Skyward Sword is in a weird spot for The Legend of Zelda series. It was seen as the catalyst for series needing to change. Even though it is very representative of the old Zelda formula, the people who dislike the new formula still don't really look on it with a lot of reverence. I never disliked this game for the most part but Tears of the Kingdom did make me appreciate it more. The best part of of that game were the build up to the dungeons and Skyward Sword is literally all that. Then you get to the dungeons and they're all pretty damn good.
Puzzles are king in Skyward Sword and I really do like that aspect. It's more lock and key puzzling rather than actual brain twisters but I enjoy those types of puzzles. As soon as you're past the boring tutorial is the Sky and down to the surface world, you're constantly working through these types of puzzles whether that be figuring out how the navigate the environments, finding hidden items and using new items to access new areas. In some ways, it can be a bit exhausting but it's the type of gameplay I like in Zelda. This is just on the way to dungeons. When it comes to the dungeons, it is probably the best set in at least the 3D games. Their designs are really solid and although it follows some of the familiar element patterns seen in previous games, they are very fun to explore. The ship dungeon is fairly novel. The items you get aren't unique for the series but it is a good set that leaves plenty of room for puzzles and navigation.
The parts in between the dungeons can start to feel repetitive after a while. It's a valid complaint but more often than not, I actually do enjoy how the game reuses areas. I like tear collecting segments as it rewards your knowledge of the environment and it can be pretty tense when you're being chased. Entering the volcano area to have your items taken away and it turn into a stealth segment to get them all back was pretty cool. Drowning the forest area in water wasn't that interesting but it did offer a new way to look at the area. You do often unlock new areas of these maps each time you're sent back so it's not a total recycle. That said, there is undoubtedly some bad filler involved. They reuse a boss fight four time that wasn't good the first time. You're sometimes sent on a fetch quest to a previous area that offers nothing new from a gameplay perspective that really just feels like it was there to pad runtime. Returning to a dungeon to get some water felt a little novel because I don't think I've ever returned to a completed dungeon in a Zelda game (Phantom Hourglass being an exception) but it does feel very pointless.
The main surfaces areas and dungeons are constrained by design but there is an overworld. It is the Sky and it is bad. Flying doesn't feel great for a start but there is nothing interesting there. Skyloft as a hub town is pretty decent with a lot of personality and a detailed side quest chain. Outside of that, it's just boring. The Great Sea may have felt pretty empty but they gave the islands you could find their own character and were interesting to come across. The Sky is filled with tiny, flat rocks. There are these cubes you find on the surface that unlock a chest in the sky. This is a nice way to connect the surface and the sky but there is often nothing to reaching these chests. They are usually just on one of those flat rocks with nothing else. A puzzle or even just something that would make you use one of items like you would see in Wind Waker's islands are non-existent with a couple of exceptions.
The motion controls definitely annoyed a lot of people back on the Wii and they are optional for the Switch remaster. I actually do enjoy motion controls so I used them exclusively. Sword combat, aiming and rolling bombs are more fun to me with motion. That said, I wish I could decide what elements to use with motion or analog as moving the Joy-Con around to fly feels pretty bad. I didn't use the analog controls so I don't know how they feel but I did really enjoy diving back into motion controls which I haven't really done since the Wii days. The combat can get a bit annoying with how quickly enemies can block but it can be fun to find the windows to attack. The motion controls also give the items a unique feel.
Although I have a lot of complaints, I do enjoy this game and probably liked it more in this remaster. As a remaster, it doesn't add a whole lot. The character models look a lot better but they don't mesh all that well with the environments that retain the impressionist artyle of the original. There are some quality of life additions like Fi not constantly butting in every 10 seconds and some small changes that make the game move a bit quicker. I don't think Zelda needs to return to this formula because of the love and success for the new games but me returning to it does remind me of what I love about the series. Skyward Sword has problems but nothing else really hits me like a classic 3D Zelda does.
Puzzles are king in Skyward Sword and I really do like that aspect. It's more lock and key puzzling rather than actual brain twisters but I enjoy those types of puzzles. As soon as you're past the boring tutorial is the Sky and down to the surface world, you're constantly working through these types of puzzles whether that be figuring out how the navigate the environments, finding hidden items and using new items to access new areas. In some ways, it can be a bit exhausting but it's the type of gameplay I like in Zelda. This is just on the way to dungeons. When it comes to the dungeons, it is probably the best set in at least the 3D games. Their designs are really solid and although it follows some of the familiar element patterns seen in previous games, they are very fun to explore. The ship dungeon is fairly novel. The items you get aren't unique for the series but it is a good set that leaves plenty of room for puzzles and navigation.
The parts in between the dungeons can start to feel repetitive after a while. It's a valid complaint but more often than not, I actually do enjoy how the game reuses areas. I like tear collecting segments as it rewards your knowledge of the environment and it can be pretty tense when you're being chased. Entering the volcano area to have your items taken away and it turn into a stealth segment to get them all back was pretty cool. Drowning the forest area in water wasn't that interesting but it did offer a new way to look at the area. You do often unlock new areas of these maps each time you're sent back so it's not a total recycle. That said, there is undoubtedly some bad filler involved. They reuse a boss fight four time that wasn't good the first time. You're sometimes sent on a fetch quest to a previous area that offers nothing new from a gameplay perspective that really just feels like it was there to pad runtime. Returning to a dungeon to get some water felt a little novel because I don't think I've ever returned to a completed dungeon in a Zelda game (Phantom Hourglass being an exception) but it does feel very pointless.
The main surfaces areas and dungeons are constrained by design but there is an overworld. It is the Sky and it is bad. Flying doesn't feel great for a start but there is nothing interesting there. Skyloft as a hub town is pretty decent with a lot of personality and a detailed side quest chain. Outside of that, it's just boring. The Great Sea may have felt pretty empty but they gave the islands you could find their own character and were interesting to come across. The Sky is filled with tiny, flat rocks. There are these cubes you find on the surface that unlock a chest in the sky. This is a nice way to connect the surface and the sky but there is often nothing to reaching these chests. They are usually just on one of those flat rocks with nothing else. A puzzle or even just something that would make you use one of items like you would see in Wind Waker's islands are non-existent with a couple of exceptions.
The motion controls definitely annoyed a lot of people back on the Wii and they are optional for the Switch remaster. I actually do enjoy motion controls so I used them exclusively. Sword combat, aiming and rolling bombs are more fun to me with motion. That said, I wish I could decide what elements to use with motion or analog as moving the Joy-Con around to fly feels pretty bad. I didn't use the analog controls so I don't know how they feel but I did really enjoy diving back into motion controls which I haven't really done since the Wii days. The combat can get a bit annoying with how quickly enemies can block but it can be fun to find the windows to attack. The motion controls also give the items a unique feel.
Although I have a lot of complaints, I do enjoy this game and probably liked it more in this remaster. As a remaster, it doesn't add a whole lot. The character models look a lot better but they don't mesh all that well with the environments that retain the impressionist artyle of the original. There are some quality of life additions like Fi not constantly butting in every 10 seconds and some small changes that make the game move a bit quicker. I don't think Zelda needs to return to this formula because of the love and success for the new games but me returning to it does remind me of what I love about the series. Skyward Sword has problems but nothing else really hits me like a classic 3D Zelda does.