Let’s take a moment and concede the fact that Nintendo could make a pretty amazing horror game inThe Legend of Zeldauniverse. If you weren’t already scarred by certain areas ofTwilight Princessor the screams from the ReDead inOcarinaof Time, then i doubt the humanity in you. And a new artistic reimagining of a “real life” Skulltula has re-invigorated that notion, making me both want and desperately despise a photorealistic horror game set inThe Legend of Zeldauniverse.
The feature image is from artist Nate Hallinan–though it was created half-a-decade ago, the project began circulating earlier this week on the dedicated Zelda Reddit community:
Yesterday I posted a RL Deku tree! What’s that without a RL Skulltula! Credits: Nate Hallinanfromr/zelda
If you are new toThe Legend of Zeldaseries and want to know a quick history on these nightmare abominations, here’s a quick TLDR. They made their first appearance inThe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of TimeandMajora’s Maskwithin the rotting Deku Tree. However, in the days of limited pixels and polygons, that version of the Skulltula was far less terrifying:
As graphics evolved, so did the design of Skulltula. In Twilight Princess we saw a similarly sized arachnid, but with darker and sharper features. The “skull” became a bit less prominent as it began taking on more of a spider vibe:
Even then, this had a sense of comfortable cartooniness that the new render lacks entirely.
Photorealistic recreations are definitely in-style at the moment, in many ways thanks toprojects likeDetective Pikachuor the (terrifying)Sonic the Hedgehogmoviesrolling out. And while I’d love to seen that amount of love and effort brought over toThe Legend of Zeldaseries, I’ll personally pass up any version that includes Skulltula.
It’s worth noting that Hallinan has a ton of other great photorealistic projects inThe Legend of Zeldauniverse that don’t bring shivers down my spine. These include both male and female Zoras, Skull Kid, and Dekus – you can check out a quick gallery of his work below:
The next upcomingThe Legend of Zeldaproject is a remaster ofLink’s Awakeningwhich will be coming to Nintendo Switch exclusively sometime in 2019. If you are interested in dipping into the source material (which is arguably the bestZeldagame), you can pick up the title on Nintendo 3DSvia Amazon. Meanwhile, do make sure to check outNate Hallinan’s portfolioandfollow him on Twitter.
