Games
The Countdown to Zelda: TOTK – A Link Between Worlds (2013)
There is very little left to enjoy The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which will go on sale on May 12, and as we told you yesterday in our impressions, it looks spectacular. To make the wait more bearable, Every day from now until its release we are going to review a game from the saga, from the most recent to the oldest. Today we are going to remember a great Zelda Original for 3DS.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (2013)
After a few years the saga go back to your 2D gameplay and he also did it in the form of spiritual sequel to the mythical A Link to the Pastthe dear Zelda of Super Nintendo, so the most veteran fans of the saga were in luck, being able to return to that unforgettable Hyrule, now transferred to polygonal graphics.
But despite such classical roots, this Zelda too innovated in various aspectsone of the most interesting in its more open structureleaving the player tackle the dungeons in the order you wantjust like in the first Zelda from NES. Something that was appreciated after several fairly linear installments, and we don’t know if perhaps the germ was in this freedom, or at least a declaration of intent, of what we would see four years later in Breath of the Wild and your complete freedom.
renting the objects
One of its most original characteristics is that on this occasion they opted for a peculiar way to get weapons and tools: renting them. At the beginning of the adventure we meet Ravio, a vendor who sets up shop in Link’s house, and who lends us the objects for a number of rupees: boomerang, bow, bombs, hammer, hook, wands of fire and ice, tornado and sand staffs, etc. , and this allowed us to face the dungeons in the order we wanted. In the end we could also buy the items for quite a large sum, but this was not a problem since getting abundant rupees was quite easy.
This structure so freewhich gave an enormous freshness to the game, it ended up turning a little against himgiven that affected the difficulty curveoffering most dungeons a very similar challenge, unlike in the Zelda linear in which the difficulty was increasing little by little. Despite this, we were before a Zelda *text muted*ishly entertaining (well, and which one isn’t…), and it was so addicting that you ran the risk of finishing it in one sitting, in about 12-15 hours that left an unbeatable taste in your mouth.
traveling between two worlds
In addition to its open structure and the rental of objects, another of the peculiarities of A Link Between Worlds was a new ability that allowed us become a drawing and be able to get inside the wallswhich starred puzzles and very ingenious situationsand that visually it was very cool, being able to appreciate the three-dimensionality of the scenes.
This ability also allowed us to travel through dimensional rifts between two worldsthat of Hyrule, the “normal”, the homeland of Link and Princess Zelda, and that of Lorule, the dark one, where we will meet Princess Hilda, a mixture of places identical to the Dark World of A Link to the Past and other originals, with tougher enemies.
One of the best 3D effects on the console
Few titles knew how to take great advantage of the defining characteristic of this console, the 3D effectbut A Link Between Worlds was one of them, with great depth, subtly affecting the gameplay, in a Zelda that played a lot with verticality, and all in addition to impeccable 60fps. A really nice gameand took a lot out of the Nintendo 3DS hardware.
And as the saga has accustomed us, all seasoned with a beautiful soundtrackrecovering the classic themes of A Link to the Past in an orchestrated version, giving them a good facelift, sounding better than ever, and adding new melodies that were also up to par.
A very round Zelda
As I write these words and I was remembering the game, they made me want to enjoy again The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, a delight in its most classic playable aspect, a game to which if you had to put a fault is that it was so good that you devoured it, it seemed that it had lasted a breath. Maybe it’s a good time to play it again and make the wait more bearable until Tears of the Kingdom.
Now that the series is more ambitious than ever in terms of its scale, with a Esports Extrasntic open world and unlimited freedom, you do not want that after Tears of the Kingdom would they offer us an original 2D game again? After how good they were remake of Link’s AwakeningIt would be a great idea.
Below you can consult the previous articles of our countdown until Tears of the Kingdom:
