I’m on the fence. Aonuma has proven over and over again this past decade that he doesn’t understand the point of Zelda, or even game design as a whole really. Mechanically speaking I think this game could go either way quality wise, but I don’t think it’s the return to form Zelda desperately needs right now.
I don’t have a problem with Zelda being the protagonist by itself, but I don’t like the way it’s being handled. They had the perfect opportunity to put this game in between Ocarina of Time and Windwaker, but instead it just feels like a ****ty role reversal. “Zelda, but this time you’re rescuing Link.” It almost feels like the setup to a Mario spinoff, with Link initially rescuing Zelda only to get immediately captured.
The artstyle choice sucks. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it in Link’s Awakening, but it worked there specifically because of the surreal nature of the story and world, here it just feels like it’s there because they already had the assets. I might’ve just preferred that they remade the Oracles instead.
It’ll probably be fine, but the Zelda team needs to regain my trust after releasing one of the most insulting games I’ve ever played just last year. Might play it, might not. It’s a wait and see for me.
