work. Some interesting zelda-esque challenges.

Played this game on an old, 900MHz ubuntu linux desktop. Worked fine with an xbox-type gamepad controller. The game uses the Unity Game Engline and takes up 80 MBs of diskspace.

DeRockProject (jongyon7192p)
DeRockProject …

Story?

("""spoilers""" warning)

    • You're shipwrecked on an island where a storm means everyone will lock poor you out of their houses. You talk to the mayor. A ghost is causing the storms. So how do we defeat the ghost?
    • "We're all busy with the storm so of all the people in our village, it has to be you, a person I just met, who I will task to collect four magical elemental seals to open a door to a lighthouse."
    • So you do that and the entire overworld is the most vast, emptiest, tree-riddled place on earth.
    • After each seal, you HAVE to talk to the mayor each time for no good reason, story-wise or EVEN gameplay-wise. You just talk to him and he states the obvious and you're on your way.
    • After 2 seals, the mayor is not at his home. You can't ignore the mayor. You have to go all the way to the lighthouse way up north. And I mean like way up north. You talk to him, he says "I'm relaxing. I like to be here when I want some quiet." And...... that's it. Why did I have to walk all the way for that? Back to getting seals.
    • After all the seals, you fight the boss that says:
    • "You're trapped in this island forever, mwahaha"
    • "It's futile, you know that?"
    • "You'll never defeat me. I can create storms." (his defining storm ability never appears during the fight.)
    • "How did you defeat me? NOOOOO!!!!!"
    • For defeating the ghost, your reward is... "Get off our island." and "We will never forget how you helped us."
    • That's it. Literally.

The first dungeon where none of the plot happens was honestly better because it had way less cringe moments.

Gameplay?

So I died to the 2nd boss who deals an entire heart per hit, and I didn't have any apples or bread. You respawn with 3 hearts (My max health was 7 hearts by now.) and you literally have to walk through like 25 screens to go back to the boss and the entire thing has arrow traps, bottomless pits, dark rooms AT THE SAME TIME that requires swapping between lantern and shield, and absolutely nothing to refill your apples. Why? Well you see, pots reappear if you die. Rocks don't.

The village was too far, so I refought the boss like 17 times (I wish I was joking) til I beat him with 3 hearts and I learned to speedrun the entire 2nd dungeon very optimally damageless. It wasn't fun.

Overall?

These guys were inspired by Zelda. Ironically, they didn't learn how to make games from Zelda. If they did, they'd know the very basic thing to do which is to put a freakin teleporter so players don't have to walk 30 rooms full of nothing but completed puzzles. Also these guys need to learn how to make puzzles that isn't "a single gimmick + a maze," like every single time.

Also, an overworld map. Also, an overworld with some enemies and less trees. Also, those tree hitboxes are just objectively wrong. Also, the sword just awkwardly does not swing all the way. Also, don't punish an explorative player with dead ends and a empty-handed, required backtracks. Also, when I try to get into a 1 tile gap between a block and the edge of the screen, please just let me through instead of just shoving me into the adjacent screen unless I do some very precise button taps. Like, good lord.

Luqasha
Luqasha

Awesome game. The simple design makes it easy for me to get along with the game. It has some lovely music and its a fun adventure for a low price.

K-Sama
K-Sama

its a cute game with old style mixed into new style the only cons i can see is theres no direction or much of a storyline but still worth using the coupon and wikiing your way threw the spots you get lost in lol

Tommy the Rabbit
Tommy the Rabbit

Despite having a simple and sweet story, soundtrack and fighting mechanic, it seriously lacks in key areas:

1. There is no real guide apart from the one pop up in the beginning so there's no way to identify the hazards like falling through the floors, shooting, using your shield to counter.

2. Autosave system screws you when you die because if you died in the dungeon EVERYTHING you get is reset instead of having something like an autosave after every floor you beat, that way it's nowhere near as much as a pain to start again, it took me long enough to get the cave boss (I will get into that) just to die and go all the way, without even letting me keep my extra heart which I found and so I just stopped playing because I lost the motivation to do it all over again.

