I found myself appreciating the finer details of this game more than anything. From the dusty footprint animations to the flashing routine when the player gets hurt, to the slight blue flash when the text is drawn during the dialogue screens. There is a lot to learn from this game on how to take a familiar concept and apply a new shine to it in order to make something new.
I love the black backgrounds, it looks incredibly striking in an adventure game. The little weapon sprites are adorable and highly legible.
It is missing the concept of the dungeon from the zelda-like, but I don't really miss it here, the lock and key challenges are dispersed evenly enough throughout the overworld, gating progress at an even enough pace to feel satisfying.
Raven's Gate is an incredibly fine-tuned design.