After playing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, returning to the original left me feeling more hollow than the Great Deku Tree

If I could scoop up the feeling of playing any game for the first time and relive it, I’d use my free pass on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time .

Thankfully, after two hours with the game in an early access preview with Nintendo of Europe, I’m fully backing the 40th Anniversary remake for the Nintendo Switch 2 as the next best thing.

I was invited to play through the first 45 minutes in Kokiri Forest, a quick 15-minute jaunt across Hyrule Field and into the Hyrule Castle Town Market, as well as the entirety of Adult Link’s forest temple, and in that time, I was totally won over on this long-awaited remake.

From what I’ve seen so far, Ocarina of Time ’s 2026 remake is faithful to the original, but additive in all the right ways.

Having replayed the same segments in the original through Nintendo Switch Online post-preview, though, these refinements make the two feel worlds apart, and I think the 2026 remake is shaping up to be the definitive way to enjoy the Hero of Time’s epic adventure.

Nintendo Nintendo Nintendo Nintendo Nintendo Nintendo Nintendo Something old, something new… Rendered in vivid greens and cerulean blues, the Nintendo Switch 2-exclusive 40th Anniversary remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a feast for the senses.

The biggest talking point and most drastic change is, of course, the art style.

The level of detail could be described as maximalist, from the intricate woven patterns on Link’s iconic green garb to the litany of floaties, sprites, and fairies crowding the airways of Kokiri Forest.

However, online discourse suggests it hasn’t been to everyone’s taste — nor was it to mine, at first glance.

From playing the game, I’m reassured that the art style makes sense in Ocarina of Time’s Hyrule.

Nintendo has a history of shifting artistic gears with each new era, but there’s a sound logic, thematically, behind its arguably garish style.

The game has always had plenty of visual cues for the loss of innocence, the death of magic, and the corruption of whimsy; I’ve previously compared many of Nintendo’s artistic treatments within Zelda games to mid-century fantasy media like The Lord of the Rings .

That contrast is all the more apparent with such a lush backdrop to build upon, and every second I played felt totally immersive visually.

Plus, with free camera movement and no fixed perspectives in Hyrule Castle Town Market, you can take in every angle of the world; it’s a facelift I feel the game really deserves.