The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, released in 1998 for the Nintendo 64, is the very first 3D Zelda game ever made, and is one of the most well-loved, popular games of all time. It had even won “Game of the Year” in 1999! The plot revolves around our hero, Link, going on a journey starting in childhood to save Hyrule. Eventually, you turn into an adult, and must defeat the villain, Ganondorf, King of Thieves, to seal the darkness within the land. It has you adventure the many regions of Hyrule, coming across multiple dungeons and you learn about the world as you go along. You can play this game on a Nintendo 64, GameCube, 3ds or Switch, and the first time I played this was most likely when I was around 6 years old. 

For genres, I would label this game as an action-adventure, and problem solver game.the plot can be confusing at times, but the game does roughly tell you what’s going on to where you know where to go next. I did care about the characters, mainly because I grew up with their charming or interesting personalities, so I’ve grown fond of them. There is technically a sequel, a game called The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, taking place after the events of this game where Hyrule is safe. The events definitely weren’t believable when it comes to real life, due to the heavy use of the “magical” and “fantasy themes like talking animals, powers or even kids who never grow up. 

A specific moment that struck me was the credits, as it showed scenes of a peaceful world, and showed characters that never interacted before in the same space, and it was a wonderful party to watch. The special effects are honestly kind of outdated, then again, it’s from a game in the 90s. It was good for the time though, and the 3ds version is much better. There aren’t too many trigger warnings, though there are some creepy atmospheres, such as an abandoned torture chamber or a spider house, and also there’s some blood. There are many games and media related to this, such as “Majora’s Mask” from earlier, and even a manga developed by Akira Himekawa in the early 2000s, and many more. 

While playing this game, I learned how to use context clue to solves puzzles and go further in the story and to also know how to use the resources that I have in unique ways to problem solve. I would personally recommend this game to anyone, but preferably to people over 5-8 due to the grimmer themes in the game. Me personally, I would give this game a solid 9.5/10, due to the nostalgia and how good it is for a game in the 90s. It is truly a timeless classic.