The design style of Nintendo’s Zelda series has always been somewhat cartoony, with some titles in the series being more cartoony than others. While it might not sport the most realistic graphics, there is a certain charm to the design of Zelda games that have always managed to keep the game lighthearted and fun.
However, what if Nintendo were to one day use a different engine to build Zelda on? That’s what designer RwanLink on YouTube has decided to find out, where recreated different environments from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time using Unreal Engine 5, and we have to say that the game looks stunning!
One of the advantages of Unreal Engine is the ability to create games that look quite realistic. Ocarina of Time was initially released in 1998 and was released again with its graphics enhanced for the Nintendo 3DS, but looking at this version created by RwanLink, it looks like it could be a game designed for the 2020s.
According to its creator, “As a fan who grew up with the legendary Zelda Ocarina of Time, I always wanted to see what the environments could look like with today’s technologies such as 4K resolution and DLSS but also the new features of Unreal Engine 5 like the real time global illumination Lumen and the powerful Nanite allowing me to work with film quality assets. The first episode of this series is dedicated to Kakariko village where I wanted to recreate and show my vision of the village with a next gen look and feel.”