Last weekend, as part of The Games Tome, I attended a release event for a Game Boy title developed and published in Portugal. The game in question is precisely the subject of this review - Alentejo: Tinto’s Law. While the event was focused on the release of the physical version, the digital one was already available before that. Eager to know what a monochromatic 8-bit rendition of Alentejo had to offer, I bought the digital version and played it via emulation on my 3DS.
It’s all about Tinto
The setting for this game is the region of Alentejo, as if it wasn’t obvious by the title, during the 19th century. Our main character, a legendary outlaw named Gildo Mata, set foot in a small village ruled by the tyrant Baron Tinto, who has full control of all the red wine in town (as in Tinto) and according to what the locals tell us, who controls tinto, controls everything. Set to end Baron Tinto’s reign, Gildo goes on a quest with the help of some acquaintances.
Gameplay wise, the quest consists of exploring the Tinto village to find people who might help us in our goal, who then will lead us to some dungeons. The exploration part, while not very extensive, is engaging because of the dialogs full of references to Portuguese culture, even though it’s not mandatory to know them to understand the context. However, the biggest chunk of the game is spent inside the explorable dungeons. These are composed of a nice mix of combat and puzzles, much like the iconic The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, but with a six-bullet revolver in place of our hero’s sword.
Right when I was invested in the story and gameplay, I’m left with a huge cliffhanger (which I will not spoil for you) and what seems to be the ending of the game… or at least the first part of this narrative, as the ending screen promptly tells us. While I was a bit sad because I wanted more from this first game, the guarantee of a sequel left me hopeful for what’s to come for the Alentejo saga.
Green tinted Alentejo
Being a game developed for the Game Boy, this is obviously a very simplistic game from a graphical standpoint, considering the limitations of the hardware and its monochromatic screen, but that’s part of the charm of playing a brand new game for this system in 2025. Even with those considerations in mind, I felt the pixel art was more consistent, even if not so impressive, in the indoor areas, such as the bar and the dungeons.
Regarding the sound, there’s not much to say. The lack of any kind of sound effects is a bit disappointing and it has the inadvertent consequence of making the background music sound more repetitive than it should.
In conclusion, Alentejo has a fairly competent, but not flawless, presentation.
Pros
- Full of funny references to Portuguese culture
- Challenging but fair combat
- Nicely designed dungeons
Cons
- It’s a very short experience overall
- A few sound effects would be welcomed
Good✦✦✦✧✧
Alentejo: Tinto’s Law is a promising introduction to a brand new saga. While the seeds for a great game are here, its short length keeps it away from reaching that status. Either way, at least for the low price of the digital version, it’s definitely a worthwhile experience.
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