For some this is the darkest Zelda game, for others it's a rehash of the incredible Ocarina of Time. For me, it's possibly the best Zelda game of all time.

For this review, I played the HD remaster for the Wii U, the differences are subtle so wont be mentioned much. Everything I say here will apply to the Gamecube and Wii originals too.

In recent years, Twilight Princess has been seen as a bit of a 'black sheep' in the series, alongside Majoras Mask. I'll never understand this as in all honesty, Twilight Princess has an almost un-rivalled ability to suck you into it's cooky world of darkness almost instantly. Just like it did back in 2006, the game opens up with you taking control of of our hero Link. Here, he is a farm boy living in the cosy forest village of Ordon, helping the village with menial tasks, spending time with the village youths and of course, herding goats. Instantly, Link becomes that under-dog hero we all know and loves living the easy quiet life. We just know that something darker is brewing around the corner.

Without going into to many details, eventually Link and his best friend Ilia are attacked while giving Links horse Epona, a wash in the spring water fountain just outside of the village. The kids of the village are kidnapped and our hero is turned into the wolf we see on the cover, he awakens in a cell and we are met with one of, if not the single best character in the entire franchise, Midna. Midna is an inhabitant of the Twilight world, a sort of echo to Hyrule where everything is dark, Twilight monsters roam freely and contact with the regular world of Hyrule is extremely limited. It's a hauntingly beautiful sight every time we cross the Twilight barrier.

The afore mentioned Midna happens to be my favourite character in all of Zelda. In fact, I named my cat after her! Without spoiling too much, Midnas character evolves throughout the game in a way in which we have rarely seen in Zelda games or even Nintendo games for that matter, even to this day. She starts the adventure poking fun at Link in his horrible situation and having a disdain for the occupants of the light world, but eventually she molds into this loving character who trusts Link with saving not just Hyrule, but the Twilight realm itself. She's a wonderful character to experience.

In typical Zelda fashion, Link and Midna have to adventure throughout this vast iteration of Hyrule, meeting the different races that live there, traveling through dungeons, beating bosses, attaining different unique tools and solving puzzles, all in the name of saving Hyrule as he always does.

The version of Hyrule we have in twilight Princess is vast, beautiful and full of the memorable quirky characters the series is known for. The giant stone Gorons of death mountain at first don't get along well with humans, but with Links help, they become the friendly gentle giants we absolutely adore. They even have a handful of different designs, some of which are so hilariously lovable in their mannerisms that I have to say, they become the most memorable of all the Gorons in Zelda.

The Zora of Zoras domain are a beautiful graceful race of mermaid-like fish people. Very stoic in their nature, they have recently lost their Queen and we must help their Prince find his courage to lead the Zora as his mother once did.

We also have a new race, the Oocoo, of which late in the game we get to travel to their city in the sky and save them from a giant twilight dragon. They are little bald bird-like creatures that talk with weird mannerisms, can glide like cuccoos (chickens) and walk on walls, for some reason.. Instantly memorable!

Of course we also have the humans (Hylians?). In Twilight Princess, humans come in so many different varieties, just like in real life, all with different passions, styles and bursting with personality. A few of the most memorable are Rusl, Links mentor in Ordon Village. Agitha, a young 'princess' who lives in this games Castle Town and is obsessed with bugs, in which Link must collect them all for her. Fyer, a man who lives in the stunning Lake Hylia and owns a cannon, and is instrumental in helping Link later in the game. Falbi, who owns a Cuccoo mini game in which you must grab a cuccoo and float down towards Lake Hylia and land on a platform of treasure chests and possibly my favourite human character, Telma. Telma is the owner of Telmas bar in Castle Town who uses her, ahem.. assets.. to help Link and his friends throughout the adventure. She's brave, smart and always seems to know something more than the other characters with that cheeky wink she does constantly.

We also have a pair or Yeti, Yeta and Yeto who reside in the Snowpeak Ruins. They are a married couple that I cannot wait to meet every time I play the game. Their warmth (despite living on a frozen mountain) friendliness and humour are one of the peak sections to the game, if you pardon the pun, ha!

As I am sure most people know, Ganon/Ganondorf is the main big villain in the game, and he is great here with his best ever design. He's huge, menacing and seems so powerful in this world. Better still, we have Zant whom we meet early in the game and turns up from time to time. He's an inhabitant of the Twilight world, has an unbelievably interesting design and seems so unique for a villain in a Zelda game, he even has a good back story. You better believe we will be kicking his ass later on!

By now, you probably know how the classic format of Zelda is structured, we beat temples and dungeons. In Twilight Princess, dungeons have so much more to them stylistically compared to most other entries in the series. A few of my favourites are the Goron Mines, a fire temple of sorts in which we actually meet some aging Goron elders in the temple itself! This is where you get the Bow and Arrow! The Arbiters Grounds which seems to be the favourite among fans. It's a temple in the desert which becomes a very important place in the story and includes a call back to Ocarina of Time in which you must find and defeat 4 ghostly Peo souls. You also get the fan favourite Spinner tool which can connect to runners like a gear in various walls throughout the dungeon and Hyrule, leading to some adrenaline pumping high paced puzzle solving! They have to re-introduce this into the series some day. My favourite dungeon in the whole series is the Snowpeak Ruins. Married yetis Yeta and Yeto call this abandoned mansion in the snowy mountains home. Yeta isn't feeling great and she accidentally sends us around the mansion searching for her bedroom key while her husband Yeto is lovingly making a soup! We also get a brilliant weapon here, the Ball and Chain which can destroy things, mostly ice, and helps us throughout the rest of the game with some really unique application.

There are no bad dungeons in the game at all, some other great ones include the first temple in the game, the Forest temple in which Monkeys help us traverse the place and gives us the Gale boomerang, The City in the Sky where the Oocoo live and we get the brilliant double Clawshot letting us zip around like Spiderman and the seriously under-rated Lakebed Temple, which is a water temple under Lake Hylia. It's a water temple done right (I'm looking at you Ocarina of time) and where you utilise the easy-to-use swimming physics of the Zora armour.

Part-way through the game, Link is able to transform into a wolf at will, this gives him a digging ability which lets us find rupees, heart and the occasional cave which can house all sorts of goodies from large rupees, poe souls and heart containers. Wolf Link is also able to utilise his scent ability which lets him track people down in the story as well as finding the spots to dig! He can also fast travel around Hyrule in this form, which is needed as this game is huge!

Lets talk about the music quickly. It's unbelievable good. The Hyrule Field music is an instant ear-worm which I hum almost constantly. Kakariko village is present in this game with a little melody that difficult to not whistle! There is even a spaghetti western inspired song that plays in a hidden village later in the game where we must use our bow and arrow to clear out the enemies present! The highlight song is Midnas Lament however. Without spoiling the story too much, we must save Midna from death. This simply gorgeous piano ballad plays which is emotional, haunting and fitting for the character and what she is going through, a must listen even if you don't play that game.

If I had to pick some parts of the game that I don't particularly enjoy, well first would be the difficulty, it's probably too easy, but that makes it an excellent game for people looking to get into the game. I don't think I've come close to dying in the game ever in any playthroughs. There are these sections where you play as Wolf Link and must collect 'Tears of Light' to progress the story early in the game. This occurs three times early in the game and are shortened in the HD remaster, but they still feel like padding. Bearing in mind the game came out in 2006, I do wish that the Hyrule field was a little more inhabited like the towns and villages are but my biggest gripe is Zelda, The titular Princess herself! She's rocking a beautiful mature design here but she's not in the game much at all, I think we see her 2 times in total.

It's a masterpiece of a game and in my mind, Twilight Princess is a near-perfect entry into the series. Is it better than Ocarina of Time, Majoras Mask and Wind Waker? I'm not sure, they all have their highlights but for me, I'm picking Twilight Princess as my absolute favourite in the series.

Twilight Princess is exactly the type of game you’d expect to follow up Ocarina of Time. The 6 games that released post Majora’s Mask featured a significant shift in the overall vibe of the series. Not a bad one per se but as someone that holds the vibes of the Ocarina of Time-Majora’s Mask duology near and dear to their heart, it wasn’t hard to notice that the series was trying to forge a new identity for itself. One that strays away from the occasionally creepy and dark vibes of Ocarina-Majora and leans towards a more light-hearted and cartoonish vibe like in The Wind Waker and The Minish Cap.

