Mym's Sword is a delightfully ominous Zelda-style action platformer with magic rings and knife-wielding raccoons

Take a swing at the demo

In curious Zelda-flavoured action-platformer Mym's Sword, you are a blue dog who fell through a cavern roof into a temple containing a magic sword. The dog's name is Nora. Who is Mym, then? Possibly some kind of ancient evil, which you are on a quest to awaken, "for better or worse".

To unlock the sword's secrets, you'll need to visit three twisty ruins, scattered across five areas comprising around 300 single screen rooms. There are also magic rings that confer boosts such as greater odds of a health heart drop, but as a digit-deficient canine, you'll need to collect "helper's hands" before you can equip those rings. Gosh, that's a bit creepy. Bad dog?

Ugh, I can't find a trailer to illustrate all this. Instead, here's a clip of my beloved Mad Madam Mim. She's got more magic than Merlin in one little finger.

Back to the videogame! Playing with a controller is strongly advised. You jump with left trigger – your character bounces a little on landing, which adds some weird but enjoyable clumsiness – and swing the sword across 360 degrees with the right analog stick. Yes, having to manually swish and swack your sword is going to annoy a few players. As will enemies leaping over your swings, in a mostly top-down game. When you're slain, you'll have to trek back from the last checkpoint to reclaim your dropped weapon. Fortunately, it's easy to run past or jump over a lot of the respawning opposition.

Myself, I'm totally sold on the energetic imprecision of the combat. I am not a warrior, after all - I am a dog who found a sword. It's a wonder I didn't widdle on and bury the thing.

The demo gets a little more technical past the opening moments. You meet a few blade-wielding racoons, for example. You can disarm them if you time your ripostes reasonably well, a touch of Inigo Montoya in a game of thwacking and flailing.

Mym's Sword recalls Zelda at its eeriest, the dead-end dreamlands of Majora's Mask and Link's Awakening (other inspirations include Ys and Tower of Druaga). The world does not remember you: each area resets between visits, allowing you to retry puzzles instantly. Early enemies include slimes that duplicate a little less predictably than many videogame slimes do. There are hidden stairways and portals all over, and statues that gesture in ways I expect will become significant, a couple of dungeon completions from now. Enemies are often props: you can bounce on them to reach higher platforms.

Good stuff. It remains only to say that this is from the developer of the superb Elephantasy games. Find the demo for Mym's Sword on Itch and Steam. The full game launches later this year.