The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a fairy tale, more so even than most other Zelda games. Recognizing this is key to understanding (if not necessarily liking) the visual approach Nintendo has taken for the remake of the 1998 classic, as I wrote when discussing its masterful take on Hyrule Field. I think it’s supposed to look romantic, densely and lushly illustrated, like the painted cover of an old storybook.
But fairy tales, especially good ones, can also be scary. Eerie, spooky, unsettling… sometimes even downright nightmare fuel. Have you actually read the original Brothers Grimm fairy tales? Or seen Arthur Rackham’s illustrations for them? Brrr!
Ocarina of Time understands this tradition well, and leans into it. As well as classical save-the-princess stuff, and high fantasy adventure, the game deals in a kind of weird, baroque whimsy, like when young Link gets sucked inside the belly of a giant fish and must puzzle his way out. (Which is, weirdly, the plot of one of this fall’s big thriller movies, Whalefall.)
But sometimes, the game is just straight-up chilling. Consider the Skulltulas: giant spiders with angular skull masks on their carapaces, which make an unnerving scratching sound before dropping out of nowhere and jump-scaring you.
Skulltulas are frightening, but they’re not the half of it. In Kakariko Village, you can make your way into an abandoned mansion festooned with cobwebs. This is inhabited by a rich family who have been cursed for their greed and turned into Skulltulas. They speak from distorted masks of their own faces on the spiders’ backs, imploring Link to collect Gold Skulltulas to break the curse. This leads to the game’s primary scavenger hunt, but more importantly, it’s absolutely horrifying.
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