If its airy vision now feels squeezed and linear-especially after playing the sequel, Breath of the Wild -the spectacle of Skyloft is still a thrill. You arenвЂ™t set loose in a fantasy as much as locked into one. The early hours of Skyward Sword are a daydream. Link can jump from any of SkyloftвЂ™s jetties and whistle for this creature to catch him, like Tony Stark summoning his suit, mid-fall, as though it were a taxi. Speaking of which, LinkвЂ™s preferred form of transportation is not his traditional steed, Epona, whose hooves would be no good in the heavens, but an unnamed bird, known as a Loftwing: a scarlet-feathered mount with the head of a shoebill-and thus the inbuilt blend of smirk and frown, as if spoiling for a fight. He has a thing going with Zelda, who is not yet wreathed in royalty or legend this is, chronologically, the origin of the series, so we see a slew of recognisable flourishes taking flight for the first time. This year, the uniform for successful graduates happens to be a rich, and recognisable, green.

Link is a trainee knight, learning and boarding at an academy. Though, I do wonder where the plumbing goes. Despite their position, they donвЂ™t seem to consider themselves as being above anyone else. Supposedly, this fair isle was rescued from the blight below by a goddess, a statue of whom now stands guard over the good people but, unlike the self-possessed citizens of Columbia, in BioShock Infinite -who were also watched over by a winged figure of stone-Skyloftians arenвЂ™t lofty. Instantly, any sense of the unreachably mythic, of a place beyond the solid grasp of history, floating along on wisps and whispers, was flushed away. There I was in Skyloft, a town of blessed souls hanging in the firmament, borne on banks of white cloud, and the hero, Link, was sitting in a lavatory. I was relieved to find, within the first five minutes of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, a toilet.

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