Zefyr: A Thief's Melody

Keeping in mind that this was made by a solo dev, it's FANTASTIC! Without keeping that in mind...it's a little clunky. A few minor visual glitches, animations that feel a bit uneven or timed strangely, and good lord is it not optimized for the Steam Deck. I was stuck at 30fps (sometimes dipping to 15) while ocean reflections were off and graphics set to simple (tested with V-sync on and off). Maybe there were settings that would've improved it, but a vanilla experience could be pretty frustrating whenever you look up at the ocean and the frame rate comes close to single digits. Besides all of that: this was a blast! It's really astounding to think a single developer implemented so much! Even with all the frame rate issues, it felt so much like a more condensed and slightly smaller "Wind Waker" in the best way. Even if there wasn't much to do while traveling between islands, the sensation of speed and freedom was enough for me to enjoy it. Each "dungeon" was varied enough that it had its own identity; each island felt like a new environment; the optional bosses felt like impressive Colossus battles; navigating environments was fun; and each new tool felt properly game changing. St…

[h2] The Good, The Bad and The... Confusing? [/h2] [h3] The Good. [/h3] + Zefyr is a beautiful Game. The colours, the graphics, they are all reminiscent of things like windwaker and other colourful PS2 games. Riding around on the ocean, on top of turtles, as orcas and other wild life occassionally show up is honestly amazing. You get a great sense of speed and the world feels massive. It feels like there's secrets to find and the amount of side content is great too. + Animations. For a one person project I am quite amazed by the animations. While I find simple for the most part they are incredibly smooth and do not interfere with gameplay. A lot of them are also really neat. The vaulting animation is so cool. The way the magnetic bow bounces everywhere is really cool. Explosion particles, again, awesome. + Incredibly strong start. Most games make the mistake of instantly starting with dialogue and lore dump. Even games where people love the lore do this. This game starts with a beautiful pan of this water scenery as the protragonist moves towards the thief island on their weird boat. The camera pans around the island in fun ways as the protagonist reaches the mysterious thief …

I would not have expected a solo dev, Wind Waker inspired, 3d platformer, with light stealth elements, to end up being one of the best games I played this year. Yet here we are. Movement and exploration remain satisfying start to finish, with varied and interesting environments, well-designed upgrades, and purchasable radars for every type of collectible. The story is lighthearted and simple but doesn't ever feel lacking. The graphics are intentionally simple both to evoke the inspiration and to keep things manageable for a solo dev, and they get the job done. The music uses simple instrumentation but does its job, the sailing theme especially is quite nice. Difficulty is minimal, but given the inspirations that's entirely appropriate. The game's long enough to fully satisfy but short enough not to get stale even going for 100%. My only real criticisms are that throwing fruits at birds (an entirely optional sidequest) could be real finicky even with the upgrade to make it easier, and that one of the puzzles ([spoiler]the eye sentry on the first floor of the final dungeon[/spoiler]) needed a bit more lateral thinking than should've been expected given the rest of the game, but…

this game feels like an early 2000s rpg in the best way the story is fairly ccozy ut the gameplay is exactly what your here for giv this a go and treat yourself

Reminds me quite a bit of "Zelda: Wind Walker" in all the best ways. A beautiful and really fun game. If I were to look for any issues, it would be mainly that there's a lot of travel time involved. Often, there's a lot of backtracking and, added with how easy the game is, can feel a little tedious. But it looks so beautiful and the music is calming, so it just makes for a more chill experience. If you like action RPGs like Zelda, I would *strongly* recommend Zefyr.

Very enjoyable and reminiscent of playing original zelda games that no doubt influenced this. It is shorter in length which is completely understandable considering it's solo work. Whimsical, beatiful graphics and fun sound tracks. Overall, fantastic find and very underrated.