Ocarina of Time is Actually A Horror Game

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a fairy tale, more so even than most other Zelda games. Recognizing this is key to understanding (if not necessarily liking) the visual approach Nintendo has taken for the remake of the 1998 classic, as I wrote when discussing its masterful take on Hyrule Field. I think it’s supposed to look romantic, densely and lushly illustrated, like the painted cover of an old storybook.

But fairy tales, especially good ones, can also be scary. Eerie, spooky, unsettling… sometimes even downright nightmare fuel. Have you actually read the original Brothers Grimm fairy tales? Or seen Arthur Rackham’s illustrations for them? Brrr!

Ocarina of Time understands this tradition well, and leans into it. As well as classical save-the-princess stuff, and high fantasy adventure, the game deals in a kind of weird, baroque whimsy, like when young Link gets sucked inside the belly of a giant fish and must puzzle his way out. (Which is, weirdly, the plot of one of this fall’s big thriller movies, Whalefall.)

But sometimes, the game is just straight-up chilling. Consider the Skulltulas: giant spiders with angular skull masks on their carapaces, which make an unnerving scratching sound before dropping out of nowhere and jump-scaring you.

Skulltulas are frightening, but they’re not the half of it. In Kakariko Village, you can make your way into an abandoned mansion festooned with cobwebs. This is inhabited by a rich family who have been cursed for their greed and turned into Skulltulas. They speak from distorted masks of their own faces on the spiders’ backs, imploring Link to collect Gold Skulltulas to break the curse. This leads to the game’s primary scavenger hunt, but more importantly, it’s absolutely horrifying.

Kakariko Village is also home to a graveyard and its hunchbacked keeper, Dampé. It’s spooky in there, and haunted by creepy Poes, but again, there’s another level to the horror. Below the ground is the Royal Family’s Tomb, which is inhabited by ReDeads — desiccated zombies who can freeze Link in place with their unearthly screams. In appearance, sound design, and game mechanics, these cursed creatures are the scariest monsters Nintendo has ever created.

Later in the game, you empty the graveyard’s well and climb down to a mini-dungeon called The Bottom of the Well. This is not some natural cavern from Breath of the Wild, but a dank torture dungeon with skeletons imprisoned in its walls. It’s like something out of Diablo.

Don’t get me started on Dead Hand, a putrescent, bloodstained abomination that snags unwary adventurers in a circle of spindly white limbs and then emerges from beneath the soil to eat them. Or Ocarina‘s version of the classic Zelda enemy, the Wallmaster, a demonic disembodied hand that announces its presence as just a shadow and a distant howl before plucking you off the floor.

All of these apparitions are summoned against Ocarina‘s uniquely eerie, sparse, echoing soundscape. I’ve written before about my worry that the remake won’t be able to capture this distinctive mood in a fuller, more modern audio presentation. To be fair, what we heard this week sounded perfect, albeit in some of the game’s safer, more romanticized locations. I will give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt for now.

We saw Skulltulas, too. But how will ReDeads or Dead Hand look in the remake’s richly textured, detailed art style? I shudder to think. Don’t be fooled by all that misty, golden-hour gloss. The new Ocarina of Time could be the most frightening game you play this year.