Let me tell you this, when I first started playing Ittle Dew I thought “great another Zelda clone” but boy was I wrong. At first glance the cartoonish characters give the impression that it will be a parody game, that doesn’t take itself seriously and all is fun and games and in a certain way it is. But as you plow through the game, you find yourself in a deep game with some really fun moments and challenging puzzles,not to mention a lot to do in game, which ultimately for me its all in the replay value.
At the beginning of our adventure we find our heroes on a raft on the middle of the sea, no food, no potions, and everything looks dire until they find themselves ashore in a new island (wink wink). When our dynamic duo enters the island, they find the island caretaker, Passel, who tells you that there is nothing to see on the island and that they have to leave it. Then he blurts out about the 8 raft pieces, and noting his mistake, he disappears and thus your adventure begins. Now the game play is what you would expect from a top down Zelda-esque adventure. You explore each of the dungeons and find the item, beat the boss, etc. However, one of the things Ittle Dew 2 really shines is the freedom you have to explore! Normally in Zelda, you beat each of the dungeons in order because the item recieved in dungeon #1 will help to get to #2 and so forth. In Ittle Dew 2, the formula gets changed so that you can beat the dungeons in the order that you want (except for dungeon 8 since you need all items obtained in other dungeons to be able to beat it).
Now the areas that you can explore in the game are varied. They range from the pillow forest, an art gallery, candy beach (yep, with candy canes), so there is a lot of variety and things to see. The enemies that you find in the over world are funny and fun to beat. Some range from muscular platypus to muscle builder cactus, and some impossible to beat as Slayer Jenny (haven’t been able to so just run when you see her). The bosses are fun to beat and needless to say they beat the crap out of me until I got the hang of it the first time (yep its part of the inside jokes and everything) as you progress to the game and beat the dungeons you find yourself with them again (albeit in more powerful forms). They are just challenging enough to keep you in your toes.
Now for the completionist like me, there is a lot A LOT to do on Ittle Dew 2. In your map, you can see all doors that you have entered and 100% completed dungeons appear with a crown on top. Besides all of this, there is also optional dungeons in which you can get more powerful versions of your current items. There are also challenge dungeons that you unlock with Secret Shards. These are really a test of your mettle and your adventurer skills IMO. It adds even more value to an already amazing game.
After you have explored everything the island has to offer, there is also the Dream World, which is a set of optional dungeons that are the ultimate test for your adventurer skills. This is a bonus to the normal story.
Bottom Line, Ittle Dew 2 is a pleasant surprise on the Nintendo Switch, with tons of secrets, challenging puzzles, different outfits and fun areas to explore, and with optional dungeons to please your adventure hunger. Ittle Dew 2 shows how to get inspiration from a popular game franchise, and turn it into something special and unique, with charm and its own identity. Seriously, it is more than recommended if you own a Switch. You owe it to yourself to play this legendary raft adventure.