This Star Wars: The Mandalorian article contains spoilers.

The Mandalorian season 3 kicks things into high gear with “The Pirate.” Gorian Shard wants to take Nevarro for himself but seriously underestimates Greef Karga’s connections. When Din, Bo-Katan, and the rest of the Mandalorians show up to kick the pirates out of town, all hell breaks lose in the skies above the city as well as on the ground. The Armorer smashes a few faces in with her hammer while Paz lays down the law with his gatling blaster, with air support from Din and Bo. By the end of the episode, Gorian has nowhere to go but down.

Unsurprisingly, the lead up and the battle itself cue up quite a few callbacks and references to other Star Wars stories, including a few cameos that should get excited for the future of the Mandoverse! Here are all the easter eggs and other things we noticed in “The Pirate.”

Zeb Orrelios (Steve Blum)

Yes, the Lasat in the blue flight suit is indeed our pal Zeb Orrelios from the Rebels animated series! Thanks to The Mandalorian, we finally get to see what old Zeb has been up to since the end of the Galactic Civil War. No longer with the Ghost crew, Zeb’s now stationed on Adelphi with Carson Teva and the rest of the Rangers operating as space cops in the Outer Rim. CGI Zeb is once again voiced by Rebels veteran voice actor Steve Blum.

A fun fact about Zeb: his species, the Lasat, was originally Ralph McQuarrie’s design for the alien character who eventually became Chewbacca in A New Hope. In other words, Zeb’s legacy goes all the way back to the very beginnings of Star Wars. And The Mandalorian finally gives us the character in live action as was originally intended (from a certain point of view). Pretty cool!

You can read more about Zeb here.

Colonel Tuttle (Tim Meadows)

Tim Meadows cameos as New Republic requisitions officer Colonel Tuttle, a name that not so subtly nods to Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, a satire about a dystopian society ruled by bureaucracy and the kinds of officials who are more interested in paper work than actually helping anyone. We’ve already seen plenty of other ways the New Republic resembles the totalitarian rulers of Brazil and here we get to see another way the galactic government is ineffective.

You can read more about Tim Meadows here.

Lt. Reed (Max Lloyd-Jones)

Max Lloyd-Jones returns as Lt. Reed, one of Carson Teva’s New Republic wingmen when out on patrol in the Outer Rim. The character first appeared in The Book of Boba Fett. But this isn’t Lloyd-Jones most famous role in Star Wars, of course. He first served as Luke Skywalker’s body double in the famous The Mandalorian season 2 finale, with Mark Hamill de-aged face CGI’d onto Lloyd-Jones’ head. Lloyd-Jones didn’t play Luke on Boba Fett, though. That was Graham Hamilton.

“He Shot First!”

It’s the old “Han Shot First” debacle all over again when Greef Karga and Gorian Shard argue about who started the fight on Nevarro in “The Apostate.” At one point, Greef asserts that the pirates shot first and therefore he and Din were forced to defend themselves. We know of course that it was actually technically the other way around…but only because the pirates wouldn’t back down!

Carson Teva and the Adelphi Rangers

Carson Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) and the other New Republic rangers who patrol the Outer Rim are based at an outpost on Adelphi, a planet first mentioned in season 2, but that makes its first real appearance here. All we know about the planet is that it offers nice views for the bar where all the rangers hangout after hours.

It’s at this bar that we of course reunite with Zeb, but there are also three other cameos in the scene. Sitting on the opposite side of the bar are exec producer Dave Filoni as Trapper Wolf, director and exec producer Rick Famuyiwa as Jib Dodger, and director and Obi-Wan Kenobi showrunner Deborah Chow as Sash Ketter. All of these characters were first introduced in The Mandalorian season 1 episode “The Prisoner.”

Snivvian and Other Aliens

If you love Star Wars aliens, this episode is absolutely packed with all different races, from the pirates working for Gorian Shard to the citizens of Nevarro. We’ve got all the classics like Aqualish, Gran, Jawas, Klatooinians, Mon Calamari, Nikto, Quarrens, Rodians, Trandoshans Twi’leks, Ugnaughts, and Weequay.

But we have to give a special shoutout to the pig-like Snivvian tending bar on Adelphi. Not only was this one of the original species featured in A New Hope but it was introduced in the famous cantina scene, so the return of the Snivvian here sort of serves as a double nod to the Original Trilogy.

Y-wings and the Corsair

– While the New Republic rangers seem to favor X-wings as their starfighter of choice, we also see Y-wings landing at the outpost on Adelphi. These ships were first introduced in A New Hope during the attack on the Death Star. Although in that movie, they went on the trench run like all the other fighters, Y-wings primary function is as a bomber.

– Gorian’s ill-fated pirate ship is identified as a corsair, a type of warship that was actually first introduced in the recent Thrawn prequel novels. In those books, these ships are piloted by the Lioaoin Regime, one of the powerful factions that operate in the Unknown Regions of space. They often rivaled the Chiss Ascendancy, the nation from which Thrawn originally hails from. The Thrawn connections keep on coming!

During last year’s Game Awards, 505 Games announced Crime Boss: Rockay City. Nobody knew what the game was really about, as the trailer promised celebrities such as Michael Madsen, Kim Basinger, Danny Trejo, and Danny Glover. After that trailer, we didn’t really hear anything about the game until its recent release. And now we might know why.

On March 28, Crime Boss: Rockay City essentially stealth released on the Epic Games store, with the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 versions to follow shortly this June. Reviews dropped around the same time, and most, if not all, say the same thing: Crime Boss: Rockay City plays a lot like PayDay 2 but much worse. Controls are floaty, missions are more or less the same, and enemies tend to be unfair bullet sponges. Even when a job seemingly calls for stealth, one way or another, it always ends in shootouts. Unlike PayDay 2, Crime Boss: Rockay City includes a single-player campaign and several Left 4 Dead-like co-op campaigns, but they all recycle the same heists and missions as the base multiplayer component. 

Crime Boss: Rockay City’s presentation doesn’t fare that much better. Many critics and reviews state that writing ranges from bad to cringy, and subtitles are rife with grammatical errors that have led some to speculate that they were quite possibly generated by an A.I. program. Even worse, the game has clearly squandered its “star-studded” cast. It’s odd that there’s a fairly major game banking off of Chuck Norris jokes in 2023, but you would at least expect to see Chuck Norris portray some kind of sheriff who storms into nightclubs on horseback as the dictionary definition of “badass.” Instead, he’s just kind of…there. Any actual entertainment value these celebrities could have delivered is also ruined by what gamers are calling wooden (or worse) performances. In fact, it’s kind of a stretch to call the celebrity appearances in this game “performances” at all.

While the game’s truly terrible dialog is enough to deprive any actor of their will to work, there are times when it almost feels like the dialog was delivered via Cameo requests rather than studio sessions. Some of the lines don’t even sound like they were spoken into a proper microphone. The only apparent exception is Damion Pointier, whose audio quality is reportedly suspiciously better than the rest of the cast. Who would have thought that Vanilla Ice would (possibly literally) phone it in?

However, the most notable thing about the game at this time is how weird the whole thing is and how the game is filled with content that is nearly inexplicable and often pretty shocking.

