There's a lot that's already been said about this game that's pretty obvious but still bears repeating because of just how cool it is, especially when it comes to the dramatic leap in scope that this had when compared to its NES counterparts. With that said, one of the biggest things that I kept thinking about throughout my experience with this is the fact that the way the concept of linearity has been made to sound inherently negative, especially in games that lean into exploration, has made discourse a bit more cut and dry in a lot of areas in ways I'm personally not especially fond of. It ties back into Link to the Past with the way that the game is one that by all accounts acts as if it would feel like a stylistic step away from the first game with its stronger emphasis on concrete story and a more rigid order you need to tackle challenges seeming like it'd detract from the total freedom that the original focused on, but it honestly doesn't. This same feeling is applied to basically everything else this has to offer as well, with the various shifts into more direct ways to guide the player and present ideas almost exclusively contributing to a more well rounded, yet still bold experience.
The big way in which this game feels far closer to what the original was doing than I expected is with the way the separation between the overworld and dungeons is handled. While it's true that the way the player needs to approach the dungeons is basically set in stone and outright told to the player through the map they have, the same cannot be said about the way you're expected to traverse the overworld, and this right here is what allows the game to retain a strong sense of exploration. There's a pretty huge portion of the overworld that you're almost immediately able to explore, and this time around there feels like an even greater reason to do so thanks to the densely packed mountains of secrets and cool little setpieces that you can interact with. In a lot of ways I feel like this manages to even do a better job at encouraging the player to get to know the world they've been placed in than the original due to the way that certain areas are gated off by various means that they'll be able to access later, not just giving a reason to return to a lot of locations multiple times, but rewarding those who put the world of Hyrule under closer scrutiny as they're traversing it. This helps solve one problem with the original game's approach where there was a somewhat impersonal atmosphere to most of it as a lot of screens felt almost exclusively just like another way to get from point A to point B.
This becomes even more vital once the 2nd half of the game begins and the dark world opens up, where the goal becomes learning to understand the relationship between these two worlds and how they'll interact with you switching between them. This ultimately results in turning the entire way that you approach moving around this world as a puzzle in its own right and further facilitates a deeper understanding of the most minute details of everything, where by the end of the game you're almost certain to be intensely familiar with both sides of the world and still end up missing a few things because of how well hidden some of the collectibles are. With that said, the way that you're forced to discover so much of this on your own without any major prompting unless you go out of your way to talk to the fortune teller is what ultimately still allows this to all feel so open despite nudging you in the right direction far more often.
On the other side of things, the linearity of the dungeons is one of the game's most valuable assets with the way that the game is paced practically perfectly in regards to having a ramping sense of difficulty and complexity. The game is only able to feel as smooth as it does thanks to this, as you'll often be combining concepts and item usages you learned hours ago in new settings on top of playing around with whatever new gear you picked up along the way, all with combat scenarios that become increasingly hectic and punishing that are bested thanks to the ever-increasing arsenal you pick up along the way. The progression just feels absolutely spot on, and the fact that this game was still decently action oriented unlike the later games that would often take more of a puzzle approach to most situations at hand leads a greater sense of variety that doesn't solely rely on the item you just picked up to succeed. As a result, the boss fights and dungeon layouts end up being pretty varied, and while it sometimes leads to mild travesties like the Moldorm fight, you also end up getting some insanely cool stuff happening, such as the entire skull woods dungeon or the Trinexx fight.
The story mostly being kept in the background was also a cool choice that I appreciate here, with a lot of it being explained through short lore dumps after you accomplish certain goals before moving onwards, keeping this strange sense of isolation intact while being able to convey a sense of narrative as well. This combined with the hostile nature of the dark world encroaching on the world of light ends up providing some very solid context and drive for you to want to take down Ganon too. Not everything works especially well unfortunately, especially with sword hit detection feeling wonky and there being some moments that really could've been conveyed with more clarity, which stop this from being an all time favourite, but in the grand scheme of things they feel minor enough to stop it from affecting things too egregiously either, Everything about the way the game handles its more conventional and accessible aspects as a means to elevate the core experience while only slightly shifting things along is a big part of the genius that brings to the table, and I feel like it's an element that deserves more recognition considering it was able to do all this while also being such an ambitious step forward in basically every category.
The big way in which this game feels far closer to what the original was doing than I expected is with the way the separation between the overworld and dungeons is handled. While it's true that the way the player needs to approach the dungeons is basically set in stone and outright told to the player through the map they have, the same cannot be said about the way you're expected to traverse the overworld, and this right here is what allows the game to retain a strong sense of exploration. There's a pretty huge portion of the overworld that you're almost immediately able to explore, and this time around there feels like an even greater reason to do so thanks to the densely packed mountains of secrets and cool little setpieces that you can interact with. In a lot of ways I feel like this manages to even do a better job at encouraging the player to get to know the world they've been placed in than the original due to the way that certain areas are gated off by various means that they'll be able to access later, not just giving a reason to return to a lot of locations multiple times, but rewarding those who put the world of Hyrule under closer scrutiny as they're traversing it. This helps solve one problem with the original game's approach where there was a somewhat impersonal atmosphere to most of it as a lot of screens felt almost exclusively just like another way to get from point A to point B.
This becomes even more vital once the 2nd half of the game begins and the dark world opens up, where the goal becomes learning to understand the relationship between these two worlds and how they'll interact with you switching between them. This ultimately results in turning the entire way that you approach moving around this world as a puzzle in its own right and further facilitates a deeper understanding of the most minute details of everything, where by the end of the game you're almost certain to be intensely familiar with both sides of the world and still end up missing a few things because of how well hidden some of the collectibles are. With that said, the way that you're forced to discover so much of this on your own without any major prompting unless you go out of your way to talk to the fortune teller is what ultimately still allows this to all feel so open despite nudging you in the right direction far more often.
On the other side of things, the linearity of the dungeons is one of the game's most valuable assets with the way that the game is paced practically perfectly in regards to having a ramping sense of difficulty and complexity. The game is only able to feel as smooth as it does thanks to this, as you'll often be combining concepts and item usages you learned hours ago in new settings on top of playing around with whatever new gear you picked up along the way, all with combat scenarios that become increasingly hectic and punishing that are bested thanks to the ever-increasing arsenal you pick up along the way. The progression just feels absolutely spot on, and the fact that this game was still decently action oriented unlike the later games that would often take more of a puzzle approach to most situations at hand leads a greater sense of variety that doesn't solely rely on the item you just picked up to succeed. As a result, the boss fights and dungeon layouts end up being pretty varied, and while it sometimes leads to mild travesties like the Moldorm fight, you also end up getting some insanely cool stuff happening, such as the entire skull woods dungeon or the Trinexx fight.
The story mostly being kept in the background was also a cool choice that I appreciate here, with a lot of it being explained through short lore dumps after you accomplish certain goals before moving onwards, keeping this strange sense of isolation intact while being able to convey a sense of narrative as well. This combined with the hostile nature of the dark world encroaching on the world of light ends up providing some very solid context and drive for you to want to take down Ganon too. Not everything works especially well unfortunately, especially with sword hit detection feeling wonky and there being some moments that really could've been conveyed with more clarity, which stop this from being an all time favourite, but in the grand scheme of things they feel minor enough to stop it from affecting things too egregiously either, Everything about the way the game handles its more conventional and accessible aspects as a means to elevate the core experience while only slightly shifting things along is a big part of the genius that brings to the table, and I feel like it's an element that deserves more recognition considering it was able to do all this while also being such an ambitious step forward in basically every category.