While I still I really like those games, I couldn’t help but feel like an ingredient of the Zelda recipe was missing from them. All the games pre-Majora’s Mask felt like they had a good balance of feel-good light-heartedness and serious, more mature undertones while the post-Majora’s Mask games seemed to lean more towards the prior. I really have no issues with this as I thoroughly enjoyed them but I can’t deny that they felt different.

This, of course, caused a lot of discourse within the fandom. Ocarina of Time was a cultural phenomenon widely regarded as a pioneer of not only 3D games but gaming as a medium. This departure in identity over the 8 following years cast a fair share of doubt on the series ever reaching the heights of Ocarina of Time again. The Wind Waker was ruthlessly scrutinized, The Minish Cap barely sold, and Four Swords Adventures came and went with no noise. Forcing Nintendo to be like “You want another Ocarina of Time? Fine, we’ll make one.”

Twilight Princess isn’t just a modern version of Ocarina of Time like some people like to say, it is a full blown spiritual successor. Everything from the art style, to the music, to the world and dungeon design feels like a proper evolution of Ocarina of Time. It just feels like the obvious direction they would’ve went with with the series. Twilight Princess relies on the foundations of Ocarina of Time while forging its own unique identity.

The game goes for a grounded and more mature vibe overall, completely contrasting The Wind Waker. I love The Wind Waker’s vibe a lot but playing it after what came before brings a feeling of unfamiliarity, I know most of us had to readjust ourselves for The Wind Waker in the beginning of it and said “oh okay this is different!” That readjustment wasn’t as present in Twilight Princess. As soon as you boot the game up you get an overwhelming “oh we are so back!” feeling as it exudes the same aura as the pre-Wind Waker games. That familiarity to me is very comforting which is why I find myself gravitating towards Twilight Princess more, even though I think The Wind Waker is the much bolder and more adventurous game.

Twilight Princess is often criticized for its linearity. While it sports a big map, it’s not really an open-world experience like The Wind Waker’s. Frankly, I don’t really care about that. A lot of people say that exploration is a huge standard of the Zelda series and it is often used as a tool to gauge how good some of these games are. I don’t really agree with that, Zelda isn’t a series that thrives on openness and exploration for me. Instead I think Zelda thrives on the sense of discovery more. You’re discovering new areas, overworld secrets, dungeons, towns, etc. Linearity doesn’t stop that sense of discovery, it just guides it. I can see how that can be a problem if you’re looking for a sense of unguided discovery, but that’s not what I play these games for. I’ll get into what I do play these games for later in the review. But for now I just really want to establish how I don’t have any issue with the linearity of Twilight Princess. I think it’s the reason why the game works, the linearity allows for a tighter and more planned out narrative-driven hero’s journey take place.

The overall story of Twilight Princess is alright. It’s nothing really revolutionary, I prefer the story of The Wind Waker as an overall narrative, but Twilight Princess shines through its fantastic story moments. It’s very cinematic in the sense that the scenes feel like they were directed like they’re for a movie. There’s a lot of framing techniques, musical cues, and moody lighting used. Characters are very grounded with their movements and express themselves like normal humans do in the real world. Scenes like the attack in Kakariko, the vision in Lanayru, Midna’s lament, and Illia’s memory are wonderfully directed and are some of my favorite scenes in the series. If Twilight Princess was a movie it would definitely be a big blockbuster. It’s just so grand and epic in every way with massive set pieces sprinkled throughout.

My first criticism about Twilight Princess is the pacing of the first half of the game. I know people usually complain about the opening hours of the game but I really have no problem with the opening. I feel like it’s a great tone-setter and shows you what normal life for Link look’s like before the main inciting incident happens. It’s a literary tool that is used in most movies, books, and other forms of narratives we see today. My issue actually starts after the inciting incident happens. The the world is now engulfed in twilight and every time you go to a new area you have to first go through the twilight realm version of that area and free it. This is the worst thing in the game for me and not because of the Tears of Light quest.

A lot of the previous Zelda games featured a dual-world mechanic with one being the normal world and the other being a distorted version of that world. Seeing the normal versions of those areas first and then seeing how the distortion makes them look is cool, but doing that order in reverse doesn’t work for me for several reasons. First, it's about the first impression you get of the new areas, the Twilight realm feels the same in every region of Hyrule, so having the excitement of going to a new location be met with an oppressive atmosphere that is shared by every other area in the game, even when that atmosphere is done masterfully, just doesn’t give a good first impression to any area in Hyrule. It doesn’t help that the most notable change that happens after freeing these areas from the twilight realm is that they’re now brighter and have their own musical theme. The areas just feel the same but with a different filter on now so it doesn’t feel that satisfying to free them.