For instance, it seems that there is a glitch in the game that causes a topless version of Kim Basinger’s character model to load instead of the seemingly intended clothed version of the character. What’s particularly strange about this glitch is that an unusual number of people seem to be encountering it, to the point where many wondered if it was supposed to be part of the game. It certainly doesn’t seem like it should be, though a “feature” like that comes depressingly close to matching this game’s general maturity level.

Various other glitches seemingly raise questions regarding the line between bad design and technical problems. The same few character models are repeated throughout, certain enemies feel nearly unkillable, AI companions play by their own rules (of physics), and the game is filled with bizarre side missions and cutaways to seemingly random activities that feel largely disconnected from the rest of the experience. Glitches are one thing, but there are times when you’re genuinely not sure if everyone was on the same page regarding what game they were working on.

It’s worth noting that reviews of Crime Boss: Rockay City are not all doom and gloom. Many critics state the game at least offers a unique blend of different mechanics, including roguelike progression. But even that mechanic finds a way to mess up the finished product. On one hand, roguelike progression offers plenty of perks to give players an edge and make each run easier, but everything soon starts running together, which turns the roguelike mechanics from a blessing into a curse.

The general consensus regarding Crime Boss: Rockay City is the game lacks an identity. It plays too much like other titles — specifically PayDay 2 and Left 4 Dead — to stand out, and when it tries to do something unusual for the genre, such as roguelike mechanics, these ideas end up ruining the flow and pacing. As some have pointed out, even the name “Crime Boss: Rockay City” sounds generic and akin to those mobile games with intentionally deceptive advertising. The identity Crime Boss: Rockay City rests with its celebrity cast, but thanks to lackluster performances, their presence is unwarranted. Many gamers are convinced most people will forget about the game in a few months, and, given current reviews, that seems like a very likely outcome. If you find the time to do so, though, try to catch a few clips of what will almost certainly be the year’s strangest gaming disaster before it becomes little more than a memory.

Everybody knows that Wilson Fisk is the Kingpin of Crime, not a legitimate business and political figure. I mean, it’s right there in his name! So when Vincent D’Onofrio made his surprise cameo in the finale of Hawkeye, it made sense. He was the menacing figure behind the tracksuit mafia who had been manipulating Maya Lopez aka Echo (Alaqua Cox) all along. And while his Tommy Bahama casual wear was quite a break from the dapper brute we got to know during three seasons of Daredevil on Netflix, he still felt like the same guy, a mobster whose social graces barely cover his criminal cruelty.

But the most recent set photos from the upcoming Disney+ series Daredevil: Born Again lend credence to long-held rumors that Fisk is giving up his life of crime in the new series, at least on the surface, to run for Mayor of New York City.

In one set of images, we see a crowd gathered in New York’s Times Square for New Years’ Eve celebrations. Among the revelers is a man holding a foam fist with the world “Fisk” in bold, capital letters (less pertinent, but interesting, are the celebratory doo-dads bearing the name of PymVanDyne, the company we met briefly in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania).

Another shot shows D’Onofrio’s Fisk standing in front of what may be a construction site (or a section of the city partitioned off for filming). Gone is the tan leisure wear he sported in Hawkeye, replaced by a more conservative suit combo. If one did not know the Kingpin as the Kingpin, they might mistake this well-dressed man as a respectable civil servant. And that may very well be the costume designer’s intention.

We already know that Daredevil: Born Again will blur the line between continuation and reboot of the TV-MA rated Netflix series, carrying over some elements, such as star Charlie Cox and Jon Bernthal’s Punisher, while leaving behind some of the plot points of the past series, as well as Elden Henson’s Foggy Nelson and Deborah Ann Woll’s Karen Page (at least for now). It’s also unlikely that Born Again will adapt the Marvel comic book arc of the same name, in part because it was already covered in season three of the Netflix series.

The Fisk as Mayor rumors point to a different, more recent comic book run as inspiration for the Man Without Fear’s Disney+ adventures. 2017’s Daredevil #595 — written by Charles Soule, drawn by Stefano Landini, and colored by Matt Milla — saw Fisk rise to New York Mayor on a law and order platform, despite his gangster leanings (mirroring a real New York-based figure who won elected office in 2016). The political rhetoric did not prevent Fisk from shoring up his power and continuing his criminal activities in secret, which made life that much more difficult for poor Matt Murdock.

Of course, as mayor of the most important city in the Marvel Universe, Fisk changed the status quo for more characters than just Daredevil. Mayor Fisk not only turned public opinion against superheroes, even beloved figures like the Fantastic Four, but eventually completely outlawed superheroes in New York. Although that decision led to Fisk’s eventual ouster in the recent Devil’s Reign storyline by writer Chip Zdarsky and artist Marco Checchetto, he managed to ruin a lot of lives along the way.

Should Born Again follow this comic book storyline, it will help the new series further distinguish itself from its Netflix forerunner, while still establishing Fisk as a formidable threat for the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen as well as the other heroes of New York City. And with D’Onofrio confirming that Marvel has plans for a second season of the show, Mayor Fisk’s term in office could be a very long one in the MCU.

Daredevil: Born Again is slated to hit Disney+ in early 2024.

24. Dungeon Hack

Dungeon Hack, we need to talk. Yes, you refined the gameplay of your predecessors to a razor’s edge. Yes, you’re easy to pick up and play. And yes, your pixel art holds up. But like Tom Cruise’s smile, there’s something off about you. You’re pleasant at first, but there’s just nothing behind those pretty pixels. Dungeon Hack’s randomly generated labyrinths get very old very fast, and its “story” feels as if someone managed to make a Dungeon Master-flavored Lacroix.

The game was licensed by D&D’s creators and uses D&D‘s rules, but aside from the numbers and the wanton violence against certain iconic monsters like Beholders and Mimics, very little about this game really feels like D&D. So If you want to kill both goblins and time, this is a strong choice, but there’s very little else to get excited about here. 

23. Eye of the Beholder 3: Assault On Myth Drannor

The Eye of the Beholder series brought a host of innovations to dungeon-crawling RPGs by blending first-person exploration with an intriguing combination of real-time and turn-based combat mechanics that emphasized timing and cooldowns in ways that are still being used today.

While Eye of the Beholder 3 is certainly solid, it’s also the weakest overall entry in the series with less exploration and a less engaging story than its predecessors. Don’t worry, though. We’ll have plenty more to say about those games in just a bit.

22. D&D Online

Surprisingly, this isn’t the first Dungeons and Dragons MMORPG. In fact, it’s not even the second. But D&D Online certainly has some staying power.

Set in the D&D realm of Eberron (which takes its inspiration from pulp action stories like Indiana Jones and Alan Quatermaine), D&D Online is a solid, fun MMORPG that’s still going strong today. However, like many older MMORPGs, it’s begun to develop a terminal case of “Free-to-play syndrome:” a devastating illness that claims MMORPGs all over the world. Symptoms include content droughts and predatory monetization. A pity we couldn’t have caught it in time. 

21. Neverwinter (MMORPG)

Neverwinter is D&D Online’s over-acheiving younger brother. The one who’s taking extracurriculars and trying to get into a good college while D&D Online has been out of the house and still keeps asking mom and dad for money.

