Zelda fans react to Ocarina of Time remake gameplay footage, and they're saying the same thing

After the initial teaser trailer shown in June was mocked by plenty of fans, the first look at gameplay of the Ocarina of Time remake is getting much the same treatment.

It's been 28 years since Ocarina of Time first blew the industry away, and it's still justly regarded by many as one of the greatest games of all time.

And while a 3DS remake in 2011 kept fans satisfied for a while, it still looked and played quite a lot like the original.

However, that cannot be said about this 2026 Switch 2 remake.

As part of today's Zelda Direct, legendary developer Eiji Aonuma gave us our first glimpse of the gameplay, and like many viewers, my initial reaction was something along the lines of, "Oh no, this looks like AI slop."

Perhaps it's the sea of DLSS 'improvements' that have been bandied in front of my eyes over the last couple of weeks, but that first minute of gameplay struck me as exactly what I'd expect if I asked AI to generate me an Ocarina of Time remake.

For the record, there is no confirmation that AI was used in the game's development – it could just be that the art style is echoing that of AI by accident, or by design, despite being made by human hands. 

Looking at social media, I wasn't the only one noticing the unfortunate similarities. "Ocarina of Time Remake looks good, but there are some parts that look like AI slop," said one X user.

Another X user added: "The hyper realistic texture they chose for the Zelda remake reminds me too much of AI to enjoy."

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It's far from the only insult launched at this remake, though, with: "This will be Zelda in 2013" and "Focus, M" references abound.

Plenty of players have dredged up the era of Unreal Engine 'reimaginings', in which amateur developers attempted to create more realistic versions of Zelda and Mario titles.

"Nintendo hire this man," some replies used to beg.

"Nintendo hired that man," today's replies call back.

I don't want to be too mean – by the end of the showcase, my eyes did begin to adjust to what I was seeing. Perhaps it was just the shock of quite how thoroughly the original art style had been scrubbed in favour of this new-look Link that made for such a jarring introduction.

That being said, I maintain that Child Link still looks rather uncanny, perhaps fittingly like a full-grown adult shrunk down to child size without changing anything else.

The character models and environments together also give off an odd feeling, as if they had been developed separately for different games before being smushed together later down the line.

Looks aren't everything in a game, and while I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed in these new graphics, Ocarina of Time is still one of the best games I've ever played.

If Nintendo can recreate that magic for a new generation of hardware, then I'm sure I'll be able to look under the surface.

Either way, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake will be releasing on 5 November 2026 for Nintendo Switch 2.

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