In the adventure game arena, The Legend of Zelda series stands out for having some of the most exciting and interesting games in the genre. The recent release of Skyward Sword HD is no exception, as it takes players on yet another sweeping journey through Hyrule.
One of the many and varied aspects that go into making a game great is the locales and settings. Skyward Sword stands out with some of the best dungeon designs in the series, and with the re-release, gamers get to either revisit them, or experience them for the first time.. Here are all of the dungeons in Skyward Sword HD, ranked.
7 Skyview Temple
Skyview Temple is an absolutely wonderful first dungeon for the game. It hits the perfect balance of being engaging, but not too challenging. The dungeon features a solid aesthetic with its great mix of forested areas with curled tree branches, glowing mushrooms, and swingable vines. It also displays ruins looking like they belonged to an ancient civilization.
Skyview features some interesting mechanics, such as eye switches that Link activates by making them dizzy with his sword. The miniboss to get to the dungeon item is also a lot of fun. This game has a great take on the Stalfos enemy that fans have seen so many times in the series' past, and it's a great progression of the game's combat.
Finally, there's the boss, Ghirahim. This is, hands down, the best first boss in the entire series. Between Ghirahim's personality, design, battle theme, and well-designed fight, it's a real treat.
6 Earth Temple
The Earth Temple has a spectacular aesthetic. It uses a lot of vibrant greens and blues to contrast with the fiery reds and oranges players see throughout most of it, and it blends incredibly well. The dungeon's architecture leans into this as well, with the Far Eastern-inspired look, complete with dragon statues, reptilian scales for flooring, and ruined structures.
Navigation in the Earth Temple provides plenty of fun. The player must pay close attention to the map to find their way, and Link rolls through magma on a detached eye from one of the dragon statues to work his way around.
5 Fire Sanctuary
The Fire Sanctuary aesthetic is fantastic, and the dungeon has a great combination of outdoor and indoor areas. The dungeon is filled with vibrant colors and architecture that really pops.
There are a lot of interesting mechanics in this one. Link must skewer water-filled plants on his sword and fling them at magma to harden them into stable platforms. The player also has to change the direction and strength of the magma flow, to further use these platforms to their advantage.
But by far the most interesting aspect of this dungeon is its item, the Mogma Mitts. These unlock an entirely new mechanic of the game quite late in the plot, which is impressive. Link has to use them to navigate 2D underground caverns, which have their own set of rules. This adds great variety to not just the dungeon, but the game as a whole.
4 Ancient Cistern
The Ancient Cistern is magnificent in every sense of the word. The top half of the dungeon is a gorgeous Buddhist-inspired paradise with bright colors, clean water, and big lily pads. The bottom half, meanwhile, is nightmarish in the best way possible. The water becomes poisonous, the architecture becomes more cavernous and deteriorated, and colors become significantly duller. The contrast between these two halves is staggering, giving this dungeon an excellent sense of theme.
The miniboss is a stronger Stalfos much like the one from Skyview Temple, with 4 arms and weapons as opposed to only 2, making the battle a lot more interesting. The Ancient Cistern finishes with Koloktos, a boss that ranks among the all-time best in the Zelda series.
3 Lanayru Mining Facility
The Lanayru Mining Facility is probably the best-looking dungeon in the game, as it uses the game's Timeshift Stone mechanic to constantly switch between ancient and modern looks. In the present, the rooms are dull, motionless, and look extremely old; meanwhile in the past, the colors are incredibly bright and the textures become smooth and clean, making it look even better.
The navigation in this dungeon is absolutely great. Using the Timeshift Stones in specific rooms to change how they function is an interesting and fun mechanic. It makes this dungeon both look and play completely differently in the two time periods.
2 Sandship
The Sandship bleeds creativity. The aesthetic has a lot in common with the Lanayru Mining Facility, but with its own twist. Due to being a ship, the dungeon is a lot more nautical, featuring things one would normally see on a ship, like lifeboats, engines, and helms. The colors reflect this too, with a lot more blue thrown in.
It also has the Timeshift Stone mechanic, but instead of working in only specific rooms, the one Timeshift Stone in this dungeon affects the entire ship. This changes how the player interacts with everything present.
Scervo serves as the miniboss, and it's a trip of a fight that tekes place on a long narrow plank. Link tries to drive Scervo backward and off the end while not getting forced backward into spikes himself. Scervo also has in-game context, being the very person who took the Sandship from Skipper all those years ago. The ship finishes with the boss, Tentalus. The fight has great build-up, makes good use of the Skyward Strikes, and features different phases that are distinct from one another.
1 Sky Keep
This is quite possibly the most interesting dungeon in the entire Legend of Zelda series. Sky Keep is the epitome of diversity, combining all of the different themes from the previous dungeons into one. Having at least one room themed after each of the previous dungeons, it allows all of the game's mechanics to come together into one. It even takes some elements from other parts of the game such as the Pirate Stronghold and the Great Tree.
The dungeon's main mechanic is rearranging the rooms via sliding puzzles. This makes Sky Keep a fully interactive dungeon, and an endlessly fascinating one. The player can progress through the dungeon in any way they choose, because they arrange the layout as they go.