If you ever wanted to see The Legend of Zelda in VR, but with DOOM-style gameplay imposed on it, then you might be surprised to find you aren’t alone in your rather specific tastes. An industrious modder ported the Legend of DOOM mod, which recreates the NES game’s iconic classic in the DOOM engine, to VR. YouTuber Sugary Noe posted a video showing the opening and first dungeon in a walkthrough showing the creation off (thanks, Nintendo Life).
After the opening plays out over a static screen, you find yourself standing in front of the cave where the famously helpful old man warns you against wandering the wilderness alone. Eye level is about midway up the stone walls, and while the 1980s textures don