The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD – Nintendo Switch

With The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword HD being rereleased ten years after its original release, you would expect the game to show its age in some regards. With the original release having issues with unreliable motion controls, the HD remaster set out to fix this issue by giving players the option to change the motion control settings to be either motion or buttons.

Nintendo have improved all the issues the original had, which stopped the original game reaching its full potential and with this remaster, the changes and updates have given the game a new lease of life. This HD remaster feels like how we were meant to originally experience this adventure by connecting to the world easier than ever before.

In The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword, the game showcases the earliest chronological renditions of Link and Zelda, the two characters who will be reincarnated repeatedly throughout The Legend of Zelda series, which gives the player a better understanding of the history of the land of Hyrule and the goddesses.

The Origins Of The Hero And The Goddess And The Friends They Made Along The Way

Skyward Sword serves as an origin story for the entire Legend of Zelda series as shown on the official Hyrule timeline. This game delves into the creation of the Master Sword, the origins of Link and Zelda, the recurring conflict between good and evil in the lands of Hyrule which adds depth to the other Legend of Zelda games. I feel that Link especially in this game at the beginning is relatable as he’s shown to be a typical teenager and coming across as almost lazy and the complete opposite to how you would picture the hero.

The story and the characters are some of the best in the series due to the characters being unique and funny (like the goofy Groose) and having roles in completing the side quests. These side characters for me personally became memorable as I felt they were all individual for example Link’s next door neighbour stood out as he considers himself weak and wishes to improve his strength (which we later help him with.) The engagement with these characters enhances the emotional aspect as I personally set out trying to complete every single one as I felt almost guilty not doing them because of connecting to the characters.

Going Through The Motion

When playing the original version, I found the motion controls were unreliable and made the game extremely hard to play and enjoy as I was always too busy concentrating on trying to defeat a simple enemy because I was always holding the Wii remote incorrectly. Something they have fixed in this HD remaster was being able to toggle between the motion control option and being able to play the game using the buttons option which allowed the game to be more enjoyable. I personally selected the buttons control after trying to play with the motion controls and struggling like I did when playing the original. I did however find the button controls to sometimes be unreliable as well but less unreliable than the motion controls.

Memorable Side Quests And Colourful Areas

You start off your adventure by landing onto the surface for the first time in a place called the “Sealed Grounds”, which is dark and gloomy and is different to most areas in the game which are the complete opposite being colourful and full of creatures you can befriend.

You spend most of your time exploring the colourful areas, solving straightforward puzzles as you slice your way through all kinds of monsters and collecting new gadgets to aid your adventure. Skyward Sword is unique in that there are four main worlds that are reused and re-explored heavily as you retrace your steps in your quest to save Zelda. Re-exploring the areas allows you access to new parts of these worlds as you obtain new gear. Unfortunately, the lack of variety is disappointing however, it isn’t as repetitive as it sounds because re-exploring the areas have different objectives that guides you to different places within these areas. Some of these areas change over time and hidden areas are revealed during these return visits even with re-exploring the areas a lot, each of the worlds are full of personality and diverse which makes exploring them fun. The main weakness of these areas is the lack of monsters which makes them feel more barren, and personally my favourite area was Skyloft because of the “homely” feel it has alongside day and night differing with monsters appearing at night.

The side quests for this game contributed heavily to the longevity of the game as the quests were fun and added backstories to the world that you wouldn’t have known unless you completed these quests. The game also rewards you for completing these quests which makes them feel worthwhile to complete because of these rewards being rarer items that you would struggle to obtain outside of this.

Another type of quest nearer the end of the game is the Silent Realm quests which are another way of re-exploring the areas by testing your overall knowledge of the area without being caught and were truly terrifying the first time I did one which I think is due to the enemies alongside the music being frightening.

Skyward Sword: Final Thoughts

The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword HD is a fun-filled quirky game with memorable characters and a tear-jerking storyline with quality of life improvements helping alleviate some of the motion control issues the original game had. The improved graphics and performance makes this game look and play better than ever and playing this game had many moments where I was beaming.