9. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Originally released for the Wii in 2011 before getting a 2021 HD remaster on Switch, Skyward Sword was pitched as the earliest game in the convoluted Zelda timeline. A lot hinged on its art style and aesthetics; it needed to feel iterative of the games that came before but also act as the proto-Zelda. Skyward Sword’s ended up with an art style that feels like a watercolor painting inside a children’s story book. It goes to great lengths to feel like Link’s first adventure.

The issue with this art style is that there’s no edge. The world feels like a puffy Fisher-Price toy. Zelda works best when its brooding darkness creeps in from the corners. With a childlike pastel aesthetic, there’s an opportunity to juxtapose that style with (for example) a creepy mood, but Skyward Sword never takes the chance to do anything like that. Eerie vibes aren’t a necessity in a Zelda game, but that or something similar could add a tonal dimension that this game is missing.