My other big complaint about these sections is how they bring some of the narrative conflicts to a halt and ruin some story moments that would have otherwise been much better done. This comes with the fact that in the twilight realm, you can see what’s happening in the real world but you can’t really interact with anything from it. A big example is the kidnapped kids from Ordon Village. When you see them get kidnapped you naturally worry about where they’ve been taken and want to save them. What is the next thing the game does with that sub plot? Have you stumble on them while you’re in the twilight realm, finding out that they are safe with adults while not being able to interact with them until you finish releasing the area from the twilight. I don’t like these sections at all. I will say though that the sound design in the twilight realm is fantastic. As it is with the rest of the game.

What I love about Twilight Princess is that it’s very atmospheric and that comes in large part from the music. The music is spacious, triumphant, and nostalgic, even if you’re hearing these tracks for the first time. There are so many highlights including: Title Theme, Ordon Village, Midna’s theme, Twilight, Meeting Zelda, Light Spirit’s Elegy, Faron Woods, Forest Temple, Hyrule Field, Kakariko Village, King Bulblin Battle, Queen Rutela’s Theme, Lake Hylia, Zant’s Theme, Midna’s Lament, Sacred Grove, Arbiter’s Grounds, Snowpeak, Hidden Village, City in the Sky, and Final Battle. I didn’t realize how many favorites I had until I started listing them out. This might be one of my favorite soundtracks in the series. The only criticism I have with it is that I wish it wasn’t MIDI. These melodies are mesmerizing and deserve a lot better. I hope if the game gets another rerelease, they remake the soundtrack to be orchestral.

An area where Twilight Princess shines for me is through its characters. Not counting Majora’s Mask, Twilight Princess takes a massive leap in terms of character writing. The people of this world feel real with real struggles, and complex motivations. Link himself is one of my favorite incarnations, he is just so expressive and responsive to what’s happening around him. He shows a wide range of emotions throughout the game: he gets passionately angry sometimes, remorseful, cheery, relieved, etc. He’s not as stoic and serious as all the promotional art of the game depict him. He’s just a simple farm guy with a big heart and wants to help out however he can and the game sells that through his characterization. He also works especially well with Midna, who is probably my favorite character in the franchise.

Midna’s the first character in the series that gets a proper arc. Midna is mischievous, sassy, charismatic, and just wants to use Link for her own selfish gains but as the game goes on, she grows a sense of admiration for Link and the sense of camaraderie that builds up between the two really carries the game. They are a great dynamic duo that really give the game its own sense of identity. Midna actually in many ways feels like the protagonist of the game with Link being the deuteragonist. She is the driving force behind the narrative, the stakes are much higher for her than they are for any other character, and she’s the one that has personal beef with main antagonist. This is Midna’s game and Link is just a vessel for her story to be told. The closest thing we got to a character this dynamic before was Tetra in the Wind Waker but the way she was handled in the back-half of that game kinda fizzled her out for me. God, I love Midna. Most of the emotional punches of the game for me come from her. There’s obviously the big Midna’s Lament sequence but that doesn’t come close to her agency and involvement during the final section of the game. All for it to lead to one of the most beautiful endings of the series which wouldn’t have hit at all if her character didn’t work.

Twilight Princess also has other characters that are really compelling! Zant and Colin come to mind as other stand out characters. Some characters do leave some to be desired though. Illia’s treatment is just weird to me, she’s Link’s childhood friend/potential love interest. I’m gonna go over minor spoilers Illia as a character so feel free to skip this paragraph if you haven’t played the game. I just don’t understand what they were even going for with Illia, she’s introduced in the beginning as someone that Link really cares about, then gets kidnapped and disappears for a while. At that point she’s used as a main motivator for Link to go through his journey. You don’t find her with the rest of the kidnapped kids, so you’d think they’re delaying that moment to do something interesting with her. Once you do end up finding her you find out she has amnesia? Interesting choice but nothing is done with that plot line at all. She just disappears for the rest of the game until close to the end where you help her get her memory back in a wonderful scene.. only for her to just stand there doing nothing for the remainder of the game. Just a very weird way to handle the character which is why she never worked for me.

