The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is one of my favorite video games ever. It is a really beautiful video game with an immersive world, meaningful plot, and gorgeous aesthetic. It's really stunning visually - the older graphics fit the games aesthetic really well, and soundtrack is a work of art. It balances darker, melancholy themes with a lot of fun, silly characters. Its world is so immersive - it feels real and lived in. The game is absolutely gorgeous, and sadly, often overlooked in the greater Legend of Zelda franchise.
The Game's Aesthetics
I generally don't like the word aesthetic, but I do think that it's the right term to use here. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is a game with a melancholy, quiet feel, which means that it's gothic, somewhat earthy aesthetic serves it very well. Twilight Princess's graphics are often criticized for being faded, washed-out, and monochrome, but I think that the more muted color palette serves it well. The bleak, earthy palette matches the game's atmosphere extremely well and helps to convey the story and show the severity of the events that are occurring. If the game used a brighter palette, it would make the game feel more silly and carefree, which would undermine the tone that the story was going for. I also think the somewhat sharp, old-ish graphics of the game serve the aesthetics well, too. Furthermore, the visual aesthetics of the game match the game's soundtrack extremely well (which you can listen to here). The soundtrack is usually gentle and moody, like rain in the early morning. This game is, not to put too fine a point on it, utterly unique and stunningly beautiful.
The Plot of Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Twilight Princess is a Nintendo game released in 2006 on Gamecube and Wii. It takes place over a century after the events of Ocarina of Time, in the same timeline as Majora's Mask (the child era; the Hero is triumphant and the sacred realm remains protected, but very few people ever know of Link's heroism, because it technically never happened in their timeline). In Twilight Princess, you play as Link, a descendant of the Link from Ocarina of Time. Link is trying to prevent Hyrule from being engulfed by a parallel dimension, the Twilight Realm.
Now the lovely thing about this particular Zelda game is that Link has an actual, personal reason for saving the world beyond "magical tree told me to" or "disembodied voice told me to when I woke up from my 100-year nap." Link is trying to save the world in order to save his village, the children in it who were kidnapped, and his girlfriend-crush-friend person, Ilia. Eventually, he's also trying to help Midna, but we'll get to that later. I really like how Link has an actual, realistic motive rather than just running off to do hero things because he's a hero and that's what hero's do. It makes the story all that more real and immersive, and it gives the player a reason to actually care about many of the characters you encounter in Ordon village in the beginning of the game, because Link clearly cares about them too.
The game starts as a regular day in the life of a teenage boy named Link in Ordon Village, a pumpkin-farming and sheep-ranching village on the outskirts of Hyrule, next to the Faron woods. Here, Link works as a ranch hand and spends his days with four local children: Talo and Malo, the sons of Jaggle and Pergie (local farmers and woodworkers); Beth, the only daughter of Sera (the general store owner); and Colin, son of Rusl (the local swordsman who seems to be Link's Father Figure). To these children, Link is an idol and a sort of big brother. Link is also friends with the local rancher, Fado, and the teenage daughter of the Mayor, Ilia, who seems to be his childhood crush/girlfriend/close friend (their relationship is left ambiguous).
One day, a small army of Bulbins storm into Ordon Village and kidnap the village's children, including Ilia. Link, however, is left behind in the lake where the attack took place since the Bulbins assumed he was dead when he fainted. When he awakes, he encounters a wall of Twilight and is pulled in by a Twilight monster, causing him to faint again. In the twilight-shrouded forest, he is transformed into a wolf and imprisoned. When Link awakens, he is chained and locked in a cell in the dungeons beneath Hyrule Castle. He encounters a strange goblin-like creature who calls herself Midna, who says that she will help him as long as he agrees to obey her unconditionally. Link hesitantly agrees, because even though he dislikes Midna, he has no other options. She guides him to Princess Zelda, who explains that Zant, the usurper king of the Twili, has invaded Hyrule Castle and forced her to surrender. He is now taking over Hyrule, attempting to shroud it in Twilight forever.
In order to save Hyrule, Link, aided by Midna, must revive the Light Spirits of each province of Hyrule by entering the Twilight-covered regions and recovering the Spirits' light from the Twilight beings that have stolen it. Once revitalized, each Spirit will return Link to his Hylian form and, as thanks, tell he and Midna where they can find a Fused Shadow, which are fragments of a powerful relic that, once put together, can be used by Midna to defeat Zant. These Fused Shadows are often hidden in dungeons, and finding them makes up the majority of the gameplay in Twilight Princess.
During his journey, Link assists the monkeys of Faron, the Gorons of Eldin, and the Zoras of Lanayru. These are the Forest, Fire, and Water temples. Link also finds the children from Ordon Village, but does not yet return them home due to the dangers on the trail back to the village. They remain in Kakiro Village for the remainder of the game.
After obtaining these three Fused Shadows, Link and Midna are ambushed by Zant, who takes away the fragments and reveals that his power comes from another source, thus rendering their journey so far useless. He then traps Link in his world dorm and exposes Midna to the light of Lanayru's light spirit, bringing her to a dying state. Link brings Midna to Zelda, who tells Link that he needs the Master Sword in order to lift Zant's curse from him. She then sacrifices herself to save Midna's life, vanishing mysteriously. From this point forward, Midna is much kinder to Link and seems to care far more about him and the fate of his world, their bond strengthened.
Link obtains the Master Sword and is freed of the curse that kept him in worlf form. He then goes to the Gerudo Desert in search of the Mirror of Twilight, which is the only known gateway between Hyrule and the Twilight Realm. However, they discover that the Mirror is broken, shattered by Zant. Apparently, he had tried to destroy it entirely, but was unable to since only the true ruler of the Twili can completely destroy it. They also mention having once used it to banish Ganondorf, an evil Gerudo who had tried to steal the Triforce, after failing to execute him. Link and Midna set out to retrieve the missing shards of the mirror. Once the mirror has been fully restored, Midna reveals that she is actually the true leader of the Twili, usurped and cursed into her current form by Zant. When the two confront Zant, they learn that he forged a pact with Ganondorf, and that was the source of his power. After Link defeats Zant, Midna recovers the Fused Shadows and defeats Zant.
Link and Midna return to Hyrule and find Ganondorf in Hyrule Castle, with a lifeless Zelda suspended above him. Ganondorf fights Link by possessing Zelda and then transforming into a gigantic boar demon. However, Link defeats him, and the power Midna received from Zelda is able to resurrect her. Ganondorf, however, revives himself, and Midna teleports Link and Zelda outside the castle so that she can hold him off with the Fused Shadows. As Hyrule Castle collapses, Ganondorf emerges, crushing the Fused Shadow piece that Midna wore on her head and pursuing Link on horseback. Assisted by Zelda and the Light Spirits, Link knocks Ganondorf off of his horse and duels him on foot before finishing him off with the Master Sword. With Ganondorf dead, the Light Spirtis revive Midna and restore her to her true form. After bidding farewell to Link and Zelda, Midna returns home and destroys the Mirror of Twilight behind her, severing the link between Hyrule and the Twilight Realm forever.
