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Breath of the Wild Spooky Themes in Zelda U

Ganondork

goo
Joined
Nov 12, 2010
If there is one thing I love in video games, it's spooky themes. Mario Kart 8's track, Twisted Mansion, is my favorite track in the game simply for the theme in it. Bloodborne has single handedly made me want a PlayStation 4 for the spooky themes that we've seen so far. The list goes on, with those kinds of themes being my favorite in every single game that has them.

So what about Zelda U? I was thinking how bright the art style is, and how good of a contrast that a spooky, darker region riddled with undead enemies, dark themes, and an atmosphere that anyone would call "Spooky" would provide. Haunted mansions, graveyards, and ghastly enemies would be designed with a brighter style, accentuating their grotesquely crafted designs.

So what do you guys think? Would you like spookier themed areas?
 

Maikeru

Piper of Time
Joined
Aug 11, 2011
Location
The Lost Woods
It's definitely fair to say that I love the spooky themes. Twisted Mansion is my favorite of the Mario Kart 8 tracks I've played on for that reason. I also really enjoyed the Luigi's Mansion remake stage that I played on Mario Kart 7. Banshee Boardwalk was always cool to me on N64, despite not really having that much to it. Furthermore, I find that a lot of my favorite Zelda dungeons have this feel to them. I mean, there's the bottom of the Ancient Cistern, Arbiter's Grounds, Forest Temple (OoT), Shadow Temple (OoT), the Moon from MM was spooky in a different kind of way. So yeah, I like spooky themes.

More than that though, I like a kind of tricky or playful spooky theme. Something that's not just spooky, but also makes playful Skull Kid laughs in your ear. This is probably why my two favorite characters in the series are Skull Kid and Happy Mask Salesman. My ideal dungeon would combine all of these ideas together.

And by that I mean, giant funhouse mansion. It wouldn't just be spooky, it would also be playful and tricky. The dungeon would boggle your mind by taking any logic Zelda keeps and throwing it out the window. Walk through a mirror, end up two floors above where you were standing upside down. Rooms that spin while you're in them, and conveyor belts. The colors would be mostly dark to make it spooky and almost feel kind of haunted. Thus it would be a mixture of a playful funhouse and a haunted mansion. And unlike regular dungeons, the map would be scattered in pieces throughout the plethora of rooms amidst the confusion.
 
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Deleted member 14134

Guest
Although the redeads scarred me for life as a child I don't think Zelda will be able to successfully have that same effect on me present day. Areas with tense atmospheres: yes, spooky areas: no.
 

Dio

~ It's me, Dio!~
Joined
Jul 6, 2011
Location
England
Gender
Absolute unit
I enjoyed the ancient cisterns underground area, with the zombies and everything. That sort of thing scared me as a child like with the shadow temple but I love it when Zelda revisits those sort of areas now.
I think Wind Waker's Earth temple was quite effective, that game had a very un realistic and bright style, Zelda U has much more realistic proportions and superior detailing. I recon it could effectively do creepy. Maybe not to the extent of Silent Hill but still creepy enough.
 

Zorth

#Scoundrel
Joined
Apr 22, 2011
That would definitely be fun. I'd love to see an entire abandoned town. There could be a huge "empty" dark mansion, a big graveyard filled with stones, odd characters that are sometimes here & there to talk to and other times can't be found anywhere in the town, and most importantly... some weird music. A sort of atmosphere that just gives you a feeling that you know there is way more than meets the eye. There could even be some small side quest chain where you can uncover some (not all since this kind of defeats the point) of the mysteries concerning the weird stuff going on.

I'm not against the idea of creepy zombie & ghost stuff going on in the game but I'd rather save that for the dungeons. I'd like to have a specific area with an atmosphere with only creepy mystery. Meaning that the paranormal activity can't really be seen and attacked like some monster thereby saving the day. Spooky themes work best IMO when the observer is kept in the dark for the most part so that the weird stuff going on can't be seen and will most likely conjure the worst you can think of as opposed to seeing what is happening directly in front of you and all you can do is either fight or flight
 

sn00pac

Greg
Joined
Jul 27, 2014
Location
The Silent Realm
I would love to have a horror themed dungeon, maybe even a return to the well. It really does add variety to the general child-friendliness of the Zelda series.
 

Justac00lguy

BooBoo
Joined
Jul 1, 2012
Gender
Shewhale
I was always curious how a game like Wind Waker, what with its bright colourful cel-shaded graphics, would handle a darker area with what such themes that you'd associate with disturbing, creepy, spooky etc. I like the fact that you brought up the contrast it would create because a lot of people would simply think that darker themes wouldn't work in what's associated as a "childish" game. Of course we all view that as a misconception, but I still think this view point exists, even among big fans of the series.

Anyway, Zelda U's graphics fall more on the lighthearted spectrum rather than the dark and gritty Twilight Princess; however it's somewhat ideal for the series. But yeah, I would have to agree with the OP in the fact that spooky areas would work with the artstyle. I'd honestly love to see them take it further than "Oh here's a graveyard" because sometimes, especially in this series, dark areas become dark perceived on the area. So let's take A Link Between Worlds, the Dark Palace was obviously meant to be the darker section of the game and we all knew that, but apart from the area itself there was nothing really "spooky", "creepy" etc. about the area. So don't just shoehorn in a dark area for diversity, make it creepy, even go as far as disturbing. Let the area/dungeon play with our minds and sanity.
 

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