Other characters that kind of fall short for me are Zelda and Ganondorf. Their designs do all of the heavy lifting for their characters, these two never looked this good before (or since to be honest). But other than that, they’re a bunch of nothing. Zelda gets a total of 3 minutes of screen time in the whole game and is only challenged by Ganondorf’s 3.5 minutes. Did these two really need to be in this game? Zelda and Ganondorf’s inclusion just feels like it happens out of necessity to the series traditions. Part of me wishes for a version of Twilight Princess that fully skips on including these two and instead makes Midna and Zant the Triforce wielders of the game. You could even change their names to Zelda and Ganondorf to offer a cute twist of expectations having the incarnations of those two be from the same tribe this time. I know the manga adaptation gives Zelda and Ganondorf some cool stuff so all I can hope for is for that to be added if we ever get a proper remake on the same level as Final Fantasy VII Remake. Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening so I guess I have to live on with these incarnations that feel like nothing.

My favorite thing about Twilight Princess and what I think sets it apart from the rest of the series is its dungeons. This is the best dungeon lineup in any 3D Zelda game. Every single dungeon in the game ranges from great to fantastic. Forest Temple, Lakebed Temple, Arbiter’s Grounds, Snowpeak Ruins, City in the Sky, and Palace of Twilight are among my favorite dungeons in the entire series. Each dungeon has a visually and sonically distinct atmosphere that sets it apart from the others, some dungeons are spacious vistas of nature like the forest temple, some are ancient locations with cultural impact like the Arbiter’s Grounds and City in the Sky, and then there’s Snowpeak Ruins which is a fancy and sprawling mansion. I also love them all from a game design perspective, they serve a great balance of the simplicity of The Wind Waker’s dungeons and the labyrinthine design of Ocarina of Time’s dungeons. To me, these serve as the perfect level of challenge where they’re designed well enough for players to be able to figure out how the puzzles work without taking mental leaps to do so. They really are a highlight and the most fun part of the game for me, everytime I finish from a dungeon, I’d be so excited to get to the next one. Contrasting the sense of dread I get from some of the dungeons in some other Zelda games.

All of these dungeons are capped off with boss fights that I can’t describe in any word other than epic. Mechanically, they all function like regular Zelda bosses where you have to use the item you acquired in the dungeon to defeat them, but in every other way, these bosses are leagues above everything that came before. The sense of scale has been upped significantly, these bosses are big and they do a great job of making you feel like the most badass guy in Hyrule. I talked earlier about how Twilight Princess feels like a blockbuster movie with its set pieces, these bosses are what come to mind. Something really great is that each boss has their own distinct theme this time. Actually there are some really cool musical moments that happen with the bosses, mainly the triumphant tune that comes in as you get the upper hand on these bosses just fills you with so much adrenaline. Highlights for me are: Morpheel, Stallord, Blizzeta, Argarok, Zant, and of course Ganondorf.

Everything in Twilight Princess culminates in the climactic final part. Arguably the best final section of any Zelda game (only to be contested recently by Tears of the Kingdom). Only to be topped off by the best final boss fight of the series thus far, again only to be contested by Tears of the Kingdom. Ganondorf might only have 3.5 minutes of screen time but he makes them count! Fantastic final boss in every way and a fantastic ending to go along with it. I will never forget the first time I finished this game and how much I was in awe over this ending sequence. Top 3 favorite endings in the series by far.

Twilight Princess is not a perfect Zelda game but it sure comes close. It has every element that I look for in a Zelda game. I said earlier in the review that I will get into what I look for when I play Zelda games. What’s most important in a Zelda game for me is atmosphere, story, characters, music, dungeons, and bosses. Moving forward, I will be focusing on these 6 elements with each Zelda game I review as these categories are what’s most important to me. Twilight Princess excels in all of these categories which solidifies it as an S-Tier game for me and one of my favorite games in the series. I freaking love this game and I’m obsessed with it. I wasn’t planning on writing this much but I really love Twilight Princess so much that I just can’t stop talking about it.

