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Right. After a brief hiatus, Boss Keys is back!

This series is getting hard. The dungeons are generally more straightforward at this point in the series and so I'm either going to end up moaning or just won't have much to say. 

But I think this one went okay. There's some interesting stuff about Nintendo repeating the same structure across multiple dungeons and a nice look at an architectural puzzle.

Let me know what you think! As ever, I don't charge for Boss Keys episodes.

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The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess's dungeon design | Boss Keys

Boss Keys is an on-going research project to analyse the level design of the dungeons in The Legend of Zelda. This time, it's the turn of 2006's Twilight Princess

Comments

Anonymous

I liked you pointing out how the dungeon key placement is used to facilitate the dungeon's narrative. I think that as the games go on, Zelda games become more linear yes, but they also become their own little 3-act narratives. Lakebed, for instance, guides you through the experience of learning its motif, layout and puzzle elements, and then from the midboss onwards, successfully guides you through the second act of putting all the pieces together, before a final stretch to the boss. The story at the end of this might not be how Zelda dungeons lost their way, but rather about how what it meant to 'be' Zelda dungeons changed. Perfectly curated little narrative adventures that guide the player with the illusion of choice and control is still impressive. Your Lakebed motion graphic was awesome, fwiw.

Anonymous

Ending up moaning? On the contrary! Your analysis is more and more precise and it is better and better each Boss Key episode. Keep Going. Nintendo must surely hire you as a consultant for their future Zelda Games. You identified many golden/ crucial/ "nightmare" keys to the Zelda secret sauce: - "Back tracking" without "Hand holding" - Alternation between "Find the path" and "Follow the path" So great and precise findings! And I am sure you still can find many questions to answer! Keep Going, your work is precious to the gaming industry.