However, unlike D&D Online, which used a version of the tabletop game’s rules that were widely adored by fans, Neverwinter used a more recent (and decidedly less popular) ruleset as its base. So, it pulled out all the stops to prove itself and eventually grew into something distinct and interesting. Unlike D&D Online, which allowed its Free-To-Play monetization to morph into a horrific money hole, Neverwinter has put in the work to manage its condition with plentiful updates and slightly less predatory monetization plans. However, it loses points for paywalling certain classes and lineages. 

20. Eye of the Beholder

All these first-person grid-based dungeon crawlers with timing-based combat have to have come from somewhere, right? Well, behold the grandaddy of the modern dungeon crawler: Eye of the Beholder.

This title’s revolutionary gameplay went on to inspire franchises like Might & Magic and The Elder Scrolls. Innovations aside, the game provides a solid D&D experience, complete with a fully customizable party of four adventurers who must delve into sewers, caverns, ruins, and various other subterranean locales. Eventually, parties must confront Xanathar: a multi-eyed eldritch horror with plans to overtake the city of Waterdeep with the help of his own private army.

Intriguing set-up aside, there’s actually very little to the game in terms of story, which is why it’s not as high on the list.   

19. Menzoberranzan

I hope you like first-person dungeon crawlers, kids. Because the D&D franchise is practically drowning in them.

As fun to play as it is hard to pronounce. Menzoberranzan (Menn-Zow-Bahrr-Ehn-Zann) sends players on a journey to explore a mysterious subterranean world called The Underdark. In the tabletop game, this dark realm beneath the earth is home to eldritch horrors, mad cults, and a tyrannical empire of dark elves known as the Drow. However, if you’re a D&D veteran, you likely rolled your eyes at the mention of the Drow, and I don’t blame you. Their lore ranges from goofy to just plain gross, and it’s all aged like milk. Worse yet is the game’s inevitable appearance of D&D’s poster-elf, Drizzt Do’Urden, who has saved the world so many times at this point in the canon that you’re left wondering why he isn’t doing anything to help out. Then again, that’s something of a common issue in D&D’s Forgotten Realms setting (I’m looking at you, Elminster).

Still, despite the weaknesses in the story, there’s some solid gameplay here. You build a party of two adventurers and go on a quest to explore the Underdark. Even though almost all of the game takes place underground, the game does offer a few novelties here and there in terms of set design. Granted, it’s nowhere near the variations of later titles, but it’s still worth picking up. Especially if you love the gameplay of a certain vampire-filled entry on this list.

18. Spelljammer: Pirates of Realmspace

D&D has a multitude of different universes to play in. From standard fantasy fare like the Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk to stranger shores like the brutal Dark Sun and magically steampunk Eberron. Not to mention the multitude of homebrewed worlds conjured by the Red-Bull-fueled imaginations of dungeon masters the world over. Enter Spelljammer: a D&D universe that sought to unite all those disparate worlds by having them be literally planets in a galaxy that one could travel via magical starships (the titular spelljammers.) 

 The game makes the most of the setting, taking hints from the Sid Meiers game Pirates! You pick a class and race, hop aboard a magical spaceship, and travel the worlds, trading goods and boarding ships to get at the delicious loot inside. While you can battle ship-to-ship with cannons and magical spells, it’s way more fun to just crash into your enemy, board their vessel, and slaughter everyone inside like a true buccaneer. The game’s graphics and UI have certainly aged poorly, but once you get used to things, it’s a solid title with a lot to offer. 

Pirates of Realmspace is one of the only games set within this magical sci-fi mashup universe so far, which is a real shame. After all, any Deep Rock Galactic player can tell you that nothing is cooler than dwarves in space!

17. Dungeons and Dragons: Tower of Doom

With no character creation and side-scrolling combat that eschews the turn-based tactics the tabletop game is known for, it’s easy to think this is just some cynical attempt to cash in on the D&D property during the era of Arcade beat-em-ups. However, Tower of Doom is more than a cynical tie-in. The game goes to great lengths to capture the spirit of a D&D campaign. 

Taking hints from some of the older editions of the tabletop rules, a team of up to four players chooses between a fighter, cleric, elf, or dwarf (back when that race was the class) to take on enemies across the world of Mystara. Like a real D&D adventure, players could choose their path through the game, taking branching roads to different levels. And the presence of one class or another could even open up new paths or unlock treasures you might otherwise have missed! Add in the furious fun of a golden-age-era Capcom beat-em-up, and you’ve got a recipe for a great time. 

16. Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone

Demon Stone and Dark Alliance offer two different answers to the same question. After all, they’re both PS2-era action RPGs with pre-set characters and a linear story. But while Dark Alliance was content to simply cling to the trappings of D&D, Demon Stone tries to use the game’s oft-overused Forgotten Realms setting to tell a compelling story.

Penned by D&D writer R.A. Salvatore, Demon Stone follows the travels of a band of adventurers united in an alliance of necessity after a battle between orcish armies imperils their homeland. It’s an engaging story with tight dialogue and an endearing dynamic between the game’s pre-written heroes.

Expanded narrative aside, Demon Stone deviates from its ARPG cousin by allowing players to access all three party members and freely switch between a warrior, rogue, and mage at the drop of a hat (and all the unique abilities that come with those classes).

15. Ravenloft: Strahd’s Possession

Pulling away from the wizards and whimsy of the Forgotten Realms, we venture past the mists and into the gothic-horror world of Barovia.

Ravenloft: Strahd’s Possession is yet another addition to the conga line of first-person dungeon crawlers on this list. However, the game stands apart by attempting an honest-to-goodness horror experience in the D&D world. Sure, the vampires, werewolves, and zombies may seem a bit trite compared to modern horror titles, but the game’s brilliant art direction does a fantastic job of delivering a chilling experience right out of a Hammer Horror movie.

It’s also one of the first D&D games to include voice acting, which it employs to great effect. Tormented wraiths wail in agony, fearful villagers mutter in anxious tones and the titular Strahd himself speaks with a cold, imperious contempt that can send chills down your spine (even with the dated audio compression). If you like some fear with your fantasy, Strahd’s Possession will hold you firmly in its grip for hours on end. 

14. The Pool Of Radiance Series

This isn’t just one of the earliest D&D video games; it’s one of the earliest video game RPGs as we know them. That alone would be enough to earn it a spot inthe top 15, but add the fact that these early titles actually capture the spirit and gameplay of the original tabletop game and you’ve got something truly special.

The Pool of Radiance series is commonly known as the “Goldbox” series, as they more or less all used the same engine and had identical gameplay and graphics. Hence their shared place on this list. However, that doesn’t detract from the fact that the series does an excellent job of taking players and their custom party across the lands of the Forgotten Realms (With nary a Drizzt in sight!). While their gameplay and UI have admittedly aged poorly, I would still easily recommend these games, especially now that you can purchase the entire four-game series for relatively cheap. Now if only we could get a full remaster!

13. The Krynn Series

Like the Pool of Radiance series, the Krynn series is a collection of three games available in a single package. Set in the world of Krynn from the Dragonlance setting, this series takes the strengths of the original Goldbox collection and amplifies them with better graphics, tighter gameplay, and a relatively more in-depth story.

