You swing the sword using either motion controls or, in this version, a standard control stick, fighting through detailed dungeons on the way to recovering pieces of the Master Sword. Flying between islands on a giant bird handles the overworld travel. It is a slower, more structured Zelda than open-world fans might expect, with dungeons that are dense and puzzle-heavy.
Gameplay video
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Screenshots & review notes
Why it lands
A divisive entry gets a fair shake here, and while the pacing issues that bugged people in 2011 haven't vanished, the improved controls go a long way toward smoothing things over.
How it plays
Swordplay finally feels precise with the button-based option, though motion controls remain available for those who want the original intent. Dungeons here are some of the most intricately built in the series.
Style and score
Skyloft and the surface below have real texture and personality, helped by a painterly art style that has aged better than its Wii-era resolution ever allowed.
Who it's for
Recommended for series completionists and anyone curious about Zelda's structural experiments. Casual newcomers might find the hand-holding and Fi's chatter grating at first.
Frames captured from the gameplay video above; notes are our own take on the game.
What it's like to play
You control Link, a young man living in a village floating high above the clouds, and combat here is built around actually swinging your sword in a specific direction, whether using motion controls or, in this version, flicking the right stick the way you want to slash. Early on you learn to fly on a giant bird between your floating home and the surface world below, gliding and diving with simple stick movements. Enemies force you to think about angles rather than just mashing an attack button, since many require you to slash from a specific direction to actually land a hit, turning even simple fights into a small timing puzzle. Fi, a spirit living inside your sword, offers hints and commentary throughout, giving the adventure a distinct storybook feel from the very start.
Most of your time is spent working through a series of dungeons packed with clever puzzles and gradually harder combat encounters, punctuated by trips back to the surface to gather items and speak with characters who move the story forward. The HD version trims some of the original's more repeated trips back to the same few regions and speeds up cutscenes and dialogue, making the pacing noticeably tighter than when it first released. A single dungeon can take around an hour, and the full story spans somewhere around thirty to forty hours for a complete playthrough. Certain trial sequences ask you to sneak through tense areas without getting caught, which stand out as some of the more nerve-wracking sections in the game.
Session to session, the directional sword combat makes even basic fights feel more deliberate than most action games, almost like a small fencing match each time. What might frustrate you is a structure that revisits the same three main regions repeatedly, even with the faster pacing here softening the repetition somewhat. It is best suited to players who enjoy dungeon-heavy, puzzle-first Zelda games and do not mind a slower, more directed adventure than some of the series' more open entries.