Anguna: Warriors of Virtue Review – An Early Zelda-Like Adventure on the Evercade From Indie Heroes Collection 1!

It’s difficult to review an older indie title when you know the developer has tried hard and achieved a lot, yet it doesn’t seem to come together. That’s the case for Anguna: Warriors of Virtue.

The Beginning of the Adventure

It’s a game from the mid-2000’s, and tries desperately to be like the classic Zelda series, especially the first, and A Link to the Past. It shares multiple gameplay aspects with those games, such as a sword as your primary weapon, and sub weapons and items that are acquired as you go through your quest. Some examples include a bow and arrows, dynamite, and a lantern.

The game begins with you having been captured and thrown in a dungeon. This was after you failed to defeat a dragon. For some reason, your enemies are really stupid and left your sword with you in your jail cell. You naturally escape, explore the dungeon, and make a way out. All the while obtaining money, health pickups, and your first sub weapon. Once you’re successful, you can explore the overworld.

Freedom, and Irritation, in Exploration

To the game’s credit, this part reminds me of the original Legend of Zelda in that there is not a lot of direction for where you need to go. In fact, it is entirely possible to miss the first person who restores your heath if you go the wrong way. However, the game features maps for both the dungeons and overworld. These are filled in as you explore their respective areas. There’s also a few shopkeepers scattered throughout the world who sell you maps to the dungeons. Yet, nobody actually says which dungeon you should go to next, or in what order.

To be frank, this sense of aimless direction is something that I’m conflicted about. In some regard I respect it. Anguna: Warriors of Virtue doesn’t hold your hand a lot. Nor does it give you many clues either, just like the original Zelda.

Still, its execution is also really frustrating. For example, the 2^nd dungeon doesn’t contain everything you need to complete it. Instead, you have to go through part of it to obtain a sub item. Then you are supposed to leave it, explore more of the overworld, purchase another item, and come back to the dungeon to beat it. I found this to be really irritating and frustrating.

Dungeon Design

Examples of other aggravating design choices are peppered throughout the game. These are often found in dungeons. Although I can’t fully put my finger on it, as I played, I didn’t particularly enjoy their designs. Here are some (negative) aspects that stand out for me,

1. They feature pressure plates that open other passage ways, but they can be pressed more than once to do different things.
2. Doors often close behind you, often forcing you to go a long way around to return to where you were before.
3. There are multiple hidden passageways that you need to find to beat the dungeons. This means you will hug every wall to find hidden rooms.
4. Once you obtain the lantern, you have to turn it on and off multiple times as you make your way through the dungeons. Every time you have it on, you cannot use any sub-weapons.
5. At various points you have to go through tons of keys to progress through the dungeons. To me, this is particularly boring gameplay design.

Music Repetition

Sadly, also irritating was the game’s very repetitive music. The tracks for the overworld and the dungeons seem to only be about 30 seconds in length. As such, they repeat a lot! This is so much so that before you complete the first dungeon, you’ll probably hear the main dungeon theme 10 times, or more.

Then, once you get to the overworld, be ready to listen to that one a ton! It’ll never go away, unless you enter a dungeon. But then you gotta deal with that one instead! Of course, you could turn the sound down all the way, but I don’t like to do that while playing games.

Boredom Sets In

Because of the frustrating dungeon design and the repetitive music, I couldn’t help but be bored by this title. The first time I went through it I just wanted to complete it so I could move on to something else (by the end, anyway). I felt this way after about 3 dungeons.

That’s difficult for me to say because this is a title that is about 15-20 years old, and I’m sure it had some positive influence on other indie developers. Just to put that number of dungeons in context, there are 5 regular dungeons in the game. So I was probably bored of it by the time I had played through 40-50% of the title.

Some Positive Aspects

Still, I don’t want this review to be entirely one-sided. So, let me take a step back and share some positive aspects about the game,

1. It has a good length, with at least 5 dungeons to explore.
2. The animation is pretty good for your main character and the enemies.
3. The number of foes you tackle are relatively diverse for an earlier indie game on GBA hardware.
4. Almost all of the weapons and items have at least some useful purpose (although the lantern is overused).
5. The fact that there are maps for both the dungeons and the overworld is appreciated.
6. I thought the bestiary, with its image of each enemy, often funny description, and characteristics, as being well done.

Conclusion

As I reflect on this title, and consider it as a whole, I have to say it is at least OK. I expect that some people will enjoy it more than myself. Although I played it a second time for the purposes of this review, before too long it felt like a chore. If only I could get past the looping music tracks and the dungeon designs. But I don’t see how I can. I have respect for Anguna: Warriors of Virtue, but I don’t really like it.

Note: Both the GBA and DS versions of this game can be downloaded for free at the following link.

Title: Anguna: Warriors of Virtue
Genre: Top-down Action RPG
Year Released: 2008
Developer: Nathan Tolbert (X), also known as gauauu (Itch.io)
Available On: GBA, DS, and Evercade on Indie Heroes Collection 1
Price Paid: $1.14, or $16.00 for Indie Heroes Collection 1

Remember, we can have different opinions about the games we play. If you like something more (or less) than I do, both of our perspectives are valid.