Link’s Awakening
A classic Legend of Zelda game gets reinvented for 2019.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was a big hit for Nintendo’s Switch console when it launched in 2017. Now its hero, Link, is returning in a new game... that’s actually quite old. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening was first released in 1993 for Nintendo’s Game Boy device. Now the company has remade it for the Switch, with better graphics and some zippy new features.
You play as Link, stranded by a shipwreck on Koholint Island, a mysterious place guarded by a sleeping creature called the Wind Fish. Your job is to find eight magic instruments that, when played together, will wake up the Wind Fish and allow you to escape.
Link’s Awakening isn’t quite as freeroaming as Breath of the Wild. It’s a far more structured adventure where you visit each section of the island in turn, talking to characters and battling through dungeons to find the instruments. It’s as much about puzzling as fighting, with switches to flick, blocks to rearrange, and locked doors with their keys scattered across the dungeons. Fighting is important too, though. Armed with a sword for swiping and a shield for blocking, you’ll face a host of monsters – some familiar from Breath of the Wild – as well as boss characters (powerful enemies usually at the end of a level or area).
Link’s Awakening’s puzzles can sometimes be hard to figure out: walkthroughs on websites such as GameFAQs can be handy if you get stuck. There’s a lot to love about this game. It might be 26 years old (ask your parents if they played it the first time around), but its remake feels fresh and fun to play in 2019.