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A Legendary game

I do remember well the original The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Nintendo 64 back in the 90s. It was the very first game that gave me a sense of true adventure on a larger scale. The big and open Hyrule Field, Hyrule Castle, Kakariko Village, Death Mountain, Zora’s Domain… that was just a part of the diverse locations that the game had. Back in the 90s on a home console that was a feat to have such a large game. The game was over 25 hours long and it was absolutely replayable. I did replay it so many times that it kinda lost its magic. It took me years to play it again, but this time on Nintendo 3DS, when it got a little remake for the handheld. I think it has been around 15 years since I have experienced Ocarina of Time in any version. What Nintendo have done with some The Legend of Zelda games recently is to remake them, the newest being Skyward Sword and Link’s Awakening. Out of these two I had only played the Link’s Awakening a couple of times.

Without further ado, Ocarina of Time remake is out now and here is my honest review of it.

Plot

Ocarina of Time is set in the fictional Kingdom of Hyrule, ruled by Princess Zelda. Hyrule is home to a variety of inhabitants, broadly categorized into different races such as Hylians, Zoras, Gorons, and so on. Link, the game’s protagonist, is a young Kokiri dweller of the forest. The Kokiri are ancient, child-like forest spirits who never grow into adults, and each is paired with a guardian fairy. For some reason, however, Link lacks a fairy of his own—until one day, he is awakened by a fairy named Navi, who pleads for his help. The Great Deku Tree, guardian of the Kokiri forest, senses the approaching evil Ganondorf and realises that Link’s destiny is about to unfold. He sends Navi through the forest to find Link’s home and rouse him from his slumber. Soon, Link is on his way to meet the Deku Tree, who reveals the looming threat to Hyrule—a threat that only Link can prevent.

The story of Ocarina of Time is remarkably comprehensive. From Link’s adventures across the vast lands of Hyrule to the unique characters he encounters, the puzzles he must solve, the temples he must navigate, and the bosses he must defeat—the game constantly offers something new in terms of narrative.

Gameplay, controls, audio and visuals

The gameplay in Ocarina of Time is third person action-adventure oriented. Players control Link who embark on a big adventure to save the Hyrule from the evil Ganondorf. First the gameplay contains players to play with child Link and after maybe one-third way of the game they can warp seven years to the future and deal with the world from a new perspective. The world has changed in many ways and Link also has new moves and weapons that he couldn’t have as a child. This opens up new areas and some areas must be re-visited now that Link is more able to do things there—not forgetting that players must at times to travel back in time to do tasks that adult Link cannot do. The time travel mechanic is available for players to use freely at the Temple of Time after certain point of the game.

There are tons of temples to go through; as an adult and child Link. I was dreading the universally hated water temple, as I found it in the original to be utterly confusing, but it wasn’t as bad as I remembered. But there were a couple of times I had to check online walkthroughs as I got stuck on a few temples. With some free time I did do side quests, which some are a tad tedious to do, but this is one of those games that I’d still love to play to 100% completion.

Alongside the plethora of weapons, another crucial tool is the ocarina. Players perform simple tunes to communicate with the world. Such as change the day-night time, warp to places, call for the horse, Epona, or make even rain to come.

Combat is kept very much as the original but, of course, it feels much more fluid and snappier. If I remember correctly the original version was like 20 fps which immediately makes everything so much jankier. But that was one of the charms of the 90s. Another new addition is the Hall of Fallen Foes where players can check enemy models and rematch bosses, which I highly appreciate as the boss battles are the best part of the game. They are innovative and fun to beat, even though kinda short. So now I don’t have to always play the game through to enjoy them.

Controls are very much the same as in the original 1998 game, but they are modernised. I know it doesn’t sound much but the first big revamps are ability to manually jump, free camera move and dashing. For example in the original players could only jump automatically by running over an edge.

Ocaria of Time is voice acted, but not fully so. There are some cutscenes that are voice acted but then it soon changes to conversations that are not. I did wonder why is that until I realised that Link doesn’t talk, or at least he is never voice acted in games. So he talks and communictaes with the other characters but it’s just not voice acted. Other thing what I want to mention is that the game is very musical. Music has a big part of the game.

Visually the game looked good and sharp, and it did run smoothly 60fps this time around. The characters had this somewhat realistic waxy doll-look to them and the environments had more realistic vibes. It was interesting combination but it did work.

Verdict

They should make more these types of remakes because this was unputdownable and perfection. There’s not much anything negative I can say about Ocarina of Time, other than some little nitpicking which really doesn’t matter in the big picture. I played this through in about 18 hours and it takes around 27 hours to fully complete it. If you haven’t played Ocarina of Time before, this is the best time to jump into this unforgettable adventure.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is only available on Nintendo Switch 2.

SCORE:

5/5

“Alongside the plethora of weapons, another crucial tool is the ocarina. Players perform simple tunes to communicate with the world.”

RELEASE DATE: November 5, 2026
GENRE: Adventure
DEVELOPER: Nintendo EPD
PUBLISHER: Nintendo
PLATFORMS: Nintendo Switch 2

 

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