The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is getting a fan remake in Unreal Engine, and the entire opening of the game – through the end of the first dungeon – is now fully playable. There’s a demo available for you to try, as well as a full 25-minute video showing everything from Navi’s flight through the forest to the battle with Gohma.
Just about everything is intact and accounted for from the original. That includes Link’s moveset, the quest to grab the sword and shield, the fixed shop camera angles, the placement of enemies, and all the puzzle design throughout the Deku Tree dungeon. Elements of animation still look a bit awkward and some of the controls seem a bit fiddly, but this is a loving remake that offers a cool vision of what a classic might look like in a modern engine.
CryZENx has been working on this mod and others like it for years, and you can see the results of those efforts at this download link – at least in theory. As of the time of this post, the file is currently unavailable due to the limits on Google Drive downloads, but when it’s working it should give you a chance to play this opening segment and explore locations like Kakariko Village and the Temple of Time.
You can see a the gameplay video below. CryZENx’s speciality seems to be Unreal remakes of Nintendo 64 games, and a similar project focused on Super Mario 64 is also underway.
The Mario project adds a host of new playable characters including Bowsette, because Nintendo fandom has gotten stranger than ever in 2018.
Related: Look at the best old games on PC
Given Nintendo propensity for litigation – just look at the Super Mario 64 Online saga – it’s a wonder these projects have stayed around as long as they have, but hopefully they’ll stay available. At least long enough so that we can see young Link grow up.