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Sailing the blue seas…

This has been the first Zelda game I have played from start to finish and was left thoroughly impressed. It took a long time for me to understand the game mechanics in that there is not a traditional jump button.

Admittedly, some of the puzzles went over my head but I very much got a better understanding on what people associate with Zelda games being puzzles and how you interact with said puzzles within each dungeon you enter. Even if the controls took some time getting used, I was left enthralled by the care and attention to how each dungeon was developed. Although the dungeons can feel linear and not as breakable compared to the solutions people find with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

What you have is a game that is a sprawling adventure as you sail the seas in trying to save your sister and unearth the story of Hyrule. The gameplay is what kept me coming back alongside the beautiful art direction and soothing soundtrack. I appreciate how each dungeon has some shortcuts you can naturally find, which saves time when it comes to any sort of runbacks or finding any lost treasure.

At times it did get a bit tedious having to unlock the entire map through giving fish bait to the nearby fish NPC for the selected area. That alongside having to manually adjust the sail of your ship towards the wind direction to sail faster. Now I understood you can get an item from a certain auction house that helps you speed up this whole process, but I wish this was simply added from the very beginning to make the whole experience of sailing on the sea smoother.

All that being said, each dungeon has its own personality and unique puzzles of which you steadily gain certain items to combat certain dungeons. This really gives a sense of pacing and strong progression as Link is becoming more of a fine tuned warrior with his assortment of different weapons/items.

Once this game clicks, it really becomes a game where it is both fun and engaging not being overwhelming in difficulty. This game has a lot of charm and even though it can be rather slow paced from the beginning, as you begin to grasp the early sections, the game does offer unique surprises.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD is an adventure worth savouring and definitely a game I would look back on fondly sailing the seas ahead.