This game was never going to be exactly my thing. But I must acknowledge it succeeds at everything it is trying to be.
The fact that the overworld is a retread of Link To The Past's, the fact that dungeons are designed around the bare minimum items you could have to enter, the fact that it's on the whole just aiming to be a simple breezy good time adventure, all of this put a ceiling on how much I could enjoy this. Had a friend not got a second-hand 3DS he was willing to loan me in exchange for me buying this game, I would have happily gone on without ever touching it, confident it would just not wow me. But there's a lot more going on here than just its headliner tweaks on the Zelda formula. What I found was maybe the most polished, smoothly-executed, relentlessly fun entry in the series.
By way of example, I'll say that I never once had to look at a guide and my natural gathering of rupees over the game left me with literally the exact amount to permanently purchase all my items right before I went into the final dungeon (excluding Lorule Castle). Everything feels perfectly balanced and paced, all its systems in synchronicity at both the micro and macro level.∆ Having jettisoned anything that might interrupt or distract you from forward progress, what's left is a lean cut of prime Zelda with basically none of the fat/bone/gristle fans had been complaining about upon its release.
This is easily the best-controlling 2D entry, and while I like the visual style slightly less than the Link's Awakening remake it shocked me multiple times with how a dungeon unfolded or certain effects hit. I had spent a decade assuming the 3D in the 3DS was coming out of the screen; that it was the exact opposite impressed me so much more, playing as much as I could with it on.
Thing is, it's just all a bit too smooth. The characters are charming and endearing but merited nothing deeper. The world is so good at steering you onto something new and giving you means to speed along that I never felt a desire to hang out and take in a space (again, being a retread of LttP harms it on this front). When it dawned on me at the end that I never had to look at a guide, I felt mixed emotions; if you're never stumped, you're also never elated to have solved something.
Like Wind Waker before it, I think Link Between Worlds is a beautiful introductory Zelda; straightforward, charming, just enough of the formula that a player can discover what they like best of it, just enough unique features to keep you wondering what else it has to offer. Playing it as someone experienced with the series, I appreciate everything described above plus the many subtle fixes it brought (quick item selection, collectibles being linked to useful item upgrades, fast travel is an adorable witch, etc.), but I must admit I have never liked filet mignon best.
∆ The one exception is it's fairly easy to circumvent the item loss on death mechanic through bottled fairies. They are reduced in how much HP they recover compared to most games, but it's very easy to collect multiple bottles and then refill on fairies with no rupee cost after each dungeon.
The fact that the overworld is a retread of Link To The Past's, the fact that dungeons are designed around the bare minimum items you could have to enter, the fact that it's on the whole just aiming to be a simple breezy good time adventure, all of this put a ceiling on how much I could enjoy this. Had a friend not got a second-hand 3DS he was willing to loan me in exchange for me buying this game, I would have happily gone on without ever touching it, confident it would just not wow me. But there's a lot more going on here than just its headliner tweaks on the Zelda formula. What I found was maybe the most polished, smoothly-executed, relentlessly fun entry in the series.
By way of example, I'll say that I never once had to look at a guide and my natural gathering of rupees over the game left me with literally the exact amount to permanently purchase all my items right before I went into the final dungeon (excluding Lorule Castle). Everything feels perfectly balanced and paced, all its systems in synchronicity at both the micro and macro level.∆ Having jettisoned anything that might interrupt or distract you from forward progress, what's left is a lean cut of prime Zelda with basically none of the fat/bone/gristle fans had been complaining about upon its release.
This is easily the best-controlling 2D entry, and while I like the visual style slightly less than the Link's Awakening remake it shocked me multiple times with how a dungeon unfolded or certain effects hit. I had spent a decade assuming the 3D in the 3DS was coming out of the screen; that it was the exact opposite impressed me so much more, playing as much as I could with it on.
Thing is, it's just all a bit too smooth. The characters are charming and endearing but merited nothing deeper. The world is so good at steering you onto something new and giving you means to speed along that I never felt a desire to hang out and take in a space (again, being a retread of LttP harms it on this front). When it dawned on me at the end that I never had to look at a guide, I felt mixed emotions; if you're never stumped, you're also never elated to have solved something.
Like Wind Waker before it, I think Link Between Worlds is a beautiful introductory Zelda; straightforward, charming, just enough of the formula that a player can discover what they like best of it, just enough unique features to keep you wondering what else it has to offer. Playing it as someone experienced with the series, I appreciate everything described above plus the many subtle fixes it brought (quick item selection, collectibles being linked to useful item upgrades, fast travel is an adorable witch, etc.), but I must admit I have never liked filet mignon best.
∆ The one exception is it's fairly easy to circumvent the item loss on death mechanic through bottled fairies. They are reduced in how much HP they recover compared to most games, but it's very easy to collect multiple bottles and then refill on fairies with no rupee cost after each dungeon.