You Should Definitely Replay the Legend of Zelda in First Person
I’ve always wanted Nintendo to remake the original Legend of Zelda . Blasphemy, I know, but there’s certainly room for a different take on the adventure classic that not only spawned the franchise, but inspired RPGs across the genre. While we’re not planning on releasing a NES Zelda remake anytime soon, there’s one way you can experience yourself from a whole new perspective – literally: you can now play through the entire game in first-person .
It’s not Nintendo’s fault. Entirely fan-made by DeTwelve Games, this game recreates the entire 1986 classic in three dimensions. This lets you explore Hyrule from Link’s perspective, fighting enemies, collecting items, and fighting your way through all nine of the original dungeons while looking straight ahead.
It’s crazy to look at the map from this angle. In the original, your POV is limited to one screen-sized “square” at a time. Here your point of view extends as far as you can see and is only blocked by enemies or real obstacles. While anyone can enjoy the game if you’re familiar with the original, it’s a special, vintage treat.
This is not a true remake of The Legend of Zelda – the game actually runs on the original DOOM engine. That’s why it’s called The Legend of DOOM . (That’s why this game can exist without Nintendo’s lawyers going crazy.) The only thing “DOOM” about it is the look of your weapon at the bottom of the screen, some of the designs of the weapon itself, and, of course, the look. first-person view. Maybe a Zelda heavy metal soundtrack will come in a future update?
How to set up The Legend of Doom on your Mac or PC
Because The Legend of DOOM is technically a DOOM mod, and not a standalone game, you’ll need to go through some hurdles to get started. Setting it all up might seem daunting at first, especially since there isn’t a good guide for it, but it actually only takes a few steps to get started playing.
First, you need to download the latest version of GZDoom on your computer. You will find it here (blue icon). Next, you’ll need a DOOM iwad (essentially a DOOM game file). You can pick up the original DOOM on Steam or GOG , but any DOOM iwad will do here. Finally, you need to download the latest version of The Legend of DOOM mod. At the time of writing, this is version 1.1.0, which you can find here , but double check the official page to see if any new updates are out.
Further development of events depends on your platform. If you are using Windows, right-click on the GZDoom ZIP file in the Downloads section and extract all contents to a new folder. Do the same for the DOOM iwad and The Legend of DOOM files. If you bought DOOM through Steam or GOG, GZDoom will be able to find it automatically. Now launch The Legend of DOOM and tell Windows you want to use the GZDoom app.
If you’re on a Mac, it’s a little more difficult. Open Finder, then choose Go from the menu bar and click Go to Folder. Type ~/Library/Application Support and press Enter. Here, create a new folder called gzdoom. You will need to move the DOOM iwad and The Legend of DOOM files. You may need to enter a password to continue. Now unzip the GZDoom ZIP file in your Downloads folder. You can move it to another location to put things away, but you don’t have to. Now launch The Legend of DOOM , and if everything is ok, GZDoom should load up and launch the game.