Peter James Mann
“The Perfect Game Doesn’t Exis–”
After a harrowing and horror-tinted opening sequence, Link awoke with a strange, alien glow pulsing against his face. Like a heartbeat, the Zonai energy brought us, yet again, back to life. Gone were the carved halls of ancient Sheikah technology and here were the roots which had swallowed the Zonai’s ancient Kingdom. And soon, what seemed like the depths of a great cavern Link had fallen into was, in fact, one of hundreds of pieces of Hyrule floating above the sky. He dove out into the sky and fell through the clouds like Icarus.
That was how my son and I were introduced back to The Legend of Zelda. It was perfect.
“Daddy, that’s from the Sky Village!” Quickly, my son noticed familiar sites from not only this game’s predecessor, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but another spiritual successor as well: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. And even years later, playing as Link felt as though I had never stopped playing Breath of the Wild. As players embark on their journey, hardcore Zelda fans will be rewarded in droves for their devotion to the series’s various timelines and lore.
The art style feels updated, but in line with how I remember the previous entry looking. Yes, that does mean the graphics feel outdated, but those perfect Nintendo nuances have been added. It’s in the way the sky changes from day to night, or how the Constructs move around like the Skeksis from The Dark Crystal (but in a good way! I promise!).
All of that comes in an extremely tiny package. The file size is less than 20GB, 18.2 GB. That’s less than most Next Gen game patches, let alone standard games. I can’t think of one in recent memory that could pull this level of technicality off outside of a handful of Magic Trick-esque ports of games like the recent Doom games from Bethesda Studios. Yes, that means that it blurs and has draw distance issues. But, as long-time Switch owners will tell you time and time again, that’s not as bothersome as some subreddits proclaim.
And honestly it comes down to the accents and nuances that Nintendo perfects in every game they release. It’s in how the water cascades around you like drizzling rain from a miles long dive into a pond. Or how the Ultrahand ability to bind and unbind things with magical goop that stretches and snaps like Silly Putty. Using the new Ascend power allows Link to swim from a deep cavern through the rock above all the way to the surface, poking out his body like Bugs Bunny, looking around in amazement as to where they ended up.
Those that complained before about weapon durability or the economy around certain special items will be happy to find that you can create more durable weapons through the Fuse ability as well. It allows you to find creative solutions to puzzles and encourages you to try, fail, and try again without making you feel that impotent rage some SoulsBourne titles can give you.
And the strange arm that gives you these as well as the power to reverse time (with a little artistic nod to PS2’s Prince of Persia no less) gives this open-world game the creative flavor of several games. Not just the ones I mentioned, but also crafting and survival games like Minecraft or No Man’s Sky.
The art direction associated with the Zonai also would feel at home in several other darker RPG series, such as The Legacy of Kain or even Dark Souls, but are also reminiscent of PlayStation classics like Ico and Shadow of the Colassass.The starting area can be best described as Mount Olympus meets Ancient Aliens. Given the Leaps of Faith one has to do to descend from the Sky Islands, all that mixed together reminded me of Assassin’s Creed, especially once you can wear that sick Hylian Hood again!
And that insane mixture of games from the last decade of gaming might very well be why so many “competitive” giants congratulated Nintendo on the launch over the weekend (along with, of course, lines reminiscent of the late 1990s and early 2000s at midnight launches across the country). It feels like not only a swan song for the most successful console that Nintendo has ever had, but a love letter to Open World Adventures.
“But Gamer Dad,” I hear you call to me through the endless void, “what about the story?”
No, children, you get no story from me in this review. Absolutely none. The opening is so fantastic, the training area so obscenely large and full of discovery within its own right that there is no way I would want to spoil any of these moments for you. There are twists and turns within the first 2 hours that will make you wonder, make you want to keep exploring, want to find every single hole in the ground or strange relics floating in the sky. Much like The Matrix, this game can only truly be experienced by you. And I urge you to take this journey.
This is my first and only perfect score. This is the perfect expression of The Legend of Zelda series. And it’s so good, I brought this column out of retirement. If this ends up being remastered on Nintendo’s next system, they’ll get my money twice. I’ve never done that in my life. It made me remember why I love video games so much. It scratched so many itches I had learned to live with long ago. And I got to share it with my kids. I can’t be more grateful.
Thank you, Nintendo.
10/10
