When you ask people what their favourite Zelda game is, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is rarely mentioned and is commonly thought of as a bit of a black sheep in the series. Nevertheless, it has managed to influence generations of indie game developers who have since mined the experience for inspiration for their own projects.
Among these is the solo-developer Robin Poe, who is currently working away on the promising PC title Sheep Lad: Basil's Journey. This is a game that is coming to Kickstarter soon and had us excited from the moment we locked eyes with its acrobatic combat and colourful sprite work.
It seems to borrow various elements from the Zelda NES sequel, including the sidescrolling perspective present in towns and dungeons, the complex combat system, and the top-down overworld to link everything together. You can even downstab enemies, which is a feature that is always welcome in our book.
Sheep Lad is currently in early development, but everything we've seen of it so far (from screenshots to videos) has got us wanting to keep close tabs on the project. If you feel the same, you can wishlist the game now on Steam or sign up to get notified when the game's Kickstarter campaign goes live. We'll also try to keep you updated on its progress over the following months.