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This hack has soooo much potential. The puzzle design and The dungeons are fantastic. The Overworld and art is God awful and makes the hack unplayable for me.

It's just a mess of tree stump mazes and object that look completely out of place. I firmly believe the Overworld could be done so much better and still fit the vibe of the original game. As it stands it looks like a broken mess that is a merciless pain to traverse. It completely breaks and immersion or feeling of Hyrule being a real place.

The dungeons are great but they still suffer from the same issue of really silly looking item duplication to block off paths. It all feels very utilitarian. need a wall? duplicate 20 barziers across a gap. It looks pretty ridiculous in spots. But it pails in comparison to the insane amount of tree stumps littered on every inch of the overworld.

It basically looks like a whitebox where he just duplicated the same item to quickly block out the mazes he wanted. But he never went back over it to replace it with sensible art assets. So it just remains as 1000 treestumps.

If you can get passed the art and the brutal overworld then there is a lot of fun to have. I would prefer a version of this game without the Overworld changes or somthing idk. I really can't stand to play it the way it is.

I'ven been a fan of PuzzleDudes roms since I first played Goddess of Wisdom, I loved the puzzles he puts into his games (makes up for his username) and this is what I think of this quest.

I can see he didn't change up most of the world map since it's the same as A Link To The Past, but added some extra pieces so you have to travel around before you get to certain parts of the map, like a puzzle or big maze you can say, some of the items have been re-placed in the dungeons which gives it more of challenge to look for the other items you need to beat the dungeons in general.

I like some of the illusions he uses to confuse players that you don't normally see, like fake pots and blocks you need the hammer for, it's in no ways hideous which is why he uses star plates for the hidden objects.

The dungeons are not that hard to find since they are in the same locations as ALTTP, and Dark World dungeons are in the pyramid when you get spawned into Dark World.

The thing I disliked most for this rom is having red knights everywhere that take a heart of damage using mostly the level 1 swordthrough most of the quest but that's what makes it a good challenge if that's what you like. Having to fight 4 Agahnims (3 fake) and half the floor with spikes in the castle tower was a bit ridiculous, but didn't mind it if you came prepared.

Like I said, lots of puzzles for this game makes up for the rom name, if puzzles for Zeldas game isn't your thing than don't play this rom, if you like ALTTP and a challenging Zelda game than you should pick up this game and play it, lots of patience is required.

7/10

This review will be about my experience so far in regards to gameplay.

Link wakes up, I move outside, the first thing I'm greeted with when I go north is Tree's blocking the path. I think to myself, "Alright, this is cool, I get to chose a different path." When I go left, I am greeted with a maze of cut off trees. Making me walk and waste a lot of time just, walking.

As I mentioned above, these Maze like structures, are EVERYWHERE. It took me about 15 minutes to just get to the temple (When I knew how to get there. Otherwise another 10 minutes for walking and discovering).

This is the main flaw of the game and makes it nearly unplayable, unless you have nothing better to do than walking as Link in a boring maze.

What this hack does great however is the dungeons. They make you think and actually challenge you, quite fairly. But for me, that wasn't enough to keep playing. The hub world was, awful.

I wanted to start at the mountain caves as I came back from a break, with a new fresh mind. And where does it spawn me?

In spikes. You gotta WALK all the way to the temple from either the Sanctuary or your house.

Feel like it's fun? It's not.

Fun - 2/5

Gameplay - 2/5

Ideas - 4/5

Execution - 2/5

Overall Score - 5/10

Status: Lacking

I decided to try this out with the day/night cycle patch on top of it, and I'm in Hyrule Heaven.

PuzzleDude nailed it with his hack. Where most every other Zelda hack I've played falls short, or goes way too far overboard, his just works. There is a marked increase in difficulty, but that should be expected if you've played through the original game many, many times. That said, it is a tough but fair challenge for those who are looking to breathe new life into this classic game.

I just finished this hack up, and it was a real treat! Quite a bit harder than the original, but not annoyingly so. The only annoyance is traversing the overworld in the Light World, before obtaining power grip.

This hack is all about the dungeons which are amazing, loaded with satisfying puzzles. The author's screen name is very suitable.

There are some interesting techniques that are necessary at points, that are not taught to you in-game. Fortunately there is no "bomb jumping" required, but you will need to know special techniques with the pegasus boots, ether medalian, and with the cane of somaria.

Star tiles are often placed near hidden/secret stuff. There should definitely be one in the sanctuary... And there should also be one in the first room of the crystal palace (mentioned in another review as an impassable room), because this room has a very hidden passage.

Now this is a master hack!

The overworld was modified with added barriers to force players to choose the correct path. Also, some caves that were in the original game have now been removed.

The dungeons are not minor tweaks of existing ones; all of them were heavily modified with tricky puzzles and hidden objects. Some treasure chests even require the use of the Magic Cape or Cane of Byrna to get to.

The Desert Palace dungeon requires some backtracking. After getting the Big Key, the player has to leave the dungeon, go all the way around the desert, then re-enter the dungeon through a different entrance to get to the treasure chest with the Power Gloves.

The star plates on dungeon floors have different meanings in this hack. Usually, the star plates mean there are hidden objects nearby like treasure chests, staircases, large blocks, moles, etc. Sometimes, the star plates will change the locations of the pits on the floor. At one point, the star plate even serves as a switch that opens shuttered doors.

There are two platform mazes in Level-7: Turtle Rock with added barriers to force players to find the correct path. Choosing an incorrect path and running in to a barrier will force that player to restart the puzzle from the beginning.

My only complaint about this hack is that it is hard to find rupees in the overworld if the player is low on rupees.

Overall, this hack is easier than Parallel Worlds, but still harder than the original game. If you're looking for a good challenge, then this is your hack.

This game heavily concentrates on the dungeons, there is very little questing to be done on the overworld map - and what little there is is very fastidious, sadly, but this is the only drawback to this amazing hack.

The new dungeons are breathtaking in terms of gameplay and particularly riddles. Someone should contemplate making games for Nintendo, they badly need people of such talent.

The dungeons in this hack are all brand new, not tweaks of existing ones. So if you like huge dungeons with bewildering puzzles, and you should, since it's the whole point of these kinds of games, you're in for a treat, I tell you!

The difficulty is clearly above that of the original game, but the latter is so easy, it's hardly a fair statement.

There are a few glitches, most notably that you cannot get past the first room of the the final crystal dungeon of the Dark World, this needs to be fixed, not everyone can hack the game to move the hero elsewhere.

All in all, this has been the best experience I have had playing a Zelda: A Link to the Past ROM hack, and I sincerely recommend it to everyone.