Master Key Steam Charts & Stats

A good throwback to games link Link's Awakening! Worth every penny.

I'm not sure whether I played more of the main game or the nonograms puzzles. But either way, great game.

Master Key is one of the most clever, heartwarming, fun takes on the action-adventure genre that I've experienced in a long, long while. The game is engaging, and deeply satisfying to play. Of course, it harkens back to Zeldalikes, with a specific invocation of Link's Awakening in particular (Which was wonderful for me, since that's my favorite Zelda). The action is smooth and easy to get into, with plenty of challenge in the latter portions of the game. The world feels well crafted, and the dungeons are SUPER clever. I enjoyed every moment I played, but the dungeons in particular were some of the best I've seen in a game of this type. The music and graphics are top notch, in my opinion. I'll grant that if you are not a fan of the style it might not be for you - but if chiptunes and pixel graphics are your jam, Master Key delivers in spades. The fact that this much detail could be conveyed with two colors and big chunky pixel graphics is a testament to the care and consideration that the developer put into this game. Achromi loving hand-crafted this experience down to the last bit of the credits, and it shows. I'll concede that the game can sometimes be *brutal* when it comes to the secrets, or even where to go next. There's very little in the way of hand-holding, and few, if any, hints whatsoever. That's part of the joy of playing this game: Discovery on your own terms. However in some situations it can absolutely be obtuse, and I'll be the first to admit that. For example: One of the later-game powerup upgrades granted me an ability that I had no idea I had! Additionally, if you are going for 100% prepare to be baffled, entirely, by some of the last few collectables you'll be seeking out. I legitimately think a few aren't possible to find with strictly in-game information. Overall, though, this game is superb from beginning to end. If you've ever wanted to go on a big adventure as a tiny fox, this is a game for you!

Master Key is a great exploration game inspired by games like Link's Awakening and Tunic ! I heavily recommend it if you're a fan of the genre , as it really nails that sense of wonder you get by discovering new stuff , and it has a fair share of secrets too ! The + + The level design is really great . Most of the secrets, hidden walls, puzzles are very well made and made sense , i would say about 90% of it was really intuitive, while the last 10 was just meh/awful . There's definitely a lot of "gotcha!" moments where i felt smart when i solved something or found some hidden stuff. + The soundtrack is a bop, most of the tracks really fit the vibe, my favorite songs being the final dungeon and the bonus dungeon (that one in particular is one i've listened a LOT, pure banger) , the OST really nails the old-school chiptune . + Fun progression, while the game doesn't innovate all that much per-say (you get stuff like a hookshot/boomerang for example), it definitely make every powerup unique in their own way and interesting, leading to a semi-open world progression that lead me to question what was gonna be up next, which is good ! Special mention to every upgrade having a better version , and all are very meaningful! + I really loved the dungeons ! They were all pretty unique in their themes , which was cool to see ! The final dungeon was way too short though . But I would definitely say the dungeons were the best part of the game for me , very fun to explore and very satisfying, with really cool and creative bosses !! + Decent length for it's price, i think it took me about 15hours to 100% the game ? (Not counting picross mode) It definitly felt like i got my money's worth ! There is a ton of secrets to find everywhere, and the map is quite huge (and expands out of bounds too !) + IT'S A CUTE FOX!!! The animations for the fox are so goddamn cute . The mixed stuff = Having color palettes you can choose is really neat and made my playthrough way more fun cause i changed it a lot, the lava dungeon with the red color palette made things way better for example . But honestly what's mixed is that a slider or being able to choose exactly the hue you want would be infinitely better than having presets imo. Especially cause most of the presets aren't all that great (I mostly switched between like 4) = The sound design is mostly fine and fun to listen to(Picking an item is VERY satisfying...) but some are REALLY grating . Going near a torch makes a "brrrr" that is very annoying . Hitting a wall with the hookshot makes a loud "thunk" that's also unpleasant , stuff like that . Overall most of the sounds are alright, but yeah, there's a few that aren't . = You have a picross mode, and it's pretty fun (very cute seeing all the sprites in the game!) but first the sizes are very weird , its not gonna be your usual 10x10 or 15x15 but most of them are ... 14x14 ??? or weird sizes in general, which is ... yeah idk, i guess that's unique. Also some of the later puzzles requires you to know edge logic, which is NOT a good thing . Never force some edge logic in your game, unless it's specifically mentioned/hard difficulty picross , it's very anti-beginner friendly, especially when the difficulty is ALL over the place , where you can have the easiest picross of all time, and then the hardest one ever in a row . Otherwise what's good is that you can have the music of the game on top of your picross which is great (although it would have been better to have an option to have every song in a row, instead of only having a random option... but hey i was constantly listening to the bonus dungeon song because it's FIRE anyway so it didn't matter) The - - Slight vague spoiler ahead The dream puzzle (if you get there you will know) was straight up ass . Even with the solution i got confused as to why it was like this , and even after someone on youtube told me the exact way to solve it, i'm sorry but ... it's just a bad puzzle, straight up lol It doesn't help that you "need" to do it technically and its not *fully* optional. (i'm sorry for being vague, i can't say much more...) The puzzle where you see a buried cross between 3 patches of water was also really unintuitive and also annoyed me. The last puzzle annoyance i had was in the bonus dungeon with a block pushing puzzle where there's one button that functions completely differently than the rest of the buttons in the game , for no reason. Those were the "big 3" , everything else was fine/intuitive . - The gameplay has some weird jank that i don't really get . The most annoying being the fact that when you swing your sword, you have a frame where your position is locked, which often leads to you being forced to move forward while you slash and making you often get hit because you're stuck in the slashing animation . Unless you actually stay in place and THEN swing then it's fine. If that sounded confusing, i'm sorry i don't know how to explain it better lol but you will see it in game, it's very annoying . The game basically punishes you for commiting to an action. There's also some minor jank for other stuff, like being able to retreat your hookshot if you press the button again, which sounds neat, but more often that not will be your downfall, especially if you're kinda spamming the button , as you're both not gonna be able to hit the enemy, but also have to wait for the hookshot to go back to you. The diving is also weird, as there's a few frames after you dive where you can't get out of the water . All in all to say the combat in general is not the best it could have been. Conclusion : Honestly if you like what you see in the trailer , and you want a game that scratch that Link's Awakening/Tunic itch, go for it, you won't be disappointed . I really enjoyed this game, and i'm very excited to play the sequel Havenlocked when it comes out !