3. Boss' are unfair in the regards there is no counter or apparent weakness so you better just spam C and X to eat apples and swing whatever you have because your shield will decidedly not help.

4. You bounce way to much when hit- this especially the case in places you can fall into.

Fix these issues and the game is set, otherwise, I could not reccommend so I give it a 2/5

Teigen
Teigen

Cute little zelda style game. Not very long but it was fun. The soundtrack is nifty and gives a good vibe.

Kitty Karloso
Kitty Karloso

Excellent Links Awakening like open world adventure game.

longbowman
longbowman

It's not a bad game and though I've mentioned some negatives below, I do still recommend it. I love the pixel graphics. And it could have been a great game. This game doesn't have much adventure though. It's less about finding things and talking to people and more about rigorously dodging enemy units and crossbows that can push you into oil wells in an instant taking away all your progress. And then you respawn somewhere randomly in the dungeon. The game is unnecessarily rigorous. It felt more like a Shoot 'em up genre game than an adventure RPG.

The item switching system sucks really hard for this day and age. Can't fill your health up using triggers or shoulder brackets on the controller for some reason. Must pull apples out of the inventory and replace your sword with apples to fill your health bar and then switch the sword back.... in the middle of a boss battle!! I would have loved to see something like left trigger switch between sword, axe or other weapons. Right trigger switch between shield, lamp, or whatever else.

ScrinnodStudios
ScrinnodStudios

9/10
it's fun and enjoyable, i should 100+% the game but you know, time and stuff, but yeah play this you'll enjoy it and its ok music

Nookmorrigan
Nookmorrigan

I don't understand how a cheap poorly made game gets so much positive and compared to Legend of Zelda, a better game series than this one. The plot is filled with too much holes, the world map is empty and boring with nothing to do in them and nothing positive I can find in this game at all. It's not even worth the dollar to buy it and play it. You're far better off buying a real LoZ game rather than buying this cheap knock off that's going to rob you of your time and money. Don't believe in the hype that everyone is giving this game.

sillyjones
sillyjones

Comfy Zelda-like with a fun world to explore. A nice spiritual successor to ALttP.

deserteagle417
deserteagle417

This is a fun little game :) Highly recommend!

Endofthe__
Endofthe__

Shipwreck is a cute, short game reminiscent of Zelda.
The plot is simple and there isn't any world building beyond what services it (why is the ghost haunting the island in the first place?) but it's got a nice nostalgic feel to it.

Pros:
- Soundtrack
- Easy to 100% if you want to
- A couple of the dungeon designs are pretty cool
- Autosaving

Cons:
- At some points in dungeons you're required to hold a torch to see the enemies you're fighting and since you can't equip more than two items at a time this means you can't use your shield and have to take damage
- There's no world building beyond your mission
- It can be tedious to work your way back through a dungeon if you die or want to get a big heart you missed
- Short (though the price reflects that)

Keep in mind if you play that you can only hold 999 coins at a time (although you don't need that much money anyway since you can only use it to sleep at the inn or buy apples, bread and crossbow bolts).

I got it on sale for less than a pound and do think it's worth it if you're looking for this sort of game.

867-5309
867-5309

Even for the sale price of $0.83, I can't recommend this game. For starters, controller support is bad. No remapping buttons (or keys!), and I hope you have an Xbox pad or it's going to act bizarrely. With my Logitech pad, I could only use one of the item buttons. Hit detection is wonky, especially on the pickaxe weapon. In addition, it has an autosave feature that CAN and WILL screw you over. Did you die to a boss after eating all your food in the fight? The fact that you have no food is part of your save file. Did you do a few more practice runs with no food, then spend all your money on food and try again? Now you have no money OR food, and have to grind for more money. It doesn't help that hit detection is screwy, especially on the pickaxe weapon that it required for the second boss.

TL;DR This game has technical problems, bad mechanics, and okay but not great level design. I only paid 83 cents for it and I feel ripped off. I should be paid for spending my very limited free time on this game.

jfictiony
jfictiony

A pleasantly unremarkable adventure game, worth the 3 bucks but definitely what you pay for.

