A game about the fear of living up to expectations set on you long before you were even born and the reasons we continue to strive to exceed these expectations, even after we fail. We don't do it because we recognize it as our duty, we do it because we want to help the people who mean the most to us. A journey of self discovery told through a literal journey of discovery; the world is much vaster than we could possibly imagine and we should use this as an opportunity to learn and grow and change. Whilst we must live with the knowledge that hardship will return again and again, we must act in spite of this and continue on anyway.

Skyward Sword is also an incredible recontextualisation of classic 3D Zelda conventions to show not only the creation of the iconic symbols associated with the series (I can't explain to you how satisfying it is to forge the Master Sword yourself instead of it being hidden in a forest) but also the origins of Link and Zelda's relationship. It is so refreshing seeing the two interact beyond the 'princess and her knight' relationship they typically have and to see them share a genuine friendship. This is quite easily the best version of both Link and Zelda and it's not particularly close tbh. Maybe I'm overrating this because any game to show such overwhelming optimism for life would've won me over but it doesn't really matter in the end, I still love it