Master Key Steam Charts & Stats

Fun short Zelda-like

I did not expect a 1-bit game to draw me in so thoroughly. Surprising depth and fun to be had with this Zelda-like.

Loved this game. Master Key is a crazy passion project from a solo developer who essentially set out to make his own 2D Zelda game in the style of, say, 1993's Link's Awakening or 1991's A Link to the Past (which is mentioned in the game's dedication at the end of the credits). It follows the familiar old-school Zelda structure, combining a dense and enigmatic overworld rife with secrets alongside a handful of dungeons that each hold a key item that expands your toolset. Similar to A Link to the Past, there are upgraded versions of most/all of the items. Master Key's own strengths tilts toward the overworld design - the most enjoyable aspect of it is tugging at all the loose threads, figuring out where to go and how to reach new places. That said, the dungeons are well done and they surprised me with their whimsical & creative concepts. Combat in Master Key is solid but not the focus - it's not a game where you will die a lot, and you'll let better and better weapons do a lot of the work for you (you can also purchase an auto-revive item, similar to having a fairy-in-a-bottle with you in a 2D Zelda). I'm old enough to remember the original Zelda but aside from LttP I was a 'late bloomer' for the franchise... I didn't go down the rabbit hole with 2D Zelda until the end of the 2010s. I've played all 8 2D games (setting aside the side-scrolling Zelda 2), and I'd say the best are LttP and Link's Awakening. Subjectively, Master Key is only a hair behind those, and can stand tall alongside Zelda 1, the two Oracles Games, and Minish Cap (it's a better game than Phantom Hourglass and, of course, most things are better than Spirit Tracks). Honestly surprising how well executed it is. If you're someone who likes to ferret out every secret, you'll have your hands full with Master Key. For the main game, you're looking at an experience between 12-18 hours. Also, the developer tossed in a bonus mode with something like 140 Nonograms that each feature a sprite/icon etc used in the game. If you have some experience with Nonograms, these are also surprisingly fun (I would not recommend learning Nonograms from Master Key, partly because it makes no effort to explain how they work, and partly because many of them are on non standard grid sizes like 8x11 or 13x16 or whatever). If you enjoy this puzzle format, you'll easily get another 10-12 hours out of this mode, and it's nice to be able to drop into it when you don't have time for a longer session with the main game. Under-rated. If you're completely new to 2D Zelda, then I have to recommend A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening DX as your entry points (these games are straightforward to run smoothly on basically any device). 2024 had an unbelievable crop of indie-games, and while Master Key won't capture the spotlight the way something like Animal Well did, don't let this one slip by.

Game does not auto-save apparently, so I lost 4 hours of progress (near end-game) when the power went out. Otherwise, it's great.

The main game is fantastic! Love the art style! I would recommend the game based on this alone. And there's the puzzle game! A whole separate game mode in the main menu filled with something like 100 pieceoss (or nonogram) puzzles. I have never played this kind of puzzle before, but now I'm a huge fan! Thanks for making this game, I'm looking forward to the next one. One small complaint is my controller has lag playing this game on the steam deck in docked mode. It only happens when docked. Hopefully it would be an easy fix.

This is a great game! It made me want to explore the whole map and do all the side missions, I'm looking at you drunken dwarfs. Criminally underrated.

Wait, what? I didn't like it? I'm very surprised, I'm a sucker for such games. I think the main reason is that the world doesn't fill me with the desire to explore it, and I haven't found much else to hook me in. There's obviously no real story, which is completely fine - the game doesn't mess around when saying it has no language support. Everything is conveyed via pictures and smileys. That's great! You can say a lot in such manner - but Master Key didn't seem to have much to say. The main drive is the drive to adventure. I think you're supposed to be curious about what the titular Master Key opens, but to me, it might as well not have existed. You fall in a cave, you find a key in a chest. Do I care? No, not really. I found a dungeon. I entered it. I beat it. Why? Well, for the adventure. But there's a reward at the end, what does it do? I don't know, I guess I'll figure it out later. Again, such design is fine, but when all those "why?"s come together, it's really difficult to care. And the gameplay, well... honestly, I felt like I'm playing downscaled Zelda: A Link to the Past, or Link's Awakening. Those were nice games, formative even, but I've already played them - multiple times. There's just not enough of "new" here for me to make this ancient formula shine to me. Chances are though - you, dear reader, haven't played those classics. In that case, this game will obviously be more interesting to you than to me. I'm not quite sure if this makes enough of a difference, though. Egh, this really soured my mood, don't even feel like linking to my curator.