Facing this game is a dilemma for me. I’ve always been against the idea of using “aged” as a descriptor for a game, as all games age. As people are social-historical, so are the games they make. A game is aged as soon as it’s released; a product of its own context, and it’s on us to adapt to it, not on it to be able to stand the test of time (and culture).

Of course, there are games that require less effort to get into than other contemporaries; this art constantly builds upon itself and whilst some paths led to where we are today, others got forgotten with time, most with good reason. And the lack of familiarity leads to adapting requiring more work and you can see where that goes.

Now you must be wondering, where does A Link to the Past fit into this discussion? You’ve seen the score, surely it means that this game “aged” so badly it made me change my mind about the whole concept.

But it didn’t.

A Link to the Past is a butter-smooth, sex-machine of a SNES videogame. Save for a few weird dead spots in the sword’s attacks and unintuitive puzzles that require out-of-the-box thinking, it’s straight-up perfection; a game-changer.

But I still think it has “aged poorly”, however in a different, unique manner.

Even with how important and influential it was, A Link to the Past has been surpassed. We stand in a point in time when its importance and greatness have been overshadowed by the fact that its concepts have been done and redone in multiple ways since then, in different (like Ocarina of Time) or in the same but straight-up better (like A Link Between Worlds) ways.

I don’t think I can recommend this over any other Zelda game, except for 1. Hardcore fans that somehow have not played it yet or 2. People interested in the history of videogames, in this specific era of gaming, or anything analogous to that. As an exercise.

But when it comes to standing on its own? It’s very important, but I don’t think it has anything to say anymore. And that’s why it’s hard for me to analyze it properly: it games my system; it contradicts my own philosophies.

Maybe I’m wrong about this, but it would require someone way more passionate about it than me to figure it out. As it stands, what was once the most important Zelda game is now just another one.

Now this one I can get behind. Just a pure, unique and horrifying game to enjoy with friends. Even the downtime is fun, as you can watch them miserably and hilariously fail to accomplish anything while getting demolished by these eldritch abominations with just a shred of hope that they can get the loot to the ship. You would think they’d know better, but none of us do.

It does get stale, though. Maybe if I took it more seriously it would get a little more fun to play for hours, but it’s too ridiculous a game for that idea to even be suggested. For now it remains as a fun game to enjoy as a group before we inevitably boot up Overwatch and play until everyone collectively ragequits over how dogshit that game is and yet we still play it. Ad infinitum.

This one might seem like a “less is more” kind of indie metroidvania, being made by a one-man army and having this minimalistic art style in a game with zero dialogue and combat.

This is misleading; minimalistic Animal Well is not. It is a complex, deep game made with dedication, care and the utmost intricacy.

It is a masterpiece in the sense that it creates this layered environment that 1. Leaves the player with complete freedom over how to experiment with its tools in order to progress through its elaborate world; 2. That in turns rewards them by making them feel clever by solving seemingly hard puzzles by themselves; 3. Said puzzles have different levels of depth for different kind of players, and they all get something out of it.

Animal Well’s secrets have secrets. And its secrets’ secrets also have secrets. And even though that might pressure some, it is made in such a way that allows for you to play through it your own way and finish it seeing only what you want to see.

There’s the puzzles for those who feel satisfied by just playing through the game and reaching the end credits; there’s puzzles for those who really want to see what the game can offer, requiring thorough exploration and attention to detail; and then there’s puzzles for the obsessive maniacs that analyze every single atom that is present in the many different biomes and try to make sense of the most minute of details, engaging in this community-wide search that will probably take months or even years to see through.

I’m on that second category, but I did have to ask a friend (google) for some hints to get through some of the brick walls in my progress. It gets THAT complicated.

Even with that, reaching the end of it was considerably fun, and while I don’t plan to help the community on the search for REDACTED, I definitely will be there when they inevitably get to the bottom of it all.