The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii/GC, 2006)

• Linear structure (Midna tells you to go back if you try to go to Hyrule field before the forest temple for example, can't go north of hyrule field once it opens up nor return to Link form to meet the golden wolf after reaching death mountain, etc.; some dungeons are also linear besides some optional chests) - opens up more after the third dungeon and gaining the ability to switch forms on the fly but you still have to do the dungeons in a set order

• One optional gauntlet dungeon (cave of ordeals in the desert) and some optional caves

• Gain a wolf form early on (dig (pass some wolf-only paths and find a few optional caves within stone circles), talk to animals and explore the twilight-covered parts of Hyrule (similar to the dark world in Zelda 3), perform more difficult jumps in certain spots, can learn scents to see trails leading to certain NPCs while in sense mode)

• Epona stays where you left her even if moving to another area and back+you can summon her in certain areas using special grass and the game automatically plays her song when interacting with it - later on you get an item to summon her with in more places

• Some new movement focused tools (spinner, iron boots, double claw shot, dominion rod and iron boots to an extent)

• Can warp out of dungeons as well as back to the last room you were in using a bird that you can carry with you (have to find it in each dungeon, can't warp back to finished dungeons from the outside with it though), Fairly frequent warp spots

• Very good map system (togglable mini-map, three levels of zoom, show the basic layout+area exits+which door you exited last+dungeon doors(+treasure chests and the boss's location but you need to find the compass to see these as usual), ), Signs outside of houses, Area maps show the whole area as you enter them (helps you not miss details but lessens the sense of exploration a bit), Can't use map markers and the map doesn't show which doors are locked

• Three save slots per game (shows current stats, location and time taken; save anywhere though you're taken back to a checkpoint when loading (in dungeons you get sent back to the entrance), Frequent checkpoints besides this as well except for a few spots in the fields)

• Day/night cycle (OoT, each is about 8 mins long? (about twice as long as in OoT), some new enemies in some areas at night and houses in towns tend to be locked, time pauses while in towns; there's only a couple of ways to switch faster: go to the city in the sky and back and it switches to day/go to the twilight palace and back and it switches to night), No song of the sun (to jump to day/night anywhere)

• Fight alongside Zelda against Ganon (Wind Waker)

• Pretty good fortune teller hints (heart piece locations)

• More believable/immersive world (the world map isn't overly box- or oval-shaped finally, one pretty large town (castle town - plenty of NPCs moving around or doing other things here as well), the different "races" interact more with each other), Can throw rocks at NPCs but they don't tell you off (can also swing the sword and make some NPCs dodge it which is kinda funny), The game breaks from the "can't move items between dungeon doors" rule in the final dungeon, Breaks up the division between hostile and friendly areas at times with enemies appearing in towns (Zelda 3) and NPCs living in a dungeon, The dragon boss of sky temple interrupts your progress once during that dungeon (Shinobi ARC)

• Some additional lore delivered via the mailman on the field over the course of the game (besides quest-related info; his repeated cutscene should've been skippable though)

• Skippable cutscenes

• Partial control config (hold or toggle Z-targeting, have to map Midna to Z - could equip 3 items in WW)

• Some wolf paths get arbitrarily blocked off when back in Link form, Can climb some ledges but not other similar ones (similar issues with QTE jumping at times)

• Dropped or found hearts/rupees/ammo disappear after a few seconds

• More scripted events in-between dungeons

• Enemies (and fish) keep dropping items which you already have a full stock of

• No proper journal/quest log (the letters help a bit though and it's not much of an issue unless you take a longer break from the game)

• Randomizer showcase (speedrun)

Playthrough - Video Review (HD) - Mini Review

Influenced by: Zelda 2-3, possibly Okami, Jak and Daxter or Ratchet & Clank, Tron (art style), Fable?

Influenced: Darksiders series