With the sequel to Breath of the Wild coming sometime in 2022, next month's The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD will have to hold fans over until then. This remaster of the franchise's black sheep, 2011's Skyward Sword, reportedly boasts a litany of enhancements planning to make the game more accessible than ever before.
Skyward Sword serves a unique position within The Legend of Zelda continuity. Story-wise, Skyward Sword is the earliest game in the Zelda timeline, showing the founding of Hyrule and the first incarnations of Link and Zelda. However, many fans ultimately ended up skipping on Skyward Sword, due to its emphasis on motion controls. For some people, the one-to-one swordplay worked great, creating an immersive experience unlike any Zelda game prior—for the majority though, the motion controls did not consistently work, leading to more headaches than actual playthroughs.
Fortunately, according to the game's website, Skyward Sword HD is going to address this problem with the original and then some. Among the features Nintendo lists are:
- Enhanced performance
- Improved motion controls with the Joy-Con controllers
- All-new button controls, allowing you to choose your style of play
- Various quality-of-life enhancements, including refinements to player tutorials and general guidance throughout the adventure
While some of these improvements are still vague, and still may not address Skyward Sword's greatest flaw, the most explicit addition here is certainly a welcome one: the ability to play the game without motion controls. By mapping sword controls to the right thumb-stick, players will be able to precisely mimic the directional combat of Skyward Sword without fumbling over the motion controls.
Another improvement from this list worth investigating is the last one. Those who were fortunate enough to have a problem-less experience with the original gameplay-wise, undoubtedly they at least became frustrated with the constant hand-holding from Link's companion Fi. While Fi is the spirit of the Master Sword, she can be a nuisance who constantly stops gameplay to talk. A direct alternation of Fi's guidance would be extremely welcomed by veterans of the game and so that newcomers do not suffer.
Although these improvements are promising, there are still some troubling factors at play here, most notably, Skyward Sword HD locking features behind amiibo. By using the exclusive Zelda and Loftwing amiibo, players can fast-travel from anywhere on the map, a feature that will help mitigate the already tedious amounts of backtracking the game requires. Restricting this feature is unfair for fans of Skyward Sword and for people looking to try out the game. Hopefully, the fun to be had in Skyward Sword HD is enough to truly celebrate Zelda's 35th Anniversary.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD releases for Nintendo Switch on July 16, 2021.
Source: Nintendo UK