The Legend of Link
Everyone’s gonna think the protagonist is named Link. What a terrible idea.
Wait, you mean the girl with the wand is not Link?
No, the girl with the sword is Link.
Shamelessly purloined from YouTube:
The Legend of Zelda: The Missing Link
The Lelda of Zelda
LoL
I like that they went with the Breath of the Wild approach of “Let’s just give the players everything and let them figure it out.” I hope that wand is just the cornerstone of gameplay though, I don’t think it can carry an entire game. I am a little worried that it’s all they showed, especially for combat.
Their Zelda team has been solid. It looks like the core will be around duping objects and enemies, but I imagine we’ll get some other magic items to play with. Link uses a lot more than his sword in every game, so a Zelda using only Garry’s Mod would be out of character for the series.
Still, even if literally every challenge is tied to it, there is a lot you can do, from summoning items to attack/block with, minions, things to ride on (the blade trap), special items for specific puzzles… As long as there’s easy ways to use your favorites, it could certainly carry the game.
I wish they would cut this stuff out. I want to go into a big temple, receive one new tool, solve a bunch of puzzles featuring that tool, and then beat the hell out of a large monster using that tool (and a sword).
Indie space is probably your best bet here. Zelda team looks to want to innovative on the formula rather than rehash/perfect.
Have you checked out Tunic? That game very much scratched the itch for a more classic style Zelda and it may be up your alley!
I found Tunic to be a bit obtuse, but I’m usually a wiki gamer and that game really seemed like one where I should not do that. As a result I really didn’t know what I was doing for a good while. I’ve never had a game make me work so hard to learn to read before, and even that I only learned by cheating…
All that said though, fantastic game, 10/10, it feels like classic Zelda bred together with Hollow Knight. I do recommend it. If you’re going in blind though, be prepared to use your head and maybe also a pad of paper.
I agree with you 100%. Especially in the early game it can be quite hard to figure out what to do next until you learn how the game does hints and explanations. It’s very rewarding when you do figure it out though, and the dopamine hit when you have the many “eureka” moments in the game is unmatched in my opinion.
I also think that the obtuseness didn’t bother me as much because I found the original legend of Zelda to be quite obtuse as well. That being said I also agree you should keep a pen and paper nearby. I actually made a digital journal while I was playing the game and it turned out to be really fun to look back on! Such a unique experience!
Thank you! I’ve never heard of this one but it does look like it fits the bill. Certainly have to take it seriously when you get a classic Zelda recommendation from someone named Hyrulian.
Yeah this doesn’t look especially compelling to me at this point, hopefully there’s more to the gameplay than they showed
This looks fun. I am eager to pirate this and play it on PC :)
And I will pirate it and play it on my Switch!
And I will pirate it and play it on my Steamdeck!
Been waiting for a new 2d Zelda game since link awakening was rereleased. So far it looks interesting. The only issue I can see with this game is that it to is going to be $79.99 CAD and from what I’ve seen it’s so not going to be worth that. Hoping for a $49.99 or $59.99 CAD price tag, but this is Nintendo.
The Link’s Awakening remake got released at full price, so there is a 0% chance this will be a budget title even though it probably in reality should be.
I know, I just hope that they don’t point to it and say “this is the reason we don’t make 2D Zelda games” like they did with Chibi Robo and that god awful 3DS game, or Star Fox and that god awful Wii U game.
Do you get vouchers?
I find buying vouchers brings the per-title cost down to au$67.5.
In comparison Sony is charging au$125 for a 1st party title like the last of us part 1 so Nintendo feels like they are priced competitively.
We do, but they aren’t that good of a deal, especially since you can get the same discount… if not more, if you buy used. And you can sell the game when you are done rather than being stuck with digital.
That said, outside of Nintendo, who rarely if ever discount their games, most games on modern systems get heavily discounted months if not a year after they come out. You are a fool if you buy the latest Ubisoft Game new since it’s usually $15-$30 before it’s been on-sale for a year. Even Sony first party IP, I got most of them for $10-$20 a pop new or digital, since I bought in at the tail end of the PS4 generation.
I enjoyed the Link’s Awakening remake and Link Between Worlds on 3DS. It looks like it’s got a similar style as those games even if the gameplay might be different.
It might also be setting up a full-blown BoTW-style game for Switch 2 as well. I could totally see this as a “Let’s work out how Zelda’s combat works because Switch 2 is going to have you play as both Link and Zelda.” Kind of like how GTA games have multiple protagonists now.
I had a very similar thought myself.
They said the next big Zelda was going to be different than TotK/BotW style, so after getting some baseline skills/items/ideas that Zelda uses in this game, they could leverage that for the next big game where you can swap between the two.
It’d just be cool to play as Zelda in 3D.
If you play hyrule warriors age of calamity, you get to play around with her in combat, and they explored her as a mage (don’t really recall in the first one how she played, tbh, I feel like she was melee for that one)
It’s kinda wonky AE stuff, basically AE versions of all link’s sheika abilities in botw, since the slate is literally her weapon, but it’s a warriors crossover game so that’s pretty par for the course on the wonkiness.
Idk how this wand thing or the abilities from it compare to that (I don’t watch trailers, they spoil things), but I think they’ve had it on their mind for a while now.
Don’t forget she’s got the bow too. She can wreck house with that thing. But the best character is still Impa.
It looks to me like they’re reusing the Link’s Awakening map, like they did for BotW.
I’m gonna pick it up, if only to encourage Nintendo to give Zelda her own full-size, mainline game.
It’s clearly Hyrule, though. Similar art style, but new map. Death Mountain is shown towards the end of the trailer.
Not sure how I feel about no direct attacks by Zelda, but I’m sure it won’t disappoint
If you look to the left of the screen it does look like there are 4 shortcut slots, one in this video taken up by the wand. My hope is that she gets some other items to use along with the wand. Zelda has always had bows, for example, so that’d fit right in.
If they give a bow, no one will use the wand except to solve puzzles though 😁
It sounds painful, and I’m concerned there will be too much menuing, but in general I’m trusting Nintendo on this one. (Well, maybe wait for a demo/review.)
Looks cool, and a major first letting players be Zelda
This isn’t the first game where you play as Zelda.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda_CD-i_games
Can we just pretend that it is…
Absolutely not. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.
The CD-i Zelda games had a really fun charm to them. Someone made a really fun homage to them, called Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore, and it’s a sweet love letter of a game, complete with crudely hand-drawn cut scenes with confusing perspectives. The developer is “Seedy Eye”, or… y’know… CD-i. ;)
You do get the sense that someon was actually trying on the CD-i games. There was an attempt to do a thing.
Super fair take, haha
Does Spirit Tracks and Phantom Zelda count?
Wow, today I learned. Nintendo is pretty protective of its IP, so it’s nuts that these were allowed to be made by another company in the first place.
Looks quite interesting.
This style reminds me of the game boy games…ahhh I’m old.
It is directly pulled from their recent remake of link’s awakening, so that makes a lot of sense
Looks quite interresting. Still not a fan of the style, but i can life with that. But playing Zelda in a Zelda game. Seems nintendo like to push it’s pincesses this year.
What’s next, playing as a metroid in a Metroid game? Actually, that sounds really cool!
Have you played Dread?
I have, and I didn’t like it. I like my Metroid games to be about exploration, not twitch shooting and boss pattern memorization.
Not a bad game, just not my thing. At least it actually exists, unlike Other M.
Shhhhhhhhhhh ;)
I’m glad Nintendo is finally starting to realize the potential of playable Zelda. Her style of gameplay will put a fresh new spin on the series. I also hope to see somewhere down the line a game where you can choose to play as either Zelda or Link and your choice will give you a different experience and cause puzzles to have different solutions, which would be good for a replay. Such a game would also have the potential for two-player co-op with vastly different abilities.
@hark There’s really no excuse why after 40 years of Zelda games, Zelda is not commonly playable
The Legend of Zelda… & Knuckles. I like it.
I fell in love with the concept of this game instantly. I think they will probably spin off these concepts into it’s own series. Or at least I hope they do.
I feel a lot can be done with the whole enemy spawning thing. Obviously I haven’t played it, but I bet it’s going to merely open the window to it’s full potential. Forget the tables, and plants…I think you could have a whole game type where the whole thing is just being essentially kamiek (from the mario series).
If you have enough enemy types, and some kind of balancing system, I think that would be cool. Make it so you CAN just spawn endless guards…but maybe it’s not the best choice. You can still DO it…you can do anything. It’s a modern Zelda game after all. But some situations might make more sense to use 2-3 of one enemy type rather than 500 of another. But you do you.
I’m just so hyped for this game. 3 days before my birthday! I may be turning 41, but I’ll get MYSELF a birthday present. And maybe an ice cream cake.
Looks fun. Unfortunately I’ve given away my Switch to my cousins children. Maybe they will borrow it to me for a while.
Damn, imagine disliking someone for giving away their switch…
Wish they’d add the new games to the website so I could wishlist them. I’m looking forward to this.
DekuDeals is where you’ll want to do that. Lets you get alerts about price drops too from places other than the eShop.
This is nice and all, but where’s WWHD?!?
