Legend of the Skyfish (Nintendo Switch) Review

The story sees "Little Red Hook" trek across a series of islands, destroying Totems along the way to push back denizens of the deep, all-the-while working with the "Moonfish" to defeat the monstrous "Skyfish". Fighting against fish-monsters, it makes sense that Little Red would use a fishing rod to battle against the Innsmouth-style characters.

Right off the bat, it's clear that while Legend of the Skyfish takes plenty of inspiration from Zelda, it's very much doing its own thing. There's not a big open world to explore and there are set stages to overcome, which is more fitting with its mobile roots. Instead of a huge array of equipment with various uses, there are just four items: A Sword to attack, a rod to act as the Hookshot, armor, and a headpiece for a few different effects. There are four different versions to find hidden in chests across the levels.

There are 45 of these levels in all, each with little puzzles to overcome. The levels usually make use of the Hookshot-like rod to open timed gates and then zip between little islands or across moving platforms before the literal ticking clock runs out. As the levels progress, the difficulty increases somewhat as well. Simple pressure plate spike traps, dart and fireball spitting columns, and various denizens of the deep all try to impede the little angler along the way. There's a decent range of enemies and to top the stages off, there are some enjoyable boss battles waiting at the conclusion to each area.

Most of the enemies resemble familiar creatures from Hyrule, and though they add little to the stages, each can be taken care of with a few meagre hits. The occasional enemy requires a Scorpion-style "GET OVER HERE!" with the fishing rod to stun them before two quick whacks send them back to the watery abyss. Even the boss encounters are all quickly overcome with little thought. The enemies aren't the focus here. The puzzles are.

Sadly, those puzzles that make up the heart of the game offer little more challenge than the enemies. There is the odd tricky moment from the timed puzzles, having to run between flaming projectiles, or aim the rod carefully to platforms that are flowing past on a speeding whitewater, but there's nothing here that is truly challenging. Little Red Hook has 4-5 hearts based on equipment, so can take multiple hits before dying, and there's usually at least one heart hidden in each stage to fully restore health. Additionally, there is a checkpoint system in place along with infinite retries with no real punishment from dying. This takes any real challenge and any teeth away from the puzzles.

While Legend of the Skyfish was originally developed my Mgaia, this updated version for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita and Xbox One has been produced by Ratalaika games and it's been given a fresh overhaul in the graphics department, giving the hand-painted sprites and environments some impressive updated visuals.