Just know that the early entries in the series suffer from dated graphics, even by the standards of their time. Furthermore, the first game loves to throw enemies at you that have special abilities designed specifically to screw with you after they die. So be sure to keep your heroes well-supplied for the perils ahead. 

12. Shadow Over Mystara

The second result of D&D and Capcom’s torrid love affair, Shadows Over Mystara takes all the things that made Tower of Doom good and doubles down on them. There are more characters to choose from, more monsters to face, more treasure, more spells, more equipment, and even better animation! Even the controls feel tighter, with plenty of spells and special moves to experiment with as you fight your way across Mystara to battle the ferocious dragon, Synn.

Sure, the story is effectively nonexistent, but that comes with the territory for most arcade games. Like the Goldbox series, you can usually pick up both Tower of Doom and Shadows Over Mystara together, and they’re absolutely worth it.

11. Temple of Elemental Evil 

Created by Troika Software, Temple of Elemental Evil strives to provide a truly complete D&D experience by translating one of the game’s older campaign books into a fully realized video game. I may be a bit biased putting it this far up on the list, but I absolutely love any D&D game that allows players to make a completely custom party.

On top of that, there are plenty of moments for great roleplaying spread throughout this game, especially in the cities and villages outside the titular temple. Temple of Elemental Evil even lets you select what your party’s collective alignment is, which can dramatically change how your campaign starts. The gameplay is even incredibly faithful to the third edition rules in a way that few games since have matched. 

However, Troika games tend to be great in terms of gameplay and story, but less than stellar on a technical level. The game has more bugs than a flea circus, some of which can even soft-lock your game. The 3d models are also a bit dated, though they still have a lot of charm and the animations hold up. I recommend downloading the Circle Of Eight modpack to get the best experience. That fan-made patch not only stabilizes the game but adds plenty of cut content!

10. Neverwinter Nights

Not to be mistaken with the similarly named MMORPG, Neverwinter Nights is a BioWare RPG that attempts to create a multiplayer-friendly D&D experience where players roll their characters and explore a pre-made story. It’s an idea that a number of notable RPGs that followed would gleefully borrow.

However, unlike games that would later refine this concept (most notably, Divinity: Original Sin 2) Neverwinter Nights only lets you control one character at a time. Any non-player characters on your side will come pre-made and be directed by the game’s AI. While I’m not the biggest fan of that particular choice, the thing that places this game so high on this list is its community. Neverwinter Nights features a robust modding system that’s always been surprisingly friendly. In the decades since its release, fans have created some truly fantastic custom campaigns that you can enjoy alone or with friends. 

9. Dark Sun: Shattered Lands

Your earliest memories are the smell of death and the feeling of cold chains around your neck. The air is alive with the roar of bloodthirsty spectators. Through the bars of your cell, you have just witnessed a terrifying beast rip a gladiator in half. And as the doors to your cage open, you know that you must fight or share his fate.

Dark Sun: Shattered Lands is unique in every sense of the word. Set in the brutal desert world of Athas (where the gods are dead and powerful sorcerer-kings have scoured the earth of greenery in the mad pursuit of power), you play as rebellious slaves, runaway gladiators, and nomadic outcasts looking to find freedom in the desert. 

The game even offers an early version of open-world gameplay that allows you to solve various problems in numerous ways. For example, when you start the game off as a prisoner in the gladiator pits of Tyr, you can either work with your fellow prisoners to hatch an escape plan or gain favor and gold with the crowd to buy your freedom. The game is full of choices, and few of them are presented via the binary of a dialogue box. You’re instead encouraged to engage with the story through gameplay. Plus, the game’s pixel art does a fantastic job of capturing the perils and wonders of the burnt world of Athas. I can’t recommend this game enough. 

8. Eye of the Beholder 2: The Legend of Darkmoon

Simply put, Eye of the Beholder 2 is the over-achiever of this series in the best ways possible.

The original Eye of the Beholder was fun and all, but it suffered from a common problem among dungeon crawlers at that time: “Dungeon Fatigue.” This condition tragically plagued many early dungeon crawlers, where your choice of scenery was too often “dungeon with gray walls,” “dungeon with brown walls,” or, if the game was feeling really frisky, “hedge maze with green walls.”

However, Eye of the Beholder 2 does away with that issue by opening up its world and diversifying its environment. While there are still plenty of tombs and temples to plunder, there are also unique areas such as haunted forests and a wizard’s tower made entirely of gleaming silver. Meanwhile, the game’s pixel art and moments of dialogue do a lot to elevate the story and create a memorable, if by the numbers, fantasy adventure. 

7. Ravenloft: Stone Prophet

I have to imagine the pitch meeting for this game was just some underpaid intern crossing out the word “Vampire” and writing in “Mummies???” to the uproarious applause of the executives. Mind you, Stone Prophet is still the best part of the Ravenloft duology.

Trading dark forests and vampires for scorching deserts and mummies, Stone Prophet does a great job of making players feel like they’re trapped in a hostile world as they ration water and food across a vast and unforgiving open world. Combat encounters are fast, furious, and fun. Stone Prophet’s companion choices are also some of the most unique I’ve seen in a D&D game. You can even recruit a troll to join your little desert caravan. 

Like the previous entry, this title is rife with grisly, disturbing imagery and excellent audio design. The first few minutes of the game have you talking with a dying nomad whose very body is shriveling and turning to dust before your very eyes. Remarkably, it only gets worse from there. A hidden gem half-buried in desert sands, the only curse you’ll find in this game is the kind you’ll give yourself for not playing it sooner.   

6. Neverwinter Nights 2

Neverwinter Nights 2 does what any good sequel should do: improve the strengths of its predecessor while shoring up its weaknesses.

Thanks to a more dynamic approach to dialogue the likes of which you’ll also find in later BioWare titles like Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect, this sequel offers greater control over your party members and a more faithful recreation of D&D‘s mechanics. Meanwhile, the game remains as mod-friendly as ever, with a strong system for multiplayer and homebrewed story campaigns.

That said, the game’s default campaign does lose some points for having characters that range from milquetoast to just flat-out annoying. That being said, expanded campaigns (like Obsidians’ Mask Of The Betrayer) more than make up for that shortcoming by delivering one of the most impactful and engaging stories in the franchise. 

5. Icewind Dale

I mentioned in previous entries that I love a game with a fully customized party, and Icewind Dale is where that love really began.

The ability to choose things such as your character’s class and ancestry certainly isn’t novel (it’s been around as far back as the Pool of Radiance games), but Icewind Dale goes a step further by also letting you write your character’s biography. A blank textbox waiting to be filled in probably doesn’t seem like much, but it’s fertile ground for a bit of creative exploration. I used it to write my character’s backstories, personality, and even their relationships with other members of their party. I even ended up ‘shipping’ two party members: the dour paladin Konrad The Pale and the laid-back dwarf fighter, Brecka Stonehammer. It’s a great way to get more involved in the lives of your party and make their potentially permanent deaths all the more impactful.

