Play Sword of Hope II Online

So, Sword of Hope II is this weird little dungeon crawler on the Game Boy—kinda like a first-person RPG where you poke around temples, fight monsters, and try not to get lost. You play as Prince Theo, teaming up with this kid Mute (whose whole family got wiped out by a demon, which… yikes) to stop an ancient evil and recover a magic sword before it unleashes a dragon.

The big change from the first game is you’ve got a party now—three characters instead of just Theo. You still move by picking directions from a menu ("go left," "open door," etc.), and battles are turn-based, with the usual attack/magic/item options. It’s clunky by modern standards, but there’s something charming about slowly mapping out each area and figuring out which command actually does what ("hit wall" sometimes works, sometimes does nothing).

Honestly, the puzzles can be brutal—expect a lot of trial and error—but the atmosphere’s great for a Game Boy game. Just don’t expect much hand-holding.