Draco and the Seven Scales let’s you pick a parrot like your starter Pokemon and is a love letter to Link’s Awakening

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

Draco is a pirate adventure where you play as a Captain who’s struck a deal with the Kraken. To save his child, he must find the legendary Seven Scales. The game demo let us play through the opening, which taught us the controls, how to use weapons like swords and pistols, and how to rescue the crew. It ended with a challenging boss battle. Of course, no pirate is complete without a ship! We quickly recovered ours with the crew and set sail.

The game featured a blend of land and sea battles. Exploring on land strongly reminded me of *Link’s Awakening*, even down to the menu design. The way I swung my sword, the button layout for items, and the overall presentation were all incredibly familiar. I quickly fell into a routine 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 move and control things, even though the weapons and items were different. The A and B buttons now fire cannons from either side of your vehicle, and each cannon type has unique abilities. The promotional trailer showed off a variety of weapons, like flamethrowers and chain-firing cannons, but in the demo, I only used different sizes of powerful cannons, each with a short recharge time. These cannons were useful for destroying large rocks that blocked my path, creating new routes forward. This reminded me a little of puzzle elements in *The Minish Cap*, but it was a more streamlined experience. Of course, this was just the beginning of the game, so it’s likely things will become more complex as you progress.

The trailer showed you can collect and raise various parrots, each with unique abilities – features that weren’t available in the demo. The first parrot you receive is chosen from three options in a room that strongly resembles Professor Oak’s lab from the original Pokémon games, and your rival captain even gets to choose one too. I’ve suggested to the developers that players should be able to name their parrots and customize their ship, including naming it and designing a flag for its sails, so hopefully they’ll add those options!

I don’t know if it’s just me getting older and wanting things to be simpler, but honestly, playing *Draco and the Seven Scales* just felt… good. It reminded me of those cozy Gameboy days, you know? There’s a real innocent charm to it. They don’t have a firm release date yet, but there’s a demo on Steam right now, and they’re hoping to launch the full game sometime in 2026. If you’re a fan of 2D Zelda games, definitely keep *Draco* on your radar and check out the demo – it might just hit the spot!












  

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2025-09-15 21:26