As I’ve finally finished my recent playthrough of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, I’ve found something I’ve not liked in the least and it has nothing to do with motion controls.
It is the Sky.
This is the game’s open field area where Link can ride his Loftwing to other the various sections of the map, both above and below the clouds. Players get access to this space pretty early in the game and it is the open area where players can freely travel the map.
This was a concept that has been used in other 3D games such as Ocarina of Time‘s and Twilight Princess‘ Hyrule Field; Majora’s Mask‘s Termina Field; and, notoriously, The Wind Waker‘s Great Sea. Most of the games get complaints that these spaces are open and bland while the Great Sea gets double hate for being vast with not much to do in between locations.
What make The Wind Waker‘s iteration stand out was you would sail for a few minutes without much of anything happening. There were minor islands with a few things and some treasure chests but the journey dragged on. The Wind Waker HD tried to fix this with a speed sail, and it helped quite a bit.
Despite all of this, Skyward Sword‘s The Sky was far worse. For one, there were no fast travel options so you had to come back constantly when you needed to travel. Furthermore, there was no alternatives, you had to travel via the sky.
At least the other games, including The Wind Waker, had a fast travel system. You could sail the ocean, or you could conduct the winds to carry you to a specified spot, substantially shortening your overall travel.
Skyward Sword had no such option. It was just a splotchy sky landscape with not much to even look like. That’s the other downside: a largely dead world with even less to do than the Great Sea.
Sure, there are a few sky islands that break up a few things but the barrenness of the sky makes returning to it every few hours an absolute pain to get through.
I’m sure there are a lot of reasons why The Sky is the way it is, but that doesn’t change how it drags on. Skyward Sword is a lively game and Skyloft feels alive between its various shops, residents, and the Knight Academy. That does not extend to The Sky.
Skyward Sword is such a unique Zelda game because it can be so divisive. It took a lot of chances with many of them paying off in the long run. It also had gambles that did not pay off such as motion controls and repetitive gameplay.
Above all of that is The Sky, a largely dead space where Link most take a boring journey to his next destination. What’s worse is the HD remaster did nothing to ease this for the player unlike The Wind Waker HD.
Every time I revisit Skyward Sword, I am always reminded of its biggest flaw: The Sky. It really grinds the game to a halt in a way that not even the Great Sea can.
What about you? What do you think about The Sky in Skyward Sword? Is it as bad as I think or am I being dramatic? Let us know in the comments below or head over to our Discord channel to join the conversation.
Featured Image: Nintendo (via Polygon)
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