A New Tradition
I would like to start with the full disclosure that I have never played A Link to the Past. The nostalgia that this game supposedly brings was not appreciated by me unfortunately.
This is a world that you will want to spend time in. From the fiery top of Hyrule's Death Mountain to the marshy mess of Lorule's swamp, the desire to explore is ingrained into this world. Despite it's medium size, the game world is brimming with puzzles to solve, treasures to find, and characters to interact with. The world really pops with personality and makes the game just feel right.
The difficulty behind the puzzles and iconic Zelda dungeons are just about right. Personally the real difficulty was not in the dungeons but trying to find the entrance to them. The map can be a bit tricky to navigate so you will need to master zooming in and out to find the paths you need. There are hint ghosts in the game to aid you in your quest but mostly their hints are useless. They usually refer to the item you are trying to find and don't help much.
Once you find the door you will be greeted with an average of 4 floors of dungeon. The dungeons are set up vertically in this game and play really well for puzzles. Often you will have to get things from one floor to another in crafty ways. The puzzles are usually centered around one "theme item" which leads to one minded solutions sadly. If you are in the bomb dungeon just throw bombs until you solve it. Luckily, there are plenty of items so you can play around with a lot of interesting tools.
The game is just put together well. You will stumble into some of the best finds in the game while exploring. You will definitely miss some but the fun is finding them and you can proceed normally without them. The pacing is great, the music is lovely, the art charming, and the game really adds to the Hyrule mythos. Heck, this game has an ACTUAL END. The end isn't just beat the boss and go home, there are significant plot items that occur. It's great.
You will get everything you want and more out of this zelda game.
