The original Blossom Tales was a surprise hit, becoming an indie darling that makes great use of the formula popularized by The Legend of Zelda. While it isn’t innovative, it successfully imitates the best parts of the series that inspired it. More importantly, it’s fun. Now almost five years later, Castle Pixel is back to give players more of the same in Blossom Tales 2: The Minotaur Prince. 

In Blossom Tales 2: The Minotaur Prince players are treated to another story by grandpa featuring Lily, who can’t seem to stay out of trouble. Lily accidentally summons the Minotaur King, and kidnaps her brother. Now, Lily must once again go on a journey featuring tons of neat environments to save the day. 

Those who have played the original won’t be surprised to know that the gameplay formula is copy-paste from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. The world is open, with many biomes and regions within the main map. Every location offers some interesting mechanics and things to look at while specializing on a certain item. Within quite a few regions are some dungeons to test the player’s ability. 

The gameplay once again holds up quite well, and is nearly as good as what you will find in the The Legend of Zelda series. The pacing is solid and the encounters are well-balanced. Responsive controls and fair encounters ensures that Blossom Tales 2: The Minotaur Prince feels good to play. As players get access to more items, more of the world opens up, giving players plenty of motivation to explore and get through the game’s 10-15 hour story. 

The aesthetics are bright and colorful which goes well with the storybook narrative. Unfortunately, as enjoyable as Blossom Tales 2: The Minotaur Prince is, it lacks some of the magic that makes its inspiration special. This is mostly noticeable in the music. The music in this entry is mostly easy to forget. Whether it’s in the overworld or key story moments, there isn’t anything here to genuinely move the player.

Still, if players want to just enjoy another solid action adventure game, Blossom Tales 2: The Minotaur Prince will deliver. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it doesn’t have to.