Stories of Bethem is an top-down 2D ARPG, very reminiscent of many great classic games some of us may have grown up with. It’s a a little bit of Earthbound, and a little bit of Link to the Past. In Stories of Bethem, you play as a boy in search of his father who has been cursed by the Blue Witch.
I am still in the process of completing the main quest but the puzzles and the sense of nostalgia has kept me reeled into the the game. The game also provides a decent amount of humor, which is a plus. Unlike Link to the Past, you do not have a sword, instead you rely simply on your magic abilities you obtain throughout the game. Even if the gameplay alone isn’t enough to engulf you into the story, the impressive soundtrack will.
The game itself has more than 20 hours of gameplay, as players hunt through dungeons, finding items and learning new spells as you progress to your main objective. I was quite impressed the difficulty of some of the puzzles within the dungeons.
One of the more challenging aspects of the game is the amount of backtracking it takes to resolve some of the puzzles, so just a heads up, a good sense of direction will definitely help you on quest. I, for one, welcome the challenge.
Overall, I’ve been quite pleased by Stories of Bethem. It’s a refreshing take on some of the retro games I’ve grown up on.
Note: Stay tuned as I expect to update this once I have finished the main quest.
If you are a fan of the classic Zelda series, then this game is right up your alley.
Stories of Bethem: Full Moon can be picked on on Xbox One and Steam.