Two things keep this firmly in the average category. One is mechanical: it mimics the top-down perspective of old-school Zelda (and, in premise, Link's Awakening specifically), using a grid-based system for locating objects on the map. Unfortunately, whether an object takes up its entire square of the grid or not, the game will behave as if it does. This means you'll often fail to squeeze through a passage that seems wide enough for your character, or an enemy's attack will damage you despite appearing to miss. It never becomes a serious problem, but you'll spend a good fifteen minutes getting used to it.

The second, more fundamental one is conceptual: if you've played any Zelda game or its ilk in the last ten or so years, nothing here will surprise or challenge you all that much. The story is extremely simple - defeat the big bad to escape the island - and no subplots or sidequests exist to flesh it out. (Your character doesn't even have a name.) Action-adventures thrive on the tried-and-true formula of constant evolution by giving you new items to further explore and a wide variety of locales, but Shipwreck only somewhat understands this. Here, your inventory caps out by the 50% mark, and the overworld is lifeless; outside of the single town there is nothing to interact with. Dungeons are nicely distinct in both aesthetic and atmosphere (the soundtrack is arguably the game's best feature), but outside of the final one they're a pushover - puzzles are very simple and most enemies can be defeated with sheer brute force. And at barely three hours (five if you're less experienced), it's only good for a few sessions at most.

Still, as I said, a pleasantly unremarkable experience. For the price, you can't get mad at its very modest ambitions.

Ams
Ams

This is a zelda inspired game, since steam doesn't have a okaish button I'll give this game a positive for a single reason it has remapping of keys (at least on keyboard), it's a short game (3h or so to 100% , the 9.7h in my account refer to idling) the game feels incomplete and short, there are slots in the inventory that doesn't fill, the only relevant npcs are the guards that block your progress because it's annoying, the inn needs to be or cheaper outside of storm parts it really didn't do anything, it does need a run button, there are zones that went for too long and maze-like and backtracking; the lamp felt it needed to be a bit more of passive than an active it felt awkward to use, still a fun experience for a low price

jlavin17
jlavin17

Shipwreck is a fun, simple game! I like the Zelda Game Boy games, so I like this game. It's that simple. There are some inventive items, and there's some fun dialogue. I beat it in about 4 hours. Give it a shot, you'll probably like it!

eX
eX

I liked it. Short, but fun. Zelda-clone with old-time graphics.

Kitu
Kitu

Shipwreck is a short and sweet Zelda-like that borrow a lot from the series, but unfortunately doesn't add much to the formula. You've got a sword, a shield and a couple of items - a crossbow, a lantern to light dark rooms, a pickaxe to break rocks and some food to heal up anywhere, but that's it. No boomerang, no grappling hook, no boots that make you run faster.

This has two effects:
- Everything is kept very simple and to the point. Enemies are never too complicated, don't take too many hits, and the focus is on puzzles as well as dungeon design. And it works! Shipwreck takes around two hours to go through and doesn't beat around the bush. The plot is very simple, with four dungeons (plus a tutorial one and a final one, so actually six) to beat in order to finish the game, which can be done in about two hours. These dungeons are the main focus of the game, with some interesting puzzles and design playing around verticality. They're mostly fun and punctuated by good bosses.
- It's quite repetitive and can get boring. Since you don't really get new gadgets to play with, you'll always walk at the same speed, swing your sword to do the same amount of damage and never have fun items to think about. It's a pity! The best dungeon is the desert one, with a few branching paths and enigmas based around spikes and switches. It's not too hard, but it feels a bit like a Zelda dungeon, which is great - unfortunately, it falls short I feel like it could have been even better with puzzles based around items.

This duality is at the heart of Shipwreck. On the one hand, it gets a bit repetitive when you feel like you're just going through the motion, never having to think too much about what you're doing except when you have to ration food. On the other hand, Its simplicity and short length are a big strength, since it's a Zelda-lite experience you can be done with in about two hours. And even though it isn't quite up to the series' level, it gets pretty close at times, which is why I would absolutely recommend it for such a cheap price.

