Thank you Circle Entertainment for sending us this game to review!

Fairune is a 2D retro action role playing game that incorporates a bump battle system and Zelda style puzzles.  Instead of bombing dungeon walls you have to pay attention to trunkless trees that you can walk through and hidden corridors.  There have been times where I have gotten stuck, but there are some helpful walkthroughs available online.   Unlike the mobile versions, the 3Ds edition is not free and has some new puzzles. 

The story is pretty simple as the game begins with an ancient book called the Ancient Codex telling a young girl that she must get up and save the world from evil.  The scourge is coming back and monsters are appearing everywhere.  The only way to defeat this evil is to locate and collect the three spirit icons to open the overlord's tomb.  The journey will be challenging, but with the advice of the codex, this fair maiden can conquer evil like her ancestors before her.  

The first order of business is to acquire a sword to initiate battle with the wandering monsters.  Until you are armed, they will not harm you. (How honorable!) Once you have a weapon, the Codex will tell you which enemies to target.

The battle system involves simply walking into your enemies.  If the enemy is at the same level as you, they will die and your life bar will go down by one point.  If you bump into an enemy a level above you, they will still be defeated, but your health will be depleted by two points.  Walking into enemies higher than that will harm you further and you will not gain any experience.  Nor you will you earn any experience for walking over enemies below your level.   The battle system is efficient and it works well.  Without the long and drawn out battles, I was able to complete this game in four and a half hours.   

While the game world is small, it is tied together nicely.  There are dungeons and temples to be explored underground, in the water and above the clouds.  Be sure to check all of the walls for secret passages that can lead to unique powers like a shield and an ability to encounter rare monsters more often.

 Scattered throughout the world and dungeons is a specific plant that you can enchant with a mana stone to heal yourself.  Leveling up will also restore your health for you.  Unfortunately there is a level/hp cap that made the final boss challenging.  Like many games, the boss has multiple phases and your health is not restored  between them.  After numerous failures, the game asked if I wanted to fight the boss at an easier difficulty.  I said yes and completed the game.

Fairune is cute  and reasonably priced at $2.99.  If you have an Android or iOS device I would recommend checking out the free version.  I think the lack of ads and hardware controls on the 3DS are worth the meager price tag though.  While it is family friendly, some of the puzzles may stump kids.  As an adult, I got stumped a couple of times.