This generation’s Link wakes up in the same house the LttP Hero shared with his uncle, only this time he’s rooming with a strange rabbit creature named Ravio, who looks like a hybrid of Jar Jar Binks and Frank from Donnie Darko. Then the veil whisks away and you’re faced with a different world. The first hour plays a clever move where it tricks you into feeling like you’re back in the old neighborhood. While those words are never good when used in the same sentence, I should stress that this is not necessarily a bad thing. It turns out the familiar looking map is a bait-and-switch gimmick. The title and box art promise players the same world they grew up with in Zelda: A Link to the Past, albeit flavored with a fresh story and new gameplay mechanics. So Kakariko Village is still west, Lake Hylia southeast, Lost Woods northwest, and so on. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, released in 2013, is a game that radiates nostalgic appeal. It’s a familiar pattern, but by God it works. Sometimes Link and Zelda need each other to survive. Sometimes Zelda is a damsel who needs saving. Zelda comes from a royal bloodline while Link can be any boy plucked from humble origins to embrace heroic destiny. I love how each new installment falls onto an evolving timeline like spattered paint, and how the fans must then debate how this new piece fits the chronology.ĭespite ongoing confusion over when the games take place, one thing is always consistent: every generation has a Link, a Princess Zelda, and a calamity befalling the kingdom. For the most part, I’m drawn in by the lore and formula. Nah, Zelda just has the perfect combination of elements to keep my brain off productive work: a vast, open world, hack-and-slash combat, and rewards for curiosity. I could blame this on the current global phenomenon that is Breath of the Wild, though a deficiency in spending money has left BotW, at the time of this writing, untouched by me. My gaming preferences go through obsessive phases, and lately I’ve been all about the Legend of Zelda franchise.