Find more reviews of small and overlooked indie games that deserve more recognition at our Hidden Indie Games curator page!
MrYourMum
MrYourMum

Bland

Shipwreck is an old-school 8-bit-style Zelda clone that is carefully crafted but lacks any visual or gameplay innovations or variety.

The pixel-art is sufficient, reminiscent of the older Final Fantasy games; however, it is utterly unmemorable.

The music is pleasing to the ear but it feels out of place since it is not retro-styled, rather some modern easy-listening vibes.

The outer world is boring and devoid of life, just random trees placed here and there, with no secrets and no incentive to explore.

The dungeons are very straightforward, the puzzles are boring and feel like padding (e.g. pull a lever in one end of the map to open the gate across from it).

The only exciting level is the Deserts dungeon, it actually has a disappearing tiles puzzle that requires a bit of thinking through.

The swordplay is incurious due to the weird hitboxes that are a bit bigger than they should be and dumb enemies.

The plot is non-existent.

The sad thing is that the game is actually polished - there are no bugs, no sudden difficulty curve swerves, the enemies are placed thoughtfully, there is some quality-of-life here and there (e.g. when you defeat a boss, you don't have to backtrack - you just get teleported back to the dungeon entrance). But it is so utterly uninspiring: there is nothing, literally nothing that makes it stand out from its competitors. There are much worse games that are worth playing due to their unusual game mechanics or peculiar art.

Verdict: look out for the devs and maybe buy their next game.

CrescentShade
CrescentShade

Like I'm gonna finish it cause it's short but I need to rip into it first.

There's no reason at all for the overworld to be so big when there's only like 4 dungeons and no enemies except in dungeons; and also no reason not to have an overworld map if you do have it so big.

Fairly solid in gameplay but be prepared to wander around looking for the places you need to go with only vague directions. You'll find where you need to be eventually but don't expect anything exciting on the way.

lionhart
lionhart

The biggest problem with this game is the fact that Anodyne exists. If you are interested in Shipwreck, but you haven't played Anodyne yet, then go and play that first because it is better in every possible respect. If you have already played Anodyne, then Shipwreck is going to seem weak by comparison; it is similar in terms of game play, but completely lacking the surreal atmosphere and level design that made Anodyne a memorable experience.

That being said, Shipwreck is certainly not a bad game. The developers clearly put some effort into it, and given that it frequently goes on sale for under a dollar, it is just good enough to earn a mild recommendation, especially for achievement hunters.

Alphanea
Alphanea

pretty generic zelda-esque rpg, takes an hour or two to complete 100% but i'm quite happy with it mostly because i got a foil trading card lol

Hagger
Hagger

The game isn't bad, but not that fun either. Collisions are shit though. Still better than last Nintendo games.

Squared
Squared

A good game but a bit too short. I wish there was more to it. But at 75% I don't regret anything.

NekroG.TTV
NekroG.TTV

An ok Zelda Clone, Short, and a little easier But It worked for me.

Esper
Esper

This is more of okay than recommend.
The game feels like someone's school project/first try at, but besides feeling a bit bland, it is nice to play. It is also short enough that it doesn't overstay its welcome.

You may not enjoy it if you want to be wowed. It is what it wears on its sleeve.

Mothtra94
Mothtra94

Only giving it a thumbs down due to fact there's no meeh option anyways it's an alright game I like the soundtrack so get game if it's on sale if wanna kill an hour or so

xXSlick_JimmyXx
xXSlick_JimmyXx

amateur but very comfy zelda clone :)

Vortiene
Vortiene

A solid micro zelda game that seems to have been made by 2 people. I have a couple of gripes but you can buy this game for about a dollar on sale and it's fun enough for it's 2-3 hour runtime to satisfy fans of this type of game genre.

