Whilst The Legend of Zelda fans are anxiously awaiting more news on Breath of the Wild's sequel, Nintendo has dipped into the existing franchise and remastered an older title for Nintendo Switch. Originally released for Wii in 2011 with a heavy emphasis on the console's motion controls, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is back in high definition. However, with the game being both a critical darling in its time and ones of the most divisive entries in the franchise, many have been wondering how Skyward Sword HD would fare.

Reviews are now in for the game, and based on early impressions, it seems that Skyward Sword HD breathes new life into the 10 year-old game. While not every problem from the original has been fixed, critics seem to agree that the new release makes a lot of positive changes to an enjoyable Zelda experience.

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Link flying on a Loftwing in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Travis Northup, IGN: "I'm 30+ hours into The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD and it's reminded me how much I loved this game when it originally came out on the Wii a decade ago, warts and all...The story and characters are some of the best in the series and the side quests and weirdness of the world are fantastic. On the other hand, the dungeons (and especially the boss fights) aren't particularly challenging or memorable for the most part, and the gimmicky Wii-era motion control mechanics are still constantly right up in your face, reminding me why those never worked well. But with so much to do and a lot to love, Skyward Sword's journey down memory lane has kept me smiling so far."

Josh West, GamesRadar"Skyward Sword HD gives one of the most misunderstood Legend of Zelda games a second chance. It's an under-appreciated gem, one that finds the space to really breathe with a more reliable and relaxing method of control embedded within it. Skyward Sword has its fair share of problems, but it makes up for many of them in moments of true brilliance and defiance against established series conventions. Say what you will about Skyward Sword, but it's good to be out on an authored adventure with Link again -- saving Hyrule one inventive dungeon and challenging boss battle at a time."

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Christian Donlan, Eurogamer"What's fascinating when you play Skyward Sword in 2021, is knowing what came next. For all that empty space above the clouds, Skyward Sword is so intricate on the ground, broken down into little maps, little challenges, the next bit of business, that it can feel like the least roomy of Zeldas. It's brilliant, but fractal-tight in its binding up of its clever ideas. Even with the quality-of-life changes, it feels like the most stop-start Zelda there is, filled with interruptions and transitions. Save for a few very memorable moments, what's missing, I think, is space, space filled with things to look around, actual places to feel like you are visiting without the compulsion of a specific objective -- and when I think of Breath of the Wild, it's that kind of space that comes to mind first. Skyward Sword doesn't have much of the kind of space that encourages the many pleasures of solitude, which always feel like very Zelda-ish pleasures."

PJ O'Reilly, Nintendo Life"The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD introduces a raft of technical improvements and quality of life updates that reinvigorate and revitalize this ten-year-old game. With motion controls more precise than ever before, an alternate button control scheme that totally works, crisp HD graphics, smooth 60fps gameplay and a bothersome sidekick who's been streamlined into something altogether more useful, this really does feel like Skyward Sword as it was meant to be experienced. Yes, the locking off of instant travel behind the official amiibo is a misstep, but beyond this one issue what's here is a sublime experience, a technical triumph and an absolute must-play for Switch owners and Zelda fans."

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Kevin Knezevic, GameSpot"The various quality-of-life tweaks that Nintendo has implemented here, welcome as they are, don't fix Skyward Sword's biggest issues, and it remains the most uneven 3D entry in the Zelda series. Even so, the improvements in this Switch remaster make the overall experience more enjoyable, and the characteristic Zelda magic ultimately outshines the game's faults."

Alex Donaldson, VG247"With every additional hour I spend with Skyward Sword HD, my appreciation for the game and respect for what its team was attempting rises. It's not a perfect ten, or even a nine, but it's also not a bad game. It might be one of the worst Zelda games simply on balance of the various compromises made to make that core motion control feature work -- but one of the things that makes Zelda special, I suppose, is that a lower-tier Zelda is still a pretty good game in the grand scheme of things. Except those CD-i ones, obviously."

Suriel Vasquez, Polygon: "It's impressive how versatile a single analog stick can be. That's my biggest takeaway after playing 20 hours of the Nintendo Switch remaster of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. For its original 2011 release, the Zelda game was billed as having been built from the ground up for the Wii, using a special upgraded version of the console's motion-controlled remote as the basis for its combat, exploration, and just about everything else. You can still see the remnants of that design philosophy in the game's move to Switch, but after playing with both the motion-controlled Joy-Cons and the Pro Controller, it's shocking how well Skyward Sword holds up -- and how superfluous the motion controls feel, when they were the thing that defined the game back in 2011."

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD releases for the Nintendo Switch on July 16.

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