The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD Reviews
To celebrate the 10 year anniversary of its release, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword has finally come to Nintendo Switch. It's time to practice your flying and dust off your puzzle skills, as this is not an adventure for the faint of heart.
Those that played the game when it was first released on Wii aren’t missing a ton if they skip this one. There’s no new content, just tweaks here and there. However, those who loved it will find this is the best way to play it now.
Skyward Sword HD is a welcome improvement to the original game, but will likely do little to change the minds of any detractors.
I would not say that Skyward Sword HD radically changes my opinion of the original, although it did let me see in in a new light. It still has a lot to do to keep up with the best installments of The Legend of Zelda since it highs are good, but the lows points lack the quality the franchise is known for.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
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You may have sneered when it was announced, but you will be convinced like me as you play that it is a very logical remaster choice for Switch.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD is an excellent remaster of an underappreciated Zelda title.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD gives a misunderstood title in Nintendo's celebrated franchise a well-earned second shot. If motion controls and lack of polish turned you off this game the first go around, now's your chance to give this adventure a try. Like all great remakes, it's got some serious QoL upgrades and not an insignificant amount of graphic upgrades as well.
Despite a slow start, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD proves worthy of its place in the series. While a bit of trimming at the start would make a stronger game, once it got going, I never wanted it to end. If you like Zelda games and haven’t played Skyward Sword, you owe it to yourself to try this one. For veterans of the game, you’ll find a ton of quality of life changes making this the definitive version. Even if you were put off by the original release, you might find this time that you fall for this legend.
It's the only Zelda game that I recommend you play only once, if only to experience the blue skies and sunshine that this game has on the outer layer.
The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword HD opens its arms to anyone who wants to enter the unique world of the series, in the best possible circumstances. An enchanting journey and a captivating experience, especially in its second half. It may not be the best in the series, but it was distinguished by the amount of ideas in it that are not found in other parts.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD is a great remaster of the weak game - HD-version fixed the most annoying things of the original. However, pacing issues as well as many strange decisions to block the progress are still here, and still prevent player to love this game.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Nearly ten years later, Skyward Sword HD on Nintendo Switch flips these criticisms on their heads. This high-definition remaster doesn’t add much by way of all-new content; rather, it introduces a slate of subtle enhancements and improvements that may not sound like much on their own, but add up to make an enormous impact on the core gameplay experience.
Skyward Sword HD is enough of a Zelda game that fans of the series will still have a good time playing it. With a strong story and characters that stand out, there is still fun to be had despite the god awful controls that do their best to ruin what would’ve been an outstanding game had it adhered to traditional gameplay mechanics.
Overall, I can't recommend anyone paying $60 for this version of the game, it's not worth it. While some of QOL fixes are nice, and some of the new control schemes are good, overall I find it hard to recommend. If you like Zelda, you probably already bought this, and I hope you have fun with it, but if you haven't played Skyward Sword yet, this is probably the version to play...so long as you spend $30 or less.
Skyward Sword HD is definitely the best version of the game with vastly improved visuals and new control options, but I can't help but feel it's lacking as a Zelda rerelease. There's no new content, and I doubt the changes are enough to win over those who have problems with the game's overall design. It certainly didn't need to be a good game in its own right, but the lack of accessibility options and only somewhat reduced dialogue makes it difficult to justify the price.
Overall, Skyward Sword HD is a wonderful remaster and is a joy to play. However, it requires more effort than your typical Zelda game, not least due to the new control options available, but with diligent practice the game opens up into something genuinely beautiful.
It’s not quite that I had forgotten how good it was—more that I needed the intervening years to realise it.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD flies far higher than the original Wii version. Most of the game's core issues have been addressed, and the presentation flows much more smoothly on Switch.
Skyward Sword HD on Switch still suffers from backtracking and gimmicks, but its clever dungeons and engaging narrative make it one of the best games in the series.