You stroll through the gap expecting a treasure chest or similar, and find yourself in a labyrinth.
It’s a realm of sweeping Hadean planes, sporing fungus, lava flows and eerie, gesturing statues.
The enemies in Chasms are infested by the stuff, which makes raiding their camps a dicey prospect indeed.
There’s no damage-cancelling your way out of trouble by gobbling down six mushroom skewers in one go.
Likewise, the Chasms contain items that can only be traded or processed elsewhere.
The game establishes it in the very first story scene.
The sky islands are as majestic and exhilarating as the Chasms are oppressive and intriguing.
Some are floating ruined villages composed of multiple levels, defended by wobbly stone robots.
All have an irresistible, toylike specificity that recallsWind Wakeras much as the obvious comparison,Skyward Sword.
But even here, there may be apples to gather and birds to overhear.
There’s much more to learn this time.
But your old Sheikah Tablet powers are kaput.
Ascend is the simplest - it’s deceptively simple, in fact.
Rewind, meanwhile, turns back time for the object you aim it at.
It feels like a response to complaints about the first game’s weapon degradation.
It’s quietly funny the first time it happens, less so on the 10th attempt.
Other combinations are useful but unexciting, such as swords that deal +17 damage or have a longer reach.
It’s one sprawling exercise in gathering raw materials together with the knowledge of how to combine them.
Needless to say, some of the most enjoyable things to cobble together are planes.
It even alters your approach to bossfights, albeit with very mixed success in my case.
Each phantom has a special move, such as a gust of wind that extends your glides.
But their showpiece moves can be extremely handy.
There are a lot of resources to harvest.
Controls screen with animated guides to actions such as charged attacks.
Dark or transparent message windows.
Invertible X/Y axis camera control and swappable jump button.
Option to lock minimap to point north.
Five camera movement sensitivity configs.
But this is the first Zelda game I’ve played which feels designed to be farmed.
It’s an ephemeral and imposing structure that extends all the way from hell to heaven.
It’s never insistent about this.
The pull exerted by all those things to collect and upgrade is gentle, by open world standards.
I’d like the next Zelda to do that again.
But that’s a problem for tomorrow.