Things I liked:
-Game runs well and automatically scales to screens by maximizing the window, no need to fiddle around with settings, it just works. "Fullscreen" mode is a borderless window, so you can alt tab out without having a black screen for a bit. Controller support just works and doesn't need any setup.
-Game autosaves perfectly and you can jump in and out whenever you like
-Very nice music for this tiny game. It sounds nice and you will probably enjoy the music as you play through each dungeon.
-The dungeons are well designed and not too confusing, but also satisfying on a puzzle-solving level. Combat doesn't have much to it but it's still fun to fight. Especially once you get arrows.
-The shield is very useful, moreso than most Zelda games. I kept it on one of my item slots just about the whole game since it was really fun to guard every attack with it and stun enemies.

My Gripes:
-The overworld has no enemies. This would be fine if the overworld was really small, but it's a bit too big for how empty it is. Once you get in the dungeons it's great. You might get bored quick if you think exploring the overworld is worth your time. Try to head straight for the dungeons if you want to have fun with the game.
-The town has a couple of NPCs, but most of the houses are empty...it would be easy to add a couple more NPCs, wouldn't it?
-This is often a problem with most Zelda style games, but I had a lot of money and nothing to spend it on very quickly in the game. Maybe a sword upgrade or shield upgrade to purchase would have made it a bit more fun.

Overall I can recommend it to fans of Zelda style games for a quick playthrough. The dungeons are fun at least, and the combat and music work well enough to make it enjoyable to play.

MetalGearPony
MetalGearPony

Shipwreck is short, and closely inspired by Zelda Link's Awakening. If you like Zelda, give this a shot; it was a lot of fun.

greg.mci
greg.mci

A great cute little game. About 4-5 hours of gameplay which is just right for the price. Took me a little bit to learn the combat timing but got there by the end. If you want a short zelda like experience it's a great buy for a couple bucks. I do have one very minor complaint, I was watching tv so I turned the sound off in game but there were a couple of sound effects that still played and a bit loudly, moving the stones and picking up the seals.

Rine
Rine

TLDR: A 2d Zelda clone, with nothing to call its own and a sharp lack of polish. The only positive it has is its short, but even then I was annoyed and done with it before the hour was up.

I am befuddled by the amount of positive reviews for this game. It clearly wants to be Link's Awakening, but there is just nothing substantial here at all. Best reviewed in a list of the worst things about it:

-The overworld is needlessly large and barren. There are no enemies, 95% of the overworld map has literally nothing in it. Its needless padding to make walking between the five tiles with anything on it longer than it needs to be.

-Straight, linear game, no deviation or reason to replay. The only things you could miss are the health powerups, two of which are on the overworld, and the one 'joke' treasure chest that gave a single gold coin in the last dungeon, and only for those achievements.

-Each dungeon basically has two enemies in them, plus the ever-present bats. The combat is floaty, its hard to confidently swing and hit an enemy and not take a hit of your own. You get a shield, but it changes block directions when you move, so you can't use it well enough to matter. Most traps in dungeons are arrow traps, which is basically just 'you can't get the shield facing the right way, so just take a hit'. I -never- felt confident enough about my hitbox, and most of the time I was just chewing down healing items.

-You get tons of gold. There is one store to spend gold in, it has two healing items and arrows. You can not access this store between the second to last and last dungeon. I had 900 gold and would have -liked- to spend it on healing items, but nope.

-The last bossfight is him arrow spamming you with no way to block and still hit back, and you'll take 2-3 hits for every one you manage to land. They apparently decided to balance it by having waves of enemies that can drop a few healing items.

-There are way, way too many dark areas, and the lantern takes up one of two item slots. So can't lantern+shield+sword. Your weapons range is just slightly shorter than the light, so you will just walk into enemies or pits if you aren't inching around. Its extremely annoying.

In summary: No, pick something else.

BinaryPork2737
BinaryPork2737

Shipwreck is an homage to classic Gameboy Zelda titles, especially Link's Awakening. While it's nothing incredible, it's a good way to spend a few hours. It's a shame that the developer never made a follow-up to improve upon an already good game.