The Legend of Zeldaseries is an action-adventure series by Nintendo, letting players experience vast and fantastical worlds from a young hero’s perspective. However, in between sword-fighting and saving the world, players may also find a sense of coziness.
After all, whether you’re adventuring inside the Kingdom of Hyrule or past its borders, there’s plenty to do in The Legend of Zelda. There are items to collect, dishes to cook, animals to tame, and plenty of beautiful sights to see. You may play as a sword-wielding hero in most games, but there’s more to this adventure than just slaying bad guys. There’s a sense of comfort we can’t find anywhere else.
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is a bright, colorful adventure that begins with Link waking up after being washed ashore on Koholint Island. The island is a bright, beautiful place with plenty to explore.
In Link’s adventures on Koholint Island, we get to know the island’s strange and friendly inhabitants. There’s a fun crane machine at which to try our luck. It makes us smile whenever we recognize an enemy from another game. More than anything, there’s a sense of bonding and connectionin Link’s scenes with Marin. It may be just a dream, but Link’s Awakening is a dream worth remembering.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword has heavy stakes hanging on our heroes' shoulders. Demise threatens to cast the world in darkness. His servant Ghirahim always seems to be one step ahead. Yet, even then, there is beauty in the land before it became Hyrule and the skies above.
It’s relaxing flying across the vast sky to floating islands on the back of our trusty Loftwing. The Lumpy Pumpkin has a quaint farm and peaceful bar. Skyloft is a beautiful, bustling town full of life and greenery. Solve the people’s problems to collect Gratitude Crystals or travel the realm to collect an assortment of bugs and other items. Even things that seem pointless have a use somewhere.
Many find comfort in the first 3D Zelda game simply out of nostalgia. However, there’s more to this game’s sense of comfort than that. Hyrule is vibrant and full of life, from the bustling Castle Town to the verdant Kokiri Forest and Lost Woods and everything in between.
More than that, there’s plenty to do. Try your hand at an archery game with your slingshot or bow. Place Bombchus at the right angleto win at Bombchu Bowling. Bring the people of Hyrule joy by offering them the sort of mask they want. If it all becomes too much, you’re able to simply ride around Hyrule Field on Epona’s back or go fishing at Lake Hylia. Saving the world can wait. Take your time.
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is often thought to be one of the darker games in the series, with its emphasis on reclaiming Hyrule from the Twilight Realm. However, in the midst of the twilight gloom, this game is still full of comfort.
You can collect pairs of golden bugs for Agitha’s insect ball. Go fishing in any body of water in Hyrule. You can collect every fish if you want, or just spend your time relaxing. If all else fails, wander the vast Hyrule wilderness as a wolf or on the back ofyour trusty steed Epona, settling in beautiful and relaxing locations like Zora’s Domain and Ordon Village before you move on to your next location.
If you’re a fan of Studio Ghibli’s The Secret World of Arrietty, you’ll feel right at home in The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. This game lets Link shrink to the size of a mouse with the titular Minish Cap, after all. Explore the vast land of Hyrule from a new, tiny perspective as you find all the places the Minish have hidden their homes in.
The game also has plenty for players to do to keep them coming back. Collect Kinstone Pieces to combine to resolve quests and gain rewards. Gather Mysterious Shells hidden across Hyrule, letting you try your chance at the figure-dispensing machine. Try to collect all 136 figures if you want, but it won’t be easy.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild is set 100 years after Calamity Ganon took over ancient Sheikah technology, leaving Hyrule massacred and in ruins. Link was nearly killed, and Zelda spent the last century holding the Calamity back from doing further harm.
Yet, if one looks past the game’s dark backstory, you’ll find that the ruins of Hyrule are still full of life. Birds still sing. Deer and boar peacefully roam the forests.People make their homes in scattered towns.There’s a huge world for you to explore and plenty to do in it. There are dozens of different dishes you can cook, wild horses to tame, and hidden lore to discover if you’re willing to travel off the beaten path.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker puts us in the shoes of a young boy on the day of his coming-of-age ceremony. When his sister is kidnapped, he’s given no choice but to take up a shield and sword and set sail aboard a pirate ship.
The Great Sea is a bright and colorful place, full of equally colorful characters and adventures. Find the hidden Pictobox and take photos of your adventures, or upgrade it to the Deluxe Pictobox to collect figures for the Nintendo Gallery. Collect all 134 if you can. You can do slide puzzles to access hidden areas, sort mail to help the Rito, participate in grand auctions with your wallet full of rupees, or even play a game resembling Battleship called Squid-Hunt.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom may be Zelda’s first true adventure, but it’s also the coziest. In it, players take control of the titular princess herself as she tries to free her kingdom from the mysterious rifts spread across it.
This game feels especially cozy after following a difficult game like Tears of the Kingdom. Take your time traveling across the Kingdom of Hyrule, collecting echoes of anything and everything along the way. If you fall in battle, you’re revived at the start of the room, and combat becomes easier with the help of echoed monsters you summon. It’s particularly satisfying to discover the best way to use a new echo in this bright, colorful world.
