The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Remake Review

By Charles

This was my first time fully completing Link's Awakening. I had so much fun playing Oracles of Seasons and Ages, but trying Link's Awakening on Nintendo Switch Online felt almost uncanny - the Oracles added so many quality of life features that weren't present in the original. I hoped that this remake would help me enjoy the game more, and I was not disappointed.

August 11, 2025

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

Switch, 2019 ~$85 sealed ~$50 used

PRESENTATION

CONTROLS

FUN FACTOR

CONTENT

The art style of this game is absolutely fantastic. It very cleverly turns the pixelated, tile-based look into a beautiful diorama world. The issue is that the game looks way too choppy and pixelated when playing it on the original Switch. The frame rate is also very unstable. However, the Switch 2 patch fixes all of the issues and the game looks and runs perfectly. The water and other particle effects look great, and it's very clear when you or an enemy are taking damage. The music is wonderful and feels very immersive with good variety.

8

The controls are very intuitive and every action is mapped to its typical button. Whenever you learn a new skill, the game makes it very clear how to do it. There is a good variety of skills that isn't overwhelming but adds enough depth to the game. One issue I found was concerning falling into pits. It's not clear where the tile for the pit starts and ends, so I sometimes felt like I was getting sucked in and had trouble timing my jumps. I can see this as one shortcoming of doing a 3D 1:1 remake of a top-down game.

9

The game includes two difficulty modes - Normal and Hero, where you take double damage and don't receive health drops. Hero mode was a very good challenge and I noticeably improved, but I would recommend using a guide as a last resort as solving all the puzzles and figuring out how to damage bosses is the best part. Beating Hero mode should give you the skills to unlock the secret ending on Normal. The game also comes with a dungeon editor where you can use rooms you explored in the story. It's a lot of fun and great practice, but there's no way to share dungeons online.

9

9

Link's Awakening is a very good example of where a game understands its scope and does a very good job within it limits. The game never feels small or limited, but instead feels tight and refined. Combat is fun. Exploring is fun. Speed running is fun. Even cutting grass and bushes for rupees is fun. The only issue I had with this new version is that entire areas fill in on the map the moment you walk into them. You could fill the whole map early, so when you were actually able to explore each area, it felt like you had already been there. This cut back on the sense of accomplishment when unlocking a new screen.

WORTH THE TIME?

WORTH THE MONEY?

This game is absolutely worth the money for any Nintendo fan, especially if you're on Switch 2. It's very fun, a great introduction to 2D Zelda and is just a wonderful experience.

/40

35

This game is fairly quick so I would recommend trying to get the secret ending. If you're not a fan of the Dungeon Editor, the rewards aren't essential to beat the game, but there's a lot of fun to be had there for those interested.