One of the early “metroidvania” games, it set itself apart by having a slight influx of RPG elements. It features a hidden XP system that allows you level up when sages in town deem you experienced enough, increasing hit points, damage and magic.

Zeliard also has a simplistic inventory system: one slot for a weapon, one for armour and one for a shield – which will break after a certain number of hits. The various potions you can buy in towns regenerate health, magic, raise damage or repair your shields.

You can attack with horizontal, upwards and downwards sword slashes, and after defeating each boss monster you will also get new spells – all of them offensive in nature. As in other “metroidvania” games there are also items that grant you access to otherwise unreachable areas, such as boots to climb slopes, or a cloak to resist intense heat.

Zeliard stands out among its kind for recapturing the feeling of old-school CRPG dungeon crawlers. It cannot be mastered by just being good at the action part, you have to also map the entire game meticulously, explore every inch and also note down every hint the townspeople utter to succeed.

Mapping is made difficult both by the fact that later levels consist of two or three layers intricately interlinked and by a very unusual quirk of the overall topology: the maps are circular. Wherever you may be, if you go far enough right or left, up or down, you will end up where you started. It easy to get lost even in the first level, and without a map you won't get far in the later ones.

Zeliard's platforming mechanics have long been surpassed and its fusion of 2D action and RPG elements is by no means unique these days, but the overall dungeon design make it stand in a class of its own even today. If you enjoy a challenge, that is.