During the heady days of the Game Boy Advance, it was a great time to be a fan of RPGs and Adventure games. The likes of Sword of Mana, Golden Sun, and, of course, Nintendo’s own Zelda titles provided many different opportunities to get lost in some truly epic quests on a system that you could take with you just about anywhere.
Tako No Himitsu, from developer Deneos (who previously developed Save Me Mr. Tako), is an upcoming indie title paying tribute to this era. For anyone with a distinct fondness for the GBA, it’s already looking to be something truly special.
Recently launching on Kickstarter and reaching its lofty goal in less than a week, there’s already a swelling buzz about the title, especially with names like Motoi Sakuraba (composer of Golden Sun) attached to the project. Additionally, a short Steam demo is available to accompany the Kickstarter, giving you a little taste of what to expect from this exciting new adventure.
Old Ideas, Made Fresh: A Tribute To A Legendary System
The demo puts you in the shoes of either Mylene or Clive in two distinct scenarios. Mylene’s plot seems to be a prelude to Clive’s adventure, with her infiltrating the Temple of the Order and confronting the deadly shadows that hide within.
Clive’s portion sees you exploring his hometown and stumbling across the mysteries of a shadowy void and a magical octopus bound in crystal. Both segments are rather brief and relatively simple in their storytelling. Still, there is definitely some charm to be found here already, primarily thanks to the strong character design work and the gradual worldbuilding. It’s the kind of succinct storytelling that works well, and the pacing feels very fluent.
Tako No Himitsu feels very in tune with its inspirations, exploration feels familiar, and the environmental puzzles found within dungeons are reminiscent of those found in the Golden Sun titles. It’s simple and intuitive, and everything clicks, especially if you are so attuned to games of that era.
You can switch to other characters in your party on the fly, with their various abilities also providing different ways to explore; Buuto’s slide attack, for example, allows you to move through holes that would otherwise be inaccessible to Mylene. Hopefully, this will incentivize players to explore older areas as they gain new allies.
The Octopus’s abilities also aid in exploration and puzzle-solving. During Clive’s chapter, you are introduced to an adorable octopus called Kota, who can fire projectiles at switches (and enemies) and even discern things in the environment that Clive cannot. The full game promises to have further octopi to experiment with, each with their own unique techniques. Of course, these can be used during battle, too, and are employed excellently during the boss fights present in the demo, synchronizing the combat and puzzles together in harmony.
“Tako No Himitsu feels in tune with its inspirations, with exploration and puzzles inspired by Golden Sun”
Combat, in general, is straightforward, natural, and faultless, too, and adds a level of forethought as well with some of its mechanics. Each playable character belongs to a specific type, as do the enemies. For example, Clive belongs to the defense class, and his attack can actually rebound projectiles back to foes, dealing increased damage. This is the most effective way to deal with enemies of the attack class, while attack-class characters are better at defeating magical foes. By following this class triangle, you are rewarded with better drops from enemies, too, so there’s even more incentive to play smart.
So Tako No Himitsu impresses on all these fronts, but perhaps its most obvious point of charm is its graphical style. The pixel art is exceptionally bright and vibrant, with some wonderfully realized animations to boot. It brings to mind many of the best games on the GBA, a system jam-packed with stunning and vivid titles.
It earnestly looks the part on top of being a treat to play, and the soundtrack is, of course, no slouch. The sound design is just as wonderful, too, evoking the common foley of the system. With many visual display options, it looks like there are to be many ways to make this as authentic of a classic experience as possible.
Minutes after playing the demo for Tako No Himitsu, I knew I wanted to play more. The love for the GBA is evident right down to the bones, and there is even a side activity reminiscent of the Tiny Chao Garden from Sonic Advance. As someone who loves the system dearly, I wonder what else the game has regarding homages.
While there is currently no release date set for the game other than an estimate of 2026, there is an ongoing Kickstarter where you can support the creation. It may have already hit its initial goal, but you don’t want to miss what Deneos has in store with this exciting, advanced adventure.
Tako no Himitsu: Ocean of Secrets is in development for Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam for a 2026 release. There is a Kickstarter campaign ongoing to help with development.