Icewind Dale also makes the most of its isometric perspective thanks to varied environments that are creative and beautifully handcrafted. Alongside standard dungeons deep and caverns old, you’ll also explore a foundry staffed by fire giants, the tomb of a rotting dragon, and even an aquarium that has been frozen over by ice magic, its specimens trapped in frigid stillness for all time. 

4. Baldur’s Gate

When it comes to delivering the D&D Experience, few video games can match Baldur’s Gate.

While previous D&D games offered choices in dialogue, Baldur’s Gate was one of the first to lean hard into the idea of using dialogue to determine your character’s moral and practical stances. Of course, the game was developed by Bioware, and it shows for better or worse. Most of your choices range from “Mother Teresa” to “Skeletor” in terms of binary extremes, but the game more than makes up for that with companions who are a genuine blast to have around.

Just know that this game is also prone to moments of flat-out brutality in terms of its gameplay. That’s especially true during its latter half where it will toss entire swarms of “Save-or-die” monsters at you like Basilisks who will turn party members to stone in an instant. But with some time, preparation, and a bit of meta-knowledge, you’ll come out with a fun fantasy adventure that’s well worth your time.  

3. Icewind Dale 2

In case you haven’t noticed, most D&D games can be split into two houses: The Dungeon Crawlers and the Storytellers.

Storyteller games, like Baldur’s Gate, focus on weaving a compelling narrative with lots and lots of dialogue and choices to get you involved in the story. Dungeon Crawlers, meanwhile, focus more on gameplay, emulating the feeling of mastering combat moreso than classic roleplaying. Some may pay lip-service to the idea of a story, but more often than not their plots boil down to “A magic man did a bad thing, do violence about it.” Even Icewind Dale suffered from that problem. Its story, while engaging, was still fairly bare-bones.

But Icewind Dale 2 doesn’t just tell a good story; it pushes the game’s engine to its absolute limits. Sure, you’ll be fighting mazes full of monsters, but sometimes you’ll be fighting an advancing skirmish to keep a group of ogres from collapsing a bridge, or racing through a gauntlet of biological horrors to stop a mad flesh-shaping wizard’s plans to create the ultimate life form. The game is chock full of these interesting, detailed combat encounters that use the thrill of battle to tell an inventive and thrilling story of revenge, loss, and how ambitions can turn poisonous. 

2. Baldur’s Gate 2

Larian’s upcoming Baldur’s Gate 3 seems to be promising a lot in terms of story and character. It’s an ambitious title that looks to offer an ultimate role-playing experience. So why am I talking about it when I should be talking about its predecessor? Well, even with their budget and modern gaming advantages, Larian is going to find that Baldur’s Gate 2 is a historically tough act to follow.

Every single complaint about Baldur’s Gate isn’t just improved upon in this sequel; it’s mastered. The writing is superlative, as moments of loss will leave you gutted and your characters’ personal triumphs feel monumental. The environments are varied, fantastical, and jaw-dropping even by modern standards. The game is even fully voiced by a litany of ’90s cartoon veterans who, despite their Saturday morning pedigrees, bring heart-wrenching sorrow and overwhelming joy to their performances. Baldur’s Gate 2 is more than a great D&D game; it’s a great game, period. 

1. Planescape: Torment

What changes the nature of a man? It’s the kind of question that seems easy to answer at first, but gets more and more complex the longer you think about it. You can pore over the question like a fractal, picking apart the things that define you like unspooling a sweater. Therein lies the power of Planescape Torment: an adventure that feels less like a video game and more like interactive literature in the best possible way. 

You are an amnesiac undead known only as The Nameless One: an entity who can neither remember its past nor be fully taken by death. Both seem like a bog-standard case of RPG Protagonist Syndrome, but the game uses these two key elements with surgical precision to tell a brilliant story about change, selfdom, and the nature of our place in reality. Each time we play the game we discover something new both in the game and ourselves. And really, exploring an aspect of yourself you may not be familiar with and shaking hands with your shadow to ask it why you are the way you are is the essence of role-playing. Or you can just enjoy the story and beat up some demons. That works, too. 

This article contains spoilers for HBO’s The Last of Us.

The season 1 finale of HBO’s The Last of Us may have been climactic, but things didn’t necessarily end on a massive cliffhanger. After finding the Fireflies in Salt Lake City and discovering that Ellie (Bella Ramsey) would have to die for them to make a cure for Cordyceps, Joel takes matters into his own hands and forcefully stops the surgery that would have removed the Cordyceps from her brain. Leaving behind the bodies of Fireflies who would dare stand in his way, Joel takes Ellie and sets off for his brother’s settlement in Jackson, Wyoming.

When Ellie wakes up, she asks Joel what happened, and he lies saying the hospital was attacked and that the Fireflies had been able to conduct enough tests on other immune people that they had stopped looking for a cure. Once they reach Jackson, it’s clear that Ellie is having doubts and makes him swear that what he told her was the truth. Joel lies again and swears that it’s true, leaving Ellie, who still doesn’t seem to believe Joel, to decide how to move forward. She simply says “okay” and the two presumably continue on to Jackson together.

While this ending wraps up Joel and Ellie’s story well and doesn’t appear to leave too many loose ends, fans of the video game series that the show is based on know that Joel’s actions will have some nasty consequences. But whether you’re familiar with the plot of the second game that the series is planning to adapt or you’re a newcomer who has no idea how much emotional damage awaits them, fans are eager to see where the HBO series will take Joel and Ellie in season 2.

Unfortunately, the wait for the second season will likely be a long one. In an interview with The Jonathan Ross Show (via Independent) on March 18, Bella Ramsey shared that it will probably be a while before the second season airs saying “I think we’ll probably shoot at the end of this year, beginning of next. So it’ll probably be the end of 2024, early 2025.”

But a long break between seasons isn’t out of the ordinary for HBO series. Season 1 of The Last of Us started filming in July 2021 and took around 200 days total to film. Even though the first season of House of the Dragon aired its finale in October 2022, it will likely be 2024 before we see the return of that series as well.

Even though it will be a long, long time before we get to see where Joel and Ellie’s story goes from here, it will be worth the wait to see how showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann adapt the complicated and emotional story of The Last of Us Part II. The controversial game has plenty of material for the series to expand upon, and the showrunners have already given some hints as to what viewers can expect in the second season. 

Though this wait will be brutal for many of us, the next two years will probably be the most challenging for those hoping to avoid major game spoilers before watching season 2. While I highly recommend playing the game or at least watching a playthrough on YouTube before the internet spoils major emotional moments for you (and because the game is that good), we wish you the best of luck in staying spoiler-free while waiting for season 2 of The Last of Us.

Nintendo finally released a proper gameplay preview for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and it looks…really good, actually.

The preview was only ten minutes long, but it showcased a few key gameplay additions that will seemingly help define the much-anticipated title. Link’s versatile (and hilarious) ability to “fuse” items together was the obvious highlight of the preview, though Link’s ability to “ascend” throughout the game to reach new heights will undoubtedly play a major role in this game’s apparently very vertical world. Elsewhere, we saw much more of how players can forge some surprisingly elaborate vehicles out of common objects. I wasn’t expecting the next Zelda game to double as a dream K’nex Toys adventure, but here we are.

