Skyward Sword H.D is a Switch port of the original Zelda Skyward Sword for the WII which was released in 2011. To begin, you can choose motion or regular controls that are really smooth and quite easy to learn. Like many Zelda games, you can play them in any order since the timeline is really ambiguous and not easy to follow.
There was some chemistry between Zelda and Link and they seem more like friends and not save princess, wait for next game to come out type of thing. The music and art as always are really good and the graphics are great too. Combat is lot more intricate this time since you have to attack enemies at a certain direction but once you get a hang of it, it starts to be really fun.You can add beacons in the map to make navigating the world easier.
You can upgrade your equipment by finding materials and you can upgrade your sword to be more powerful. A Whip can be used to snatch stuff from enemies but otherwise you don’t really need to use it that often unless you want to grind for rupess. Some tweaks for tools were added, like bombs can now be used as like bowling balls which was interesting. There are many tools in the game and numerous enemies to fight. Dowsing allows you to find hidden objects and point you in the right direction.
There are dialogue options to choose which is an interesting feature for a Zelda but your choice has not impact on the story. The tutorials were not optional and dragged on for quite some time which was somewhat annoying. Boss fights were pretty repetitive like the same boss over and over again and it became tedious.
Similarly, you visit the same areas again and again but with new places to explore to somewhat offset the lack of variety. The sky realm was big but there was not much to do other than side quests and treasure hunting. The Loftwing was kind of slow too.
Zelda is about exploring and figuring things out for yourself and it is no fun at all when Fai (the game assistant) tells you how to progress instead of doing things for yourself. The environments are much more linear than usual which is refreshing if you played Breath Of The Wild. Fast travel does exist in the port, but you need to go out and buy amibos to use that feature.
This game also introduces a stamina meter which is really annoying as the other games didn’t have it and it can get in the way of doing important stuff.
Overall, the game was lot of fun and a good remaster.
It gets 5 out of 5 stars.