Beating every Zelda in timeline order 6/20:

Twilight Princess was my first Zelda game and the one that I've beaten the most. By a lot. I love this game. After returning to it with a fully developed brain, it's not everything I'm looking for in a Zelda game, but it's damn near close. This is by far the easiest Zelda game I've played so far, and although all the bosses LOOK super cool, they are some of the most brain-dead easy sequences in the game, excluding the final boss sequence. The game takes a bit to get going in general, having you run back and forth in Faron Woods for like, 2 hours. Once you're in it though, the meat of the game is all great stuff. I love nearly all the dungeons in the game, and although they're not always difficult, they're always fun to work through. Their theming and designs are some of the best in the series. I still pick up on new things every time I experience the story, which speaks to its longevity. And I like the vibes. These are great vibes, all around. Makes me wanna be under a big blanket and play in a dark room until 3 am.

Twilight Princess is without a doubt the most nostalgic Zelda game for me, and anything I have to say about it probably doesn't hold up under scrutiny. But I fuckin love this game.

Minha primeira memória de Twilight Princess é bem vívida. Eu tinha uns 9 anos e estava na casa de um amigo vizinho pra brincar e jogar. Enquanto isso, o irmão mais velho dele também estava com um amigo. A dupla estava na sala jogando esse jogo aqui, em sua versão do Wii, na parte da ponte que pega fogo. Eles estavam tentando de novo e de novo, mas não conseguiam passar, até que o amigo disse "Tá, vou olhar o guia de novo" e o abriu no celular, e foi lendo dando instruções de quais caixas empurrar pra conseguir pular. Algo no jogo me fascinou, mas só o joguei agora pela primeira vez, mais de 10 anos depois.
O que eu tenho a dizer é QUE ESSE MOLEQUES ERAM MUITO BURROS, MEU DEUS, ERA SÓ EMPURRAR UMA CAIXA NUMA POSIÇÃO ÓBVIA E PULAR!!!
Mas de certa maneira, que bom que eram, porque foi dessa maneira que eu descobri a existência de sites de guias de jogos, o que me possibilitou zerar muitos que eu não conseguiria quando criança. Acho que é por isso que essa memória é tão marcante. O anúncio da E3 desse Zelda marcou a indústria.

Foi mais marcante do que qualquer coisa nesse jogo.
Todo Zelda tem uma peculiaridade. Nesse, é virar um lobo que não expande as habilidades o jogo todo. De resto, é Ocarina of Time de novo, mais linear, e mil vezes menos mágico, fingindo dar algum foco pro combate e com o Malo Mart.

A "magia fantástica" é uma das coisas que mais amo nessa franquia, e todo mundo já tá cansado de saber que o tom sério e o realismo desse jogo são respostas a má recepção do Wind Waker. O Link não usa armas de fogo e fala palavrões como o Shadow (Mas é um lobisomem como em Sonic Unleashed) e não há nenhum tipo de gore. O visual é sim mais realista, mas sinceramente, acho isso uma grande besteira. As texturas podem ser mais detalhadas e nítidas, mas não divergem muito do que um Ocarina of Time seria se não fossem pelas limitações de hardware. Os personagens continuam tendo designs cartunescos e mais esquisitos do que nunca, e em nenhum momento a história é DARK como quer parecer que é. Eu até preferiria que fosse mais e se entregasse de verdade, mesmo que seja algo genérico de sua época. OOT e Majora's Mask são mil vezes mais "dark" e fúnebres mesmo com os visuais mais cartunescos, o que acaba os deixando mais sombrios ainda pelo contraste. Mesmo com tudo isso, parece que funcionou, já que esse era o Zelda que mais havia sido vendido até o Breath of The Wild.

A trilha sonora sempre é maravilhosa nessa franquia, e essa aqui continua boa, mesmo que seja a pior de todos os Zeldas que eu joguei até agora. Ela soa como instrumentalização midi de chip de áudio de console específico, mesmo que isso já não existisse mais na época, e de nenhuma maneira isso dá um charme a mais pra ela, tirando o canto da trilha do overworld noturno. Eu raramente gosto das músicas de combate da franquia, mas ninguém merece o tema de combate do lobo. Apesar disso, confesso que nunca achei que iria escutar breakcore em Zelda.

Pra resumir- gostei do jogo, excelência técnica, Midna é a melhor companion que o Link já teve, mas mesmo assim, não senti quase nenhuma emoção, nem positiva nem negativa. E eu queria muuuito ter sentido.
A parte mais marcante foi quando aquele cara simplesmente falou.

