We are less than a week away from the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, a game that has been in development since around 1895. It’s been a long time but in a few short days, we’ll all finally be able to see just what this team has been doing since Skyward Sword and finally figure out why they missed the initial launch date by more than a year and a half. I’ve personally avoided as many spoilers as I could leading up to its release to go in as fresh as possible, but what I have heard so far has greatly piqued my interest.
I’ve often said The Legend of Zelda is my religion, and if that’s true, then the dungeons are my New Testament. These lovingly crafted labyrinths are the best part of my bible and I am greatly looking forward to whatever tricky tests await me in Breath of the Wild. More so, I’m very interested in seeing if any of them can even come close to matching the magnificence that is Twilight Princess’ Snowpeak Ruins.
The greatness of Snowpeak Ruins starts before you even open the door to this dilapidated mansion. In order to get to this frigid fortress, you have to snowboard to it on a frozen leaf, which was a nice palate cleanser after all the shit you had to go through to get to the summit of Snowpeak. And the snowboarding here is way better than that garbage from Final Fantasy VII.
What is easily my favorite thing about Snowpeak Ruins is how it takes an instantly recognizable building and makes a dungeon out of it without going out of its way to over exaggerate its size and proportions. Up until this, I think all pervious Zelda dungeons had been big, hollowed-out trees or caves or castles or other types of buildings that didn’t really exist around me. Making this dungeon out of a mansion brought a sense of verisimilitude to the game. As I defeated the various ice creatures found within, grabbing all the necessary ingredients for the soup being brewed, I would often stop, look around and imagine what this building looked like in its prime. It was the first time I ever traversed something in a Zelda game that felt familiar and recognizable, something that would be repeated with the Sandship in Skyward Sword.
Not only is it well designed, but the dungeon itself has a wonderful little story about love woven into it. Peter touched on it when we wrote about our favorite gaming love stories and he’s on point. The bond between Yeto and Yeta brings warmth to this frosty manor with its iced-over puzzles and challenging lack of hearts. Plus, the item you receive here is the goddamn Ball and Chain, which is just awesome.
Twilight Princess isn’t in my top five Zelda games, even though it has so many moments I love, but this dungeon is bar none the best the series has ever produced and I dare anyone to tell me otherwise. I dare ya, I double dare ya, I triple dog dare you to tell me I’m wrong.
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