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On paper, 3D Dot Game Heroes appears to be a slavish, perhaps overly worshipful retro tribute. Players follow the same archetypal trajectory as in Zelda, venturing from a quaint village at the behest of a king to save the land from a dark villain. Dungeons are crawled, keys are turned, weapons are upgraded and legendary magical items are gathered.

The game kicks off with a royal decree. The king of Dotnia, a feudal land straight out of an old NES game, isn’t happy with the bland, 2-D realm he reigns over. So, with a snap of his fingers, he issues the order and presto — everything he surveys expands into the third dimension.

Players interact with the game world exactly as they’d expect to. A mash of the button extends a sword forward. Only in 3D Dot Game Heroes, the sword that players wield is massive — when fully powered up, the flash of steel can extend from one end of the level to the other.