Though it’s great to see variety in the eShop, especially when there’s obviously a cultural angle to help give games some unique flavor, at the end of the day everything will still be judged against its peers, and great gameplay is still essential. Tropicalia, rooted in Brazilian culture, does manage to stand out with some story beats and elements that won’t be familiar to most gamers, which is absolutely a plus. 

Playing as Kaique, a brave Guarani warrior, your quest will ultimately be to save your girlfriend, who has been kidnapped by the evil god Tau. While perhaps the fundamentals of the story are familiar, the people you’ll encounter, and the enemies you’ll face do at least have a different feel. The fact that in this top-down adventure you’ll also find yourself needing to gather materials is a bit odd, but it does at least change up expectations a little, even if some of the ways that works is a little unusual, with the game essentially encouraging you to exploit your fire-side save points to reset everything so you can gather more in the tutorial. Still, there’s something to playing a game that doesn’t adhere to any particularly clear traditions, doing things its own way, mixing together elements of adventures and RPGs, and even having an option to play through without combat, in case you’d just like to go through the story and not be bogged down.

The problem is that though it’s nice to see games take a different approach to some things, like moving through different environments and obstacles in the world, when they’re either cumbersome or seem to lack a real purpose, they can be a bit of a drag. Transitioning from the land to the water, or into some brush, would normally be handled seamlessly in most games. For some reason in Tropicalia it isn’t so smooth, requiring you to perform an action instead. I suppose it isn’t a big deal, but these small repeated transitions feel unnecessary and just serve to waste time. While I appreciate the action-based component in combat, to help liven it up a little, it’s also very minimally implemented, detracting from its value and failing to feel like much of an enhancement in the end. While I’ve grown accustomed to adjusting some expectations for smaller games, here there just feel like a few too many concessions needing to be made to try to get this into fair proximity with some of its better competitors.