For as much as there is to say about what is in Tears of the Kingdom, though, it seems telling that this preview immediately sparked quite a few conversations about what we haven’t seen of the game. While there is almost certainly quite a bit of TotK that has yet to be revealed, it’s clear that some fans seem to be setting themselves up to be disappointed by what this game probably is.

For instance, one of the most popular theories about Tears of the Kingdom at the moment is the idea that the game secretly contains updated versions of those classic Zelda dungeons that were notably missing from Breath of the Wild. Mind you, nobody from the TotK team has even hinted at the return of traditional Zelda dungeons, but there is a surprisingly large section of the fanbase that seems to think a lack of information is all the information they need in this instance.

Running alongside that idea is the equally popular suggestion that Tears of the Kingdom‘s new overworld is not only much larger than Breath of the Wild‘s overworld but is filled with incredible narrative and gameplay secrets. Those who subscribe to that theory suggest that those secrets are the reason why Nintendo hasn’t showcased much of TotK‘s world so far. Clearly, they’re trying to hide some incredible spoilers that would ruin the game if we saw them ahead of TotK‘s May 12 release date.

Of course, there are also those theories that suggest Tears of the Kingdom will completely shake up significant aspects of the Zelda lore/timeline and deliver the kind of Zelda narrative that will leave devoted franchise fans talking for years. We’ve covered some of those theories in the past, but there are many of them out there, and most of them are strengthened by how little Nintendo has said about the game’s story so far.

That’s the point we keep coming back to, isn’t it? So many of these fan theories about what Tears of the Kingdom really is are based on the idea that Nintendo is intentionally not telling us about what would seemingly be some pretty major parts of the game. While it’s true that there is still so much about TotK we simply don’t know, the idea that everything that hasn’t been said is a tip-off to some incredible secret feature yet to be revealed seems like dangerously wishful thinking at this point.

Based on what we do know about the game, Tears of the Kingdom seems to pick up pretty much where Breath of the Wild left off in terms of its gameplay design, world, and narrative. Both are open-world Zelda adventures that emphasize survival, crafting, exploration, and experimentation while downplaying (or removing) some of the elements that have defined more “traditional” Zelda games.

Honestly, that seems to be the problem. For as successful as Breath of the Wild was, there were quite a few fans who simply did not like it. They didn’t like its open-world design, they didn’t like the crafting and weapon durability mechanics, and they didn’t like its lack of hallmark franchise features. It’s not a coincidence that so many of these supposedly “hidden” features in Tears of the Kingdom match the wishlists of those who were underwhelmed by BotW. Those underwhelmed fans are seemingly leading this charge by suggesting that TotK is actually this kind of ultimate dream Zelda title that combines BotW mechanics with missing Zelda tropes. Nintendo is clearly just withholding the latter aspects to ensure fans are properly blown away when they appear in the final game.

Yet, everything we have seen of Tears of the Kingdom so far suggests that the game is actually doubling-down on many of the elements that defined Breath of the Wild. For instance, those creative solutions to complex problems that players loved to discover and share in BotW are clearly being catered to via TotK‘s Fuse system and vehicle crafting. Pretty much everything we’ve seen of TotK so far has been designed to highlight the ways it will expand the core BotW experience. It seems to be designed to appeal to those who did love BotW, which, again, does seem to be the heart of the problem for other franchise fans.

Mind you, this isn’t just a case of hopelessly optimistic fans feeling left out of the fun. Tears of the Kingdom does look good, but it also looks strangely similar to Breath of the Wild in many ways. Large parts of the world look similar, the core gameplay is all there, and even the graphics look largely familiar. For a game that may very well be the last major Switch exclusive (as well as a game that Nintendo says will be worth its controversial $70 price tag), TotK does feel a bit closer to an elaborate expansion of BotW than even fans of the latter game may have expected. It looks like the kind of direct Zelda sequel we honestly haven’t seen a lot of throughout this franchise’s history. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but expectations being what they are, it’s easy enough to understand much of the speculation that’s going around.

We don’t know what the final version of Tears of the Kingdom has in store for us, but everything we’ve seen so far suggests that the only thing we can safely expect from the game is a bigger (and likely better) version of BotW. While the game may end up being more than that, anyone expecting significantly more from TotK this late in the game may be setting themselves up for some kind of disappointment.

This Quantum Leap review contains spoilers.

Quantum Leap Episode 17

Dr. Ben Song (Raymond Lee) lands this week on an international luxury airliner and in the body of a rookie stewardess neatly coiffed and tucked under a pill-box hat. Ben’s service-with-a-smile includes offering potent drinks, slicing rare beef and figuring out how to save all the passengers from the crash that takes all their lives in the past. The cause of the plane crash was unknown, so it’s up to Ben to figure out why the plane went down and how to prevent that from happening (again).

This episode jives with some of the best that Quantum Leap offered this season with its twists and turns, whodunits and MacGyver strategies, such as “O Ye of Little Faith,” “Fellow Travelers,” “Leap, Die, Repeat” and “S.O.S.” In fact, Ben is nothing if not an unconventional problem solver, and we see that this week when he manages to neutralize two armed hijackers, puts the copilot and his girlfriend-accomplice to sleep in order to access the cockpit and stabs someone in the neck. Ben deserved that opportunity after receiving such a stab himself in the last episode, “Ben, Interrupted.”  

Ben’s ability to get out of the worst jams is remarkable, but so is his ability to relate to the folks in his leaps, encourage them and ultimately convince others to do what’s right, even when that’s the hardest thing to do. I will forever stand corrected in my observation after the Quantum Leap pilot that Ben Song is not charismatic. Perhaps it was difficult to like a guy who abandons his fiancé, Addison Augustine (Caitlin Bassett), whose love language may very well be this simple—information.

Information is one thing that fans don’t have a lot of as we prepare for the season finale next week. Ben’s brain is still too swiss-cheesy to get much out of him and Janis has been little help. Ziggy is shut down due to its potential to spy on the team and report to the future, so even the team is relying on analog info to solve the leaps and keep Ben alive. Information may still be scarce, but those details are what propels Ben through his coordinated leaps and sling-shots him to the location where the finale will take place.   

Ben goes back to the future at the end of “Friendly Skies,” but he sails past his own time and lands in a nuclear winter where an aged Dr. Ian Wright (Mason Alexander Park) awaits him. Interestingly, the location he leaps into is the Quantum Leap project’s HQ, complete with a gaping hole in the roof and Ziggy signage that shows the AI is not just shut down but dead. Ian recognizes Ben, whoever he leaps into (or maybe he is himself), right away, which begs the question: who is Ben hosted by in the future and how does Ian know with certainty that it’s Ben?

While it seems like a nuclear holocaust may be exactly the thing that Ben leaped to save everyone, including Addison, from experiencing, apparently nothing wrong about the past has been put right enough to prevent this disaster from impacting the earth since it’s still part of the future. What could Ben learn by going there…a desolate, dying place with Ian dressed in burlap sacks instead of their regular couture? All we know for sure is that Ben’s leap to the future is a first…why he wanted to go there and what difference it might make in the past are all questions that the season finale is tasked with answering.   

Quantum Leap airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC. The sequel’s episodes, as well as all five seasons of the original show, are available to stream on Peacock.

The Resident Evil 4 remake is nearly here, though don’t be surprised if you’ve been struggling to find its exact release time. For some reason, Capcom has been unusually shy about sharing that information. It turns out that the game’s release time depends on your platform and region.

For instance, Resident Evil 4 Remake will be released for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 at midnight on March 24th. That means it will release at midnight for whatever time zone you’re currently in, so some will get to play the game before others. While it’s technically possible to change your local timezone on PlayStation consoles, the process is somewhat convoluted. Many will find it easier just to wait the extra few hours.

However, while the Xbox version of Resident Evil 4 Remake is also scheduled to be released at midnight on March 24th in your local time zone, Xbox gamers can easily change their console’s time zone. That means that the classic New Zealand trick will allow Xbox gamers to play Resident Evil 4 Remake several hours before they are supposed to.

PC gamers are in roughly the same boat as PlayStation fans. The Steam version of Resident Evil 4 Remake is also scheduled to be released at midnight on March 24th in your local time zone, and there isn’t a great way to use the New Zealand trick (or similar methods) to beat the clock on that platform. There are some methods out there that people have had success with in the past, but many of them involve outdated VPN tricks.

You should be able to preload Resident Evil 4 on all consoles as of the time of this writing, but there’s been no confirmation regarding Steam’s pre-load status. Recent Resident Evil releases couldn’t be pre-loaded on Steam (at least not until the final hours), and there’s been no confirmation if that will be the case this time around as well. You’ll want to keep an eye on that as we draw closer to release. At the moment, though, it’s looking like PC gamers will need to wait until release.

That’s a shame considering that Resident Evil 4 Remake is much larger than the previous Resident Evil remakes. The PS5 and Xbox Series X versions of the game clock in at around 60-67 GB, so you can expect the PC version of the game to be about the same size.

While we’ll have much more to say about Resident Evil 4 in the coming days, you can rest assured that the wait has been worth it. Capcom set a pretty high bar with the Resident Evil 2 Remake, but they arguably raised it with this incredible update of an already all-time great game. While it’s certainly not the most complete remake of a game that we’ve seen in recent years (much of the game is as it was before), it’s a real treat for Resident Evil 4 fans as well as anyone who has somehow not had the chance to play this revolutionary game.

This Star Trek: Picard article contains spoilers.

For all of its fan-service reunion moments and surprisingly deep character drama, Star Trek: Picard doesn’t forget to give us the spectacle we’ve come to expect from the franchise in 2023. So while the portal gun that Vadic stole from Daystrom Institute is undeniably cool, our interest was more than a little piqued by the reveal that the portal gun caper was just a cover for a different object. And then, as excited as we were to see most of the The Next Generation crew back together again, the reunion hid an even bigger surprise when the Data/Lore/B-4/Noonian Soong sampler platter revealed that the thing actually stolen from Daystrom was Jean-Luc Picard’s human remains.

What in the world would a bunch of Changelings want with an elderly man’s body, so broken down that even he exchanged it for a new one?

Of course, we’ll get an answer over the four remaining episodes of Picard. But attentive viewers have taken to the internet to offer their own theories in the meantime. And there’s one specific character at the center of the biggest theory of the moment: Locutus of Borg. As Captain Shaw memorably put it, Locutus was “the only Borg so deadly, they gave him a goddamn name.” We of course met Locutus in the season three finale of Next Generation, when the Borg assimilated Picard and transformed him into their mouthpiece for the Federation, using his knowledge to wreak chaos during the battle of Wolf 359.

While the non-serialized nature of Next Generation meant that Picard got over being Locutus by the end of season four’s second episode, the trauma of the event was revisited in the movie First Contact and in the first two seasons of Picard. We’ve seen the Borg return in one form or another in each of these properties, and with them, their attempt to bring Locutus back into the fold.

With its emphasis on the Changelings, the prime antagonists during the Dominion War shown on Deep Space Nine, it seemed like Locutus and the Borg were in the rearview for Picard season 3, save for Shaw’s memorable Quint moment. But a number of fans, ranging from users on Reddit to the hit Star Trek podcast Greatest Trek, have theorized that the Changelings want to bring back Locutus for their own ends. And the theory seems plausible!

One Reddit user proposes that Locutus would have the same regenerative capabilities as the Borg Queen, something that could be of interest to those Changelings who did not receive the cure for the bio-weapon the Federation unleashed on them during the Dominion War: “These Changelings were absent from the Great Link when Odo delivered the cure to the morphogenic virus, so they are still infected. They managed to come up with ways to survive, but it has drastically affected their shapeshifting abilities (remember, Odo’s constant shapeshifting while working with Kira and Damar accelerated his condition).”

“At some point, these Changelings met up with a piece of functioning Borg technology that contains an exact copy of Locutus. Remember, the Queen has been killed at least 3 or 4 times and always comes back more or less the same. Locutus was intended to be her counterpart, and thus was preserved the same way,” Reddit user Captain_Strongo continues. “Locutus offers the Changelings a chance to be able to ‘link’ together again–as a collective. But to do that, he needs a physical body with compatible Borg nanoprobes. The Changelings stole Picard’s body, but maybe there’s something insufficient about it, so Locutus orders the Changelings to bring Jack instead.”

A climactic final battle between our synth Jean-Luc and a reborn Locutus would certainly fit with this season’s theme of legacy. Although a very dark chapter in his life that haunts him in retirement, Locutus is very much a part of what Jean-Luc has left behind for future generations to reckon with. We see how it’s affected a younger Captain Shaw and has shaped his worldview, particularly the way he feels about Seven of Nine, and how it changed Commander Sisko‘s life on Deep Space Nine. Finally confronting what is arguably the darkest villain of The Next Generation era could be a proper send-off for the Starfleet hero.

Another Reddit user posits that Locutus 2.0 could be the latest in a long line of evil AI in Star Trek, not unlike Control or Landru: “Baddie is a Locutus and evil AI (AGMUS, Control, Landru, Peanut Hamper, whatever) combined together. Similar to Picard, Locutus is without a body and has combined with an evil AI to exist. That’s why they stole Picard’s body for Locutus. As well as Jack Crusher for the evil AI so they can have physical form.”

Bringing in the Borg, AI, and Synths together as a final boss for the Next Generation crew to defeat would certainly bring things full circle for a show which has sought to explore all three in greater detail than ever before. Of course, these are just theories, most of which do not address other big mysteries, like Jack Crusher’s visions seemingly brought about his Irumodic Syndrome. However, if indeed Picard season 3 is the end of the road for Jean-Luc, then it would make sense that he would need to face off one last time with his shadow self. And that catharsis would be even more satisfying than a super cool galaxy-destroying weapon.

Star Trek: Picard season 3 streams on Thursdays on Paramount+.

By now, you probably know some version of the story. The first trailer for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker was revealed during the SpaceWorld 2001 show and immediately drew widespread backlash, much of which was directed at the game’s cel-shaded art style. It’s a controversy that has arguably become as big of a part of the Wind Waker’s legacy as the game itself. 

However, to fully appreciate that controversy, you have to look at some of what people actually said about the game at that time. Thankfully (relatively speaking) you can do that by checking out this preserved IGN forum thread titled “Official Zelda Bitch Thread.” Yes, it turns out IGN comments have always been the way they are. Here are some of the highlights (presented without grammatical corrections):

“I can’t beleive what they di dto that Zelda game, just when I was saying that nintendo caters to old school gamers, they go and make zelda look like a frigging puppet show for 5 year olds. Mario SUNSHINE?”

“why why why. what have they done i fell so sad now thats not the joy i was wanting why why why. where is the game that i think is a real world where is my mature zelda this just at right *craws under a rock and dies*”

“OMG!!!! WTF HAPPENED?!?!?!?! Zelda looks like a little weak sissy bitch!! I just saw the movie/pics like 2 mins ago and what a pile of stinking crap!”

While there were positive (or optimistic) reactions to the reveal, comments like those certainly captured the mood at the time. Even Shigeru Miyamoto initially wasn’t a fan of the game’s looks. Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma said Miyamoto “literally cringed” when he saw Wind Waker for the first time. 

Don’t be too hard on those fans, though. If you were old enough at the time, you may have very well been one of the fans who cried for a darker and more mature Zelda game that looked more like this famous GameCube tech demo. Hell, fans today still complain when they think something is an insult to their dark and “mature” palates. It’s why Batman isn’t allowed to have fun and Superman has to destroy buildings rather than rescue kittens from trees. Nintendo said that they even received some letters from fans complaining that the new Link wasn’t sexy enough for their fan fiction desires, which…well, some things don’t change. The fan culture that spawned the reactions to Wind Waker’s looks hasn’t gone away; it’s evolved and spread. 

However, the Wind Waker eventually rose above all that. 20 years after its U.S. release, The Wind Waker is now considered to be one of the absolute best Legend of Zelda games as well as arguably the last great “traditional” 3D Zelda game. While there is a timeless nature to many great Zelda games that makes them easy to return to, Wind Waker’s unique status as a Zelda game that feels fresher than ever can easily be traced back to what its controversial graphics achieved and represented. 

Aonuma and the Wind Waker team dared to disagree with Miyamoto himself because they felt passionate about what they were doing. They had a vision that brought them joy and excitement because it was a vision that they believed in. They were willing to be wrong for the chance to share that joy and that vision with others. Besides, the team also knew that caving into the demands to change the game’s art style would cost an astonishing amount of money and delay the game for years to come. 

Aspects of that story feel downright mythical when you look at them through the lens of modern gaming. Delays can certainly be a good thing, but the modern game production cycle makes it nearly impossible for a team to deliver a project in a reasonable amount of time. The budgets are too big, the production schedules are too unwieldy, and trends that a game was greenlit to chase often change by the time that game is actually released. The Wind Waker team wanted to get a new Zelda game in fans’ hands, even as many of those fans were treating them like traitors.

As simple as it may sound, there’s also something special about the team’s desire to commit to an idea and fight for it. At a time when the infuriating rise of AI-generated art is being fuelled by both a lack of appreciation for what artists actually do and the idea that creativity is just an expensive line item, the Wind Waker team’s passion for something they believed in was the driving force that brought this game to life in spite of the protests and internal concerns. 

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the Wind Waker team was right.

20 years ago, Wind Waker’s graphics felt like an insult to many gamers. It was the age of gritty games and emerging photorealism. Some notably vocal people felt that gaming needed to shed its “for kids” reputation and push for grimy realism in order to get the industry where it needed to be. Whether that reputation was real, or if it even mattered, was less relevant than the popular idea that some were tired of being treated like children for playing games and even making games.

20 years later, Wind Waker’s bright colors, creative designs, and expressive characters feel practically revolutionary compared to the browns, greys, and “photorealistic” joyless designs that have come to dominate the gaming industry. Many trends become tiresome if they stick around for long enough, but that trend is a bit different. Many games that strive for revolutionary looks often feel outdated by the time they’re actually released. They too often let the technical capabilities of hardware or the latest engine be the start rather than showcasing how that technology can bring incredible artistic ambitions to life.

Wind Waker, meanwhile, looks better than ever thanks not just to its art direction but the way all those colors pop on advanced modern TVs usually burdened with rendering the latest filtered piece of post-production CGI or some interactive tour through the uncanny valley. 

Wind Waker’s timelessness isn’t just limited to the beauty of its visuals, though. The Wind Waker team says much of the game was largely inspired by the anime they grew up on, and those visuals are only a small reflection of that inspiration. It can also be found in the ways that Wind Waker offers a kind of classic high-seas adventure filled with exploration, treasures, dangers, and a childish avatar at the center of it all. Actually, the Wind Waker team has said that they almost considered the title to be less of a Zelda game and more of a classic adventure that has Link stand in for the person playing the game. 

I get what they’re saying, but I would argue that Wind Waker is actually a fantastic Zelda game that captures the very things that really make the franchise work despite shedding many of its conventions up until that point. 

Yes, the Wind Waker is quite different from nearly every Zelda game that came before or after. No, not all of those changes were for the best. Many found the constant sailing to be tedious, some of the game’s quests and dungeons felt incomplete, elements of the experience easily became repetitious (especially playing and replaying songs), and some of the game’s 3D controls remind us that it was released in the relatively early days of true 3D gaming. The game’s excellent HD upgrade fixed some of those problems, but Wind Waker remains a game that fans of previous and future Zelda titles are not guaranteed to love. 

When it comes to consistently replicating the feeling of playing your first Zelda game, though, Wind Waker is arguably unrivaled. After all, Zelda games practically exist to not only open a new generation of gamers’ eyes to incredible possibilities but remind previous generations of gamers how great adventure games can invoke something inside of them they thought wasn’t there anymore. 

When you’re young, you’d do anything to be treated like an adult and be allowed to enjoy the things you believe adults are allowed to enjoy. When you’re an adult, you’d give anything to feel the way you did when the world felt as Zelda‘s worlds often do: full of infinite exciting possibilities just waiting to be discovered and enjoyed. There is real value in the things that can awaken that feeling, if only for a few hours.

Yes, Wind Waker’s visuals and characters are childlike, but so are we. Those visuals encourage us to embrace our own childlike spirit rather than run from it out of fear that others will see it and think less of us. Anyone who allows themselves to embrace that spirit will find that it’s the perfect companion to Wind Waker’s vast world and the many adventures it holds. The best Zelda games often feel uncharted, and Wind Waker excels at allowing you to believe that there is always something incredible just over the horizon just waiting for you to find it. Not since the days when you pretended a tree house was your ship’s nest has a dangerous journey like that felt so pure. 

20 years later, Wind Waker’s redemption is mostly complete. Selfishly, I even want a proper Wind Waker sequel (due respect to Spirit Tracks and Phantom Hourglass) more than I want the next Breath of the Wild game, though there are obviously many who don’t feel quite the same way. At the very least, though, there is a general consensus that the controversy that preceded the game was at least a bit ridiculous and that Wind Waker is a more than worthy entry into one of gaming’s greatest franchises. 

Wind Waker never needed redemption, though. Not really. It was always great, it was always magical, and if you were one of those who left cynical comments about the game rather than taking the time to experience it yourself…well, that’s really not a problem. It turns out that Wind Waker feels even more special today than ever before.