The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

Mild overall intensity
Highest flag: Dark themes — mild
AdventureFantasyRPG

What's in it

Violence cartoon/stylized
Low

Stylized top-down combat against monsters such as the Moblins and Moldorms; no blood or gore.

Dark themes mild
Low

The story frames the island as a dream from the Wind Fish's egg, with a looming sense of the dream fading and Link possibly never waking up.

Horror & psychological spooky
Low

A few dungeons and encounters contain eerie, unsettling imagery such as a haunted library and a dream-like atmosphere.

Who can reach your kid

What it is

In this 2D action-adventure title, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, players guide the hero Link after a shipwreck strands him on Koholint Island. To rouse the slumbering Wind Fish and depart, he needs to gather the Sirens' eight Instruments. Play unfolds from an overhead perspective, mixing open exploration with the navigation of dungeons, where Link fends off creatures using his blade alongside various tools. Narratively, the game leans on surreal, dream-tinged visuals and carries a wistful mood centered on a vanishing dream. Players will find nothing sexual, no nudity, no coarse language, and no gambling; it runs solo, offering neither online connectivity nor social components.

How it's framed

Content is cast as a whimsical journey steeped in dream logic, evoking marvel alongside a resolution that is both sad and sweet as a dream realm is left behind. Fighting and obstacles come across in a playful, adventuresome register instead of a grim or true-to-life one.

Details

Developer
Nintendo
Publisher
Nintendo
Released
Jul 19, 2019
Metacritic 90critic score (third-party) · out of 100

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