(Falando nisso, quero deixar claro aqui: odeio essa tradição de não ter vozes)

Twilight Princess is one of those games that I know is probably not as amazing and spectacular and beautiful as I feel like it is, but I still can't help but get a huge rush of serotonin everytime I think about it. Writing this is probably going to either ruin or strengthen that, but a friend requested I review this game and so review it is what I will do. It probably won't be as in-depth as my other reviews though. Twilight Princess is simply a quintessential Legend of Zelda game and an awesome experience beginning to end... for the most part.

Gameplay:
I sometimes hear people describe this game as a "remake of Ocarina of Time" and it's honestly kind of accurate. Twilight Princess definitely does a lot of its own things, but it certainly borrows a lot from OoT's gameplay style and structure. You run around Hyrule, talk to memorable NPCs, explore some great dungeons, and solve some puzzles along the way. Twilight Princess totally knocks its core gameplay out of the park. The world feels good to explore and is packed with tons of optional yet worthwhile tasks that help you become stronger. The dungeons are well designed with interesting puzzles and unique items. Combat is simple but has enough depth to remain fun and interesting. Link's transformation into a wolf adds a nice extra layer to the gameplay that doesn't stray far from the core. These elements are all tied together by the mostly well-paced story that drives them forward. There are a few iffy moments that keep me from calling the experience absolutely perfect though. The drawn out opening to the game can be a drag, especially your first time through when you don't know what it's building up to. The segments where you collect tears of light can feel quite drab and repetitive. The part where you gotta do that escort mission on horseback is nightmare on a first playthrough. Most of the problems lie in the first half of the game. The second half is pretty consistently awesome.

Story and Characters:
I freaking LOVE Twilight Princess's story. Say what you want about to long opening, but the way it sets up the world and makes you care about the characters makes the eventual moment where it all falls apart feel all the more impactful. The way the story sets up the conflict with the Twilight is freaking awesome, and it gives Link (and the player by extension) all the motivation and then some to go on this epic adventure with your initially mysterious new companion, Midna. For most of the story, you save ladies, unravel mysteries, and fight evil, all in the name of freeing Hyrule from the clutches of the Twilight, and it is awesome the entire time. Though, to be more specific than saying "awesome" over and over again (without giving away any of the juicy plot details), I'd say the story's biggest strength overall is its setups and payoffs. I don't think there is a single thing that gets set up in the story that doesn't have an incredible payoff. There's just so many cool moments that feel really deserved, and it just makes the story so satisfying to follow. The characters are great too. Midna is incredible and I love her personality and character arc. Zant is super menacing and serves his role in the story quite well. Link pushes the power of silent protagonists to the maximum in this game. The side characters can be quite charming too, though some unfortunately fall to the unmemorable side.

Sound and visuals:
Music's good. Sound design's good. That's basically all I have go say on that front. It's a Legend of Zelda game. I do have one complaint, and it's that the battle music interrupts all other music, which can ruin some important moments.

The visuals are one of Twilight Princess's many strengths. The environments look quite nice, and the dungeons specifically are absolutely epic. The Legend of Zelda series love its wacky character designs, and this game delivers them in droves, even despite its darker vibe. My favorite part of the art style is without a doubt the enemy designs. A lot of the enemies look totally awesome and menacing, especially the creatures from the Twilight. The art direction as a whole feels a lot like Majora's Mask's but if you made it listen to experimental 90's rock music for an hour.

Conclusion:
Twilight Princess is an incredible game all-around. It's got a good story, cool art style, and great gameplay. If you're a Legend of Zelda fan or just someone who likes these type of games then I'd definitely recommend this game. It is, dare I say, awesome. Twilight Princess will probably remain one of my top 10 favorite games until the end of time.





And yes, I will acknowledge the humor in me reviewing this game right after Sonic Unleashed.

Absolutely god-tier game that I've noticed getting some unnecessary hate for its bug-hunting wolf segments that last like fifteen minutes at most. Everything about this game absolutely screams "Dark Fantasy". The atmosphere, music, story, villains, settings, and monsters all feel more twisted, strange, and evil l than any other game in the series (besides Majora's Mask). It also has quite possibly the most satisfying combat in any Zelda game. This game is damn near flawless, and is even better than BotW and TotK for my money.

'Tis been 7 years since I last played this game, I considered it my favourite game at that time as well. It's a pretty great adventure. Never feels like it drags on which is surprising considering the amount of "detours" it feels like you have to do to continue. Not really too big of a fan of 100%ing this game though. A lot of the Heart Pieces felt slapped around the place, Poes were annoying because you can't change the time of day and they only appear at night. I also didn't end up going for the Wii U exclusive stuff. Consider it as me technically 100%ing the GameCube and Wii version lol. Overall, this game is a pretty amazing time, I always have trouble ranking Zelda games. This series means a lot to me.

Part 4 of my father and son 3D Zelda saga.

Twilight Princess, while still a game that I absolutely adored, kinda stayed in the shadows when I think about my favorite Zelda games. Something about it didn’t stick in my head as much as all the other ones.

That being said I think if you look at this game more objectively that it is the best OG 3D Zelda, and it’s not really that close. Twilight Princess has the greatest story, characters, dungeons, bosses, and feel of any of the OG 3D Zelda’s. TP is also a powerhouse when it comes to charm and atmosphere throughout.

For some reason TP wasn’t as deeply lodged into my nostalgia engine as the previous 3. Although I truly believe that this game is fantastic, it just isn’t as special to me as the previous three for one reason or another.

As for my playthrough with my son, he absolutely loved this one. He said that this is his favorite, and having played each one back to back, and this probably being the best one it definitely makes sense.

This is the most Zelda game of all time, there isn't any game that is more Zelda than this one, if there was a Zelda game award this would be the number 1 Zelda game because it is indeed a Zelda game.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD is an HD remaster of a Gamecube/Wii game from 2006 sharing the same name, this game follows more in the footsteps of Ocarina of Time rather than trying to be its own thing like Wind Waker. It pretty much takes the best of both Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker to make the ultimate modern Zelda experience, but did it deliver what Wind Waker couldn't? In my honest and humble opinion, it did a wonderful job at being Ocarina of Time 2.

Twilight Princess takes place in a more darker and realistic world with a really intriguing premise that starts really well but unfortunately gets dragged down by the recurring Zelda tropes that just keep Twilight Princess as a Zelda game and nothing more. What I'm trying to explain is mostly what Ganon does to the story, I personally have no issue with Zelda tropes I really do like them, and I get happy whenever I see a nod to a previous Zelda game, but then you already know what happens and what will happen, the whole dark world idea was great till it was revealed that it was just Ganon being responsible for everything, it's really just like any Mario game where the bad guy always ends up being Bowser, but then again it's just a Nintendo game, we enjoy them for the gameplay and not the story but it's always nice to see a nice and original plot from time to time, I love the Zelda franchise but I wish they did a bit more with it story-wise.

Outside of the story feeling somewhat unfinished and the Zelda tropes being overly present in this game whether you like it or not, the gameplay is still fantastic. It really feels like a big next step for the franchise, not an innovative step like Breath of the Wild but a step that just really polishes what was previously made. The game takes a more linear approach to its story, the idea is the same as in Ocarina of Time where at first you start with the three elemental dungeons and then go for the dungeon related to the mages, the only difference is that the "open world" is barely used, especially early game where you'll spend most of your time as a Wolf without the ability to do anything as Link. So the world ends up just being a transition in between dungeons with barely any exploration or character interactions, it may be a good thing for some but I did like the NPC-based puzzles in OoT with some nice fetch quests here and there, it made the world more alive and I barely felt like any NPCs actually matters in Twilight Princess, they ended up making a more realistic world but at the price of losing its liveliness.

The dungeons themselves are honestly the main focus of the game, most of them are overall really well made, some like the water temple can be somewhat infuriating to figure out but overall they all are fairly simple to figure out, a guide is not necessary for this game. The item pacing is really good and the new items are really fun like the spinner or the double Hookshot, god bless the double Hookshot. And surprisingly the bosses are really well made too, my favorite being Zant, it uses the boss refight near the end of the game trope that usually often sucks like in Wind Waker but this time instead of refighting the boss you have to fight Zant using the ability of the bosses in their respective arena making you use reuse the same item you previously used for that specific boss.

Overall this game might not be the most original game of all time, and it might have not inspired the game industry like with OoT and BOTW, but it did a really good job at being a Zelda game and I will forever appreciate this game as the ultimate 3D Zelda game, so unless Nintendo actually brings back the OoT tropes/formula, Twilight Princess will stay as the ultimate modern OoT experience.