…and it reminded me why I love Zelda.

Playing The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening remake for the Nintendo Switch was an absolute blast! After a week of being so obsessed with this game I practically couldn’t put my Switch down, I finally finished my first ever play through of this Legend of Zelda classic. I had bought the game about a year ago (leading up to Echoes of Wisdom’s release I think), but I had never actually gotten around to playing it. When I realized that the game had updates to run better on the Switch 2, though, it finally pushed me to make the wonderful decision to revisit this game. Now I only wish I had played it sooner, as I was seriously missing out.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

The biggest reason I hadn’t finished Link’s Awakening before was that, especially in the first hour or so of gameplay, the game’s instructions on where to go aren’t exactly clear. Similar to many of the Zelda games from that era, the main way this game directs you is through long monologues given by an owl. This was an issue for me because I find that owl very annoying, so I often clicked through the owl’s dialogue without actually reading it. I found myself stopping by the telephone booth for hints way more frequently than I’d like to admit. Even those hints were vague, and there were a few times I had to turn to google. Like how am I supposed to know that I have to go talk to a witch and have her make me powder out of a mushroom to throw at a racoon who is blocking my way to a chest that I didn’t even know about? Looking back, if I had the patience to explore for a while, there would have been enough clues for me to figure that out. In a lot of ways, I think it’s cool that the game encourages you to solve puzzles and discover things for yourself. It just gets a little tiresome when I need to trade my Yoshi doll up to a magnifying glass, and I have no clue who to give the broom to.

The confusing parts were definitely worth getting through, though, because this game is just so fun to play. Koholint Island truly feels like one giant puzzle to be solved, and it’s awesome. I guess I’m biased because I’m a big fan of puzzle games, but I love how the overworld is so intricately laid out. The map itself isn’t really that big, but it feels huge because it’s so tightly packed with obstacles and secrets to uncover. There are certain areas of the map that you need specific items to access (yes, this game has real Zelda items, it’s fantastic), which would seem annoying to some, but I think it keeps the game interesting. Finding Animal Village for the first time, for instance, was very interesting (and that isn’t even the goofiest thing about this game). I also had so much fun traversing through this game’s dungeons, which were just as well thought out as the overworld. I’ll admit, the boss fights were on the easier side, but getting to the bosses is hard enough that it makes up for it. This game’s world just feels so alive, and it makes exploring it so immersive and, well, fun!

The game’s story was also surprisingly deep. I’m not normally a fan of “it was all a dream” endings, but this game handled it really well. It’s so bittersweet when you finish the game because, while you know you have to wake the Wind Fish, it’s sad to see this island you’ve become so attached to disappear. I went into this game knowing the general story, but it was different watching it play out for myself. Just as a side note, apparently there’s a secret ending that you only can get if you don’t die at all, which is crazy because this game is hard. Link’s Awakening is not the most story-driven game I’ve played, but the story made this already entertaining game come to life. That being said, I will never understand why the Wind Fish would willingly dream about that insufferable owl.

I think Grezzo did a fantastic job remaking this game! The updated soundtrack sounds absolutely amazing, the graphics are so clean, and the art style is so cute. They also added specific buttons for the sword, the shield, and the Pegasus Boots, which reduces the menu time switching between items and makes the gameplay a lot smoother. The biggest new feature added is the Dampe’s dungeon maker, which is pretty cool, although I didn’t spend that much time playing around with it.

There’s something so magical about Zelda games, and Link’s Awakening is no exception. I really enjoyed sitting in my bedroom, cuddled up with pillows and blankets, navigating through Koholint’s dungeons. There were frustrating parts for sure, and I died just under thirty times, but when I finished the game, I felt like I had really gone on an adventure, and it’s so refreshing to play a game like that. This game just has so much personality and such a great atmoshpere! From the world and dungeons to the characters and the soundtrack, this game is everything you could want from a 2D Zelda game. At the end of the game, the Wind Fish tells Link “SOMEDAY, THOU MAY RECALL THIS ISLAND; THAT MEMORY MAKES THE DREAM WORLD REAL.” I like to think that through writing this article, I’m helping the memory of Link’s Awakening live on.

9.5/10