The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Hands-On Preview

ScreenRant went hands-on with the upcoming remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and found a vibrant world with so much to explore.

Published Oct 14, 2026, 9:00 AM EDT

Yuliya Geikhman has been writing professionally for over 17 years. She started out in the MMO scene with Pando Media Booster and now dives into everything gaming at Screen Rant. She's a lifelong gamer, a relentless industry sleuth, and a passionate follower of everything happening in the games industry.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is Zelda at its absolute peak. Released in 1998 for the Nintendo 64, it brought the franchise into 3D for the first time. It adapted the exploration, puzzles, and combat of the previous 2D Zelda games to a glorious new dimension.

It has since become widely regarded as one of the best games of all time. Ocarina of Time is the only game with a near-perfect Metacritic score of 99. In other words, the pressure is really on Nintendo to make the Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake into a worthy follow-up to the original. The upcoming title, which launches on November 5, has to live up to fans' expectations while also pulling in newcomers.

I got to play roughly an hour of content from the upcoming remake at the 2026 Nintendo Holiday Showcase, to get a sense of whether Nintendo has accomplished this touch task. From my hands-on preview, it seems Nintendo has found the sweet spot and created a gem that does justice to the original masterpiece.

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A Forest Full Of Life And Whimsy

First, I controlled Young Link in Kokiri Forest, where he meets Navi and begins his adventure. The opening scenes are gorgeous, with cinematic camera work, an orchestrated, sweeping rendition of the soundtrack, and incredible detail—you can see every thread on every article of clothing. Navi can speak now, but don't worry: only cutscenes are fully voiced, and Navi still yells at you to "watch out" and "listen!" Voice acting and subtitling are available in many languages, and you can even mix and match audio and written language if you want.)

I ran around the village as Young Link, talked with the quirky residents, got Link his first sword and shield, completed the first mini-temple, and broke through the spiderweb to the water below. We were asked not to go any further but to please appreciate the water because the devs worked hard on it. (It was, admittedly, very beautifully rendered water!)

It all felt familiar, yet refreshingly new. You can still do a backflip dodge and a jump attack, but you can also jump on command and dive for Rupees. You still lock on with Navi, but you can also cycle between weapons without going into the inventory, BotW-style, which is a welcome QoL update. It's a familiar, nostalgic setting, but it feels comfortable and modern.

There seem to be more characters and dialogue, as well—like a little girl singing about Rupees to remember their value, which I don't believe was in the original. Overall, it's a more lively, fully fleshed-out world that's a pleasure to explore.

The Vast Fields, Vibrant City, And Death By Chicken

After I was done exploring Kokiri Forest, I moved on to the next segment of the preview. Young Link says goodbye to Saria, receives the Ocarina, and sets out for Hyrule Castle Town. The Ocarina now lets you input music by humming or playing it on an instrument, but the space we were in was pretty large and had other playtesters so I didn't try out how good this feature is at detecting your singing.

The vast open space of Hyrule Field stretched out before me. Compared to the original, the field is lush and beautiful, and a joy to explore. Though I had to stay on track for my destination, the draw to explore was powerful. There are a few monsters here and there, but mostly it's still a large empty field, but now lush and full of life and vegetation.

You can still roll all the way across the field, but you no longer have to, since holding down the roll button sends Link into a running sprint. This feels like a great compromise: it makes the game move faster while still keeping things playful for returning players.

Hyrule Castle City is a huge contrast to the peaceful field. It's bustling, alive with whimsical characters who are going about their daily business. Again, I met some characters I don't remember from the original, but who fit right into the world, like a guy with a beard so powerful that it can detect other bearded men nearby. I didn't have much time to mess around in this section, but I'm excited to speak to every single NPC in the game. They all seem to have vibrant personalities, with not a cookie-cutter or generic character in sight.

When time was almost up, I gave a nearby Cucco a couple of whacks with Link's sword, and I'm delighted to confirm that yes, you can still die by Cucco attack. Even more fun, when the birds descend in all their fury, the NPCs around Link reacted appropriately, running away in a panic.

The Twisted Hallways Of The Forest Temple

With those shenanigans over, I tried out the final section of the preview, and the only one where I played as Adult Link. For this one, I got to explore the Forest Temple. This gave me a good sense of the combat and puzzling, and both felt great.

Fighting against enemies is as much of a puzzle as the temple itself. I had to time attacks and switch between weapons to take out Skulltulas, Octoroks, and Stalfos, and avoiding the falling demon hands. Thanks to the quick-cycle system, this felt fluid and satisfying.

The puzzles play out just as well with the newly upgraded visuals, even if I got a little turned around (which is entirely a me problem). The temple seems to follow the same general layout and feel of the original: enjoyable to explore and just challenging enough to figure out to make it fun but not frustrating. It also faithfully recreated some iconic moments like the twisted hallway scene.

As for how long the experience will take, I and the other playtesters had half an hour to explore the Forest Temple without limits, so in theory we could have made it through to the boss—but according to the Nintendo reps, no one had managed to get there within the time constraint.

I wouldn't want to speed run through this experience, though. The little time I had with the Ocarina of Time remake left me wanting to explore and discover more. Every part of the game has beautiful detail, from the way Link hangs off ledges to the designs and textures.

Besides the visual and QOL upgrades, there are more new features to uncover, like the tapestry mechanic. As you progress through milestones in both Adult and Young Link's stories, you fill out a stunning tapestry (like the one visible in the teaser trailer). I'm sure there are more exciting updates and additions to uncover when the game releases next month, and I'm excited to discover them.

The newly remade The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time will launch on November 5 exclusively for the Nintendo Switch 2.