Draco and the Seven Scales is a love letter to Link’s Awakening with parrots and pirate ships

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Fans worldwide cherish the original Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, whether they experienced it on Game Boy, the updated DX version, or the recent Switch remake. I always enjoy taking a break to explore at gaming conventions like PAX West, and this year I discovered a charming game called Draco and the Seven Scales by Ice Goat Games. It’s clearly made with a lot of love for classic adventure games.

Draco is a pirate adventure where you play as a Captain who’s made a dangerous deal with the Kraken. To save his child, he must find the legendary Seven Scales of the sea. The game demo let us play through the opening stages, which taught us the controls and how to use weapons like swords and pistols. We also rescued our crew and eventually faced a boss. Of course, no pirate is complete without a ship, and we quickly recovered ours to begin our voyage.

The game’s dungeon blended land and sea battles seamlessly. Exploring on land strongly reminded me of *Link’s Awakening* – even the menus were similar! From the way my sword swung to how items were assigned to buttons, and the overall presentation, it felt instantly familiar. I quickly fell into the classic gameplay loop of breaking pots, moving rocks to find secrets, and defeating enemies – it was really satisfying. Then, I set sail and continued my journey!

The game felt familiar in terms of how you look around and control your character, even though the weapons and items were different. The A and B buttons now fire cannons from both sides of the screen, and each cannon type has unique abilities. While the promotional trailer showed off a variety of weapons like flamethrowers and chain-firing cannons, the demo I played only featured a couple of large cannons, each with a recharge time. These were useful for destroying obstacles like big rocks that blocked my path, creating new routes forward. This reminded me a little of similar mechanics in *The Minish Cap*, but in a more straightforward way. It’s worth noting this was just the beginning of the game, so it’s likely things will become more complicated as you progress.

The trailer showed you can collect and raise parrots with unique abilities, though these weren’t available in the demo. You’ll start by choosing a parrot from three options in a room that looks a lot like Professor Oak’s lab from the original Pokémon games – and your rival captain will even pick one too! I’ve suggested to the developers that they let players name their parrots and ships, and even customize their ship’s flag, so hopefully that will be included.

Maybe it’s just because I miss simpler times – and things feel a bit chaotic right now – but I really enjoyed the pure fun of playing *Draco and the Seven Scales*. While there’s no official release date yet, a demo is available on Steam. The developers are hoping to launch the full game in 2026, so hopefully they can meet that goal! If you’re a fan of 2D Zelda games, definitely check out the *Draco* demo and keep an eye out for its release next year.












  

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2025-09-15 21:56