Lufia: The Ruins of Lore feels like a love letter to fans of the SNES classic Lufia 2—same turn-based combat, same puzzle-filled dungeons, but with a fresh GBA coat of paint. You play as Eldin, some distant relative of Maxim (yeah, that Maxim), trying to take down an empire that’s basically being puppeteered by some ancient evil. Classic JRPG stuff, but it works.

First thing you’ll notice? The monster-taming system. It’s weirdly addictive—you capture beasts mid-battle and then fuse them to make even weirder ones. I spent way too long messing with that instead of actually progressing the story. The dungeons still have those Zelda-like puzzles too, so expect a mix of brain-scratching and button-mashing.

Not gonna lie, the story’s a bit predictable, but the combat and monster mechanics make up for it. If you liked Lufia 2, this one’s a solid follow-up.