The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (2026 video game)

Gameplay and features

The remake retains the gameplay and story of the 1998 original, with players controlling the hero Link as he explores the kingdom of Hyrule across two time periods to defeat the evil Gerudo king Ganondorf. The player controls Link from a third-person perspective as he explores Hyrule. Link fights with a sword and shield, and can use other weapons such as projectiles, bombs and magic spells. The graphical style has been updated; Game Informer described it as "stylized realism".

Gameplay changes from the original include the addition of a running ability, faster swimming, motion control aiming, full camera control, and automatic jumps being replaced with button-based jumping. Players can also now scroll between items, similarly to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017). Cutscenes are now fully voiced.

Several locations are updated. For example, Hyrule Castle Town is expanded into a fully explorable area rather than a pre-rendered location with a fixed camera. Whereas time would previously pause in towns and buildings, time now continuously passes in all areas. Players can view a story summary and track their objective with the "Threads of Time" log feature. Some areas retain loading screens to maintain the original experience. To activate ocarina songs, players may perform melodies using the Nintendo Switch 2 microphone. A new Hall of Defeated Foes area allows players to view statues and information about defeated enemies, as well as replay boss battles.

Ocarina of Time integrates with the Nintendo Switch App for smartphones, allowing players to use the "Zelda Notes" service introduced in the Nintendo Switch 2 Editions of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Zelda Notes can be used to view an interactive map, track player progress, play an ocarina and answer quiz questions.

Development

Following the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, series producer Eiji Aonuma began considering how to celebrate the franchise's upcoming 40th anniversary. A remake of the 1998 video game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was chosen as the anniversary project after reflecting that much of current staff working on the series had limited familiarity with older entries in the franchise, piquing his curiosity over how they would approaching modernizing what he deemed to be a significant and influential installment in the franchise. Aonuma, who directed the original game, served as producer alongside long-time series director Hidemaro Fujibayashi, while team members who began working on the series with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom took on lead creative roles.

While Aonuma and Fujibayashi expected them to push for a greater amount of gameplay changes and alterations, director HokWai Ng and the rest of the development team opted to remain faithful to the game's original pacing and structure, with focus going towards updating and reimagining the visuals, music, and overall presentation. Under heavy consideration was the visual style, as they brainstormed on how to translate the Nintendo 64 game's then-"cutting edge" look to something expected for modern hardware like the Nintendo Switch 2 without losing the "familiar presence" that the existing game had for longtime fans. Art director Aya Shida, viewing the original as having a "mysterious, almost dreamlike charm" with colorful and quirky characters, took influence from puppet shows, with "the analog feel of practical effects films" acting as a guiding phrase for the design team's approach to updating character designs. Care was also taken to avoid having players mistake Ocarina of Time as being an open world title akin to recent series entries by reserving the highest amount of environment detail for explorable areas. Unlike the GameCube and Nintendo 3DS releases of Ocarina of Time, the remake does not include a Master Quest mode.

Release

Nintendo announced the remake during a Nintendo Direct presentation on June 9, 2026, with a teaser trailer and a 2026 release date. Gameplay was shown at The Legend of Zelda 40th anniversary Direct on September 8, and the release date was announced as November 5. Legend of Zelda-themed Nintendo Switch 2 and accessories were released on October 29. The first print run of the game's physical copies will have textured foil cover art. Amiibo based on Young Link and Young Zelda are planned for release in 2027, which unlock special masks in the game. Other Legend of Zelda Amiibo grant the player free items a limited number of times per day.

Reception

Pre-release

The art style drew mixed responses. Polygon described it as "a balance between modern realism and fairy tale whimsy", with more muted colors and "earthy" tones, but with "creepy" character models. Some compared it unfavourably to DLSS 5 or generative AI, or said it resembled a number of "hyper-realistic" fan remakes of Ocarina of Time using Unreal Engine. Former Nintendo employee Takaya Imamura, the art director for The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (2000), speculated that the character design was inspired by Japanese puppet shows (ningyogeki), which was later confirmed in Nintendo's Ask the Developer interview series.

Others praised the visual style, in particular the detailed environmental design. Polygon noted that Zelda art direction has a history of dividing opinion, with games such as The Wind Waker (2002), Breath of the Wild (2017) and Link's Awakening (2019). Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma said the art style aimed to evoke nostalgia for the original game. Satoru Takizawa, a Zelda art director, said the original Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess (2006) had aimed for realism.

Post-release

According to the review aggregator website Metacritic, Ocarina of Time received "universal acclaim", with a score of 96 out of 100 based on 83 reviews.