Steam free retro throwback pays homage to a genre-defining platformer

One of Steam’s latest freebies is a gorgeous callback to a retro title that spawned an entire genre of games.

The Steam Summer Sale might have ended, but you’d be hard-pressed to find as many freebies on any other digital storefront.

They’re not winners, yet now and then you stumble on one that’s truly exceptional. Today, we’ve found a free taster for a game serving as a love letter to an old-school Nintendo classic.

Retro game enthusiasts are going to fall in love with this metroidvania

The Transylvania Adventure of Simon Quest may sound familiar to those who grew up with the Nintendo Entertainment System and its follow-up, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

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It’s inspired by the original Castlevania, which was released for the NES in 1986 and was developed and published by Konami. It followed the legendary vampire hunter Simon Belmont on a mission to rid the world of things that go bump in the night, including Dracula himself.

In the following years, the Castlevania series has taken on many different forms, and there’s even a new game on the horizon called Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, which is coming out later this year.

The Transylvania Adventure of Simon Quest aims to take players back to the very beginning, though. It parodies the plot of the original game by suggesting Simon Quest was an unseen rival to Simon Belmont, who was appalled to hear the vampire-slayer had gotten to Dracula before him.

By travelling through a “dark 8-bit world” oozing with nostalgic charm, you’re tasked with “resurrecting Dracula piece by piece and slaying the dark count yourself.”

If any of that sounds appealing to you, you’ll be glad to hear that a free demo for the game is available now on Steam.

Retroware

We’ve played it ourselves and would highly recommend you give it a go, especially if the modern state of gaming is getting you down.

The Transylvania Adventure of Simon Quest both looks the part and feels like a long-lost game from the NES era. The controls aren’t as clunky, of course, and there are a few more modern elements sprinkled in to keep all players engaged, but for the most part, it’s a truly authentic experience.

At the time of writing, there’s currently no release date. When it launches, however, it’ll be available for PC, Xbox, PlayStation and of course Nintendo Switch/Nintendo Switch 2.

We’d probably suggest playing it on a Nintendo console if you can, even more so if you have one of the wireless NES controllers to go with it. If not, though, any platform is fine.

Throwbacks like this always feel special when they’re announced and launched. The success of games like Shovel Knight and Mina the Hollower proves that gamers yearn to return to the good old days of gaming, especially when modern gaming looks so bleak in comparison.

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