Aruna's Adventure
A retro action adventure.
Ratings
Age
9+
Category
Adventure
Languages
English
Wed Sep 13 2023
Updated to support the latest devices.
Aruna's Adventure is a love letter to the 8-bit era of action RPGs. Players guide Aruna through a vibrant top-down world filled with secrets, dungeons, and challenging bosses. With a focus on exploration and classic sword-and-shield combat, it captures the essence of early 90s gaming while offering modern features like autosaving and 120fps support.
Dinsun Expert Review
Our Expert Score
Aruna’s Adventure is a delightful throwback to the 8-bit era, clearly drawing inspiration from classics like The Legend of Zelda. The game nails the nostalgic aesthetic with vibrant pixel art and a top-down perspective that feels right at home on a mobile screen. You play as Aruna, a blue-haired heroine on a quest to stop the Dark Lord, exploring a massive world comprised of over 400 handcrafted screens.
The combat is surprisingly tight for a mobile title, featuring a dash mechanic that adds a layer of skill to enemy encounters. While the virtual D-pad can be a bit rigid for some, the game's full controller support transforms it into a premium handheld experience. With its sprawling dungeons, secret-filled overworld, and challenging boss fights, it captures that 'just one more screen' feeling perfectly. It’s a modern love letter to retro gaming that manages to include modern conveniences like cloud saves and high frame rates without losing its old-school soul.
Features
Stunning 8-bit inspired pixel art
Over 400 handcrafted screens to explore
Multiple unique dungeons and bosses
Full controller support and 120fps on supported devices
Tips & Walkthrough
Look for walls with subtle cracks. You can use your bomb ability to reveal hidden rooms containing heart containers or extra gold coins.
Gameplays
The dash move is not just for speed; it provides a brief window of invincibility. Use it to dash through enemy projectiles during intense boss fights.
Screenshot
Q&A
Yes, there is a detailed overworld map that marks completed dungeons and areas of interest.
Ratings & Reviews
Old School Feel Aquired
Sun Jan 03 2021 Jlallzzz247I love the game so far, been playing an hour and already at the second to third stage. The only issue I have is when you dash, sometimes it will shoot you into a river and you get stuck trying to dash back to shore somehow. I’ve even been smacked by a grey frog and sent into the river by the waterfall/cross to the winter world. It’s irritating to say the least. Other then that, you all made a nice tributary to Zelda.
Needs polish
Sun Oct 04 2020 MoshgraNeeds a serious coat of polish. The controls are occasionally unresponsive, I frequently get stuck in walls or rivers or teleport back Into rooms as I dash around. And though I understand the boomerang is kinda OP it's still pretty dumb as a one time use item especially since several enemies are out of reach with no way to get their item drops. Shops will occasionally empty their items after I buy one thing and I'm unable to purchase the other gear. "Towns" consist of 2 buildings. One of which can't be entered and the other has the same npc Sprite with nothing else. It's just a bland environment. "Secrets" are all the same, clear the screen of enemies and get stairs or a door to a 10g chest. Eventually you'll have a significant more amount of money than is necessary. So I'd recommend just skipping most fights since golf and health used immediately are the oy rewards. If this game was baked a bit more and had some attention to detail I would find it really charming. But the generic story, bland environment , terrible controls, and lack of items leave a lot to be desired.
Great game but needs control improvement
Sun Sep 08 2024 koobrikSuper fun game, just what I was looking for, but the controls are difficult to use. Movement is up down left and right. But dragging your finger or thumb around doesn’t work, you basically have to constantly lift your thumb up and move it. It’s so hard to change direction. And the other controls for your weapon and up to three other items are small and close together. You often can’t switch between them without looking, and my thumb loses the sense of position so I constantly have to reset my hand. I trigger the wrong item. I trigger no item. Super annoying, especially when winning the game depends on being able to use these items in combination. It takes twice as long to get through a challenge because you can’t successfully use the controls. I hope this developer fixes it, and I hope they make more games! I will buy them.
Great for what it is
Tue Jan 05 2021 UConnHusky1999I’ve seen reviews that refer to lack of story and rough controls, but it provided hours of fun for $5(really, what else can you do that’s fun for hours for little more than the price of a coffee). Playing on a phone, I personally don’t want to read small text and just want to hack and slash my way to victory. Controls can be tricky, but in my opinion it was just enough to add to the difficulty of an otherwise easy game without any annoyance. I definitely recommend this game if you like old school Zelda type games(pared down hack & slash game with armor/weapon upgrades and grid maps but minimal questing) and you want to kill 2-4 hours. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would certainly buy a sequel. No stress, just fun...Nicely done!
Great Zelda Adventure
Sat Sep 26 2020 Jkluk23Let me start off by saying that this is a fantastic game. Virtually everything one would want in an old school adventure. The ONLY reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars is the controls. I appreciate the controller support, but while out and about that is not practical. Maybe a floating d-pad, analog stick? Maybe it’s just me having trouble adjusting the the controls, but some options would be much appreciated.
Hours of fun!
Sun Jul 28 2024 LoganNathanielI downloaded this game for a flight so that I wouldn’t get bored. I didn’t realize how long I would be playing! I didn’t find any glitches in my 3 hours that I had played on the flight, and it was pretty smooth gameplay. I would very much recommend if you enjoy adventure games like Zelda!
A really good Zelda-like game
Wed Feb 14 2024 Tom "slowbro"I highly recommend this game with a retro feel. The best part is the exploration. For me the bosses are just the right amount difficult: some put up a really good fight but none got frustrating. There are glitches, but the game is very playable, and is well worth my time and money.
Great Zelda clone for IOS with trash controls
Wed Mar 31 2021 MarcMusicProductionsYes, the controls are as bad as everyone says. It’s a D pad. And it’s too big. There are no vibrations to tell where you on the D pad. Starting out - you’ll literally have to look down to see where your thumb is before you get it down. I’m a good ways in and I still take damage because Aruna won’t move out of the way in time. Not gonna lie, I was regretting buying this game within about 3 minutes of starting. But that feeling passed fairly quickly. But like everyone else has said - if you like the old school Zeldas - you’ll like this. It’s a very condensed, bite-sized, Zelda game. I’m very conflicted on what to rate this. If I could, I think I’d probably rate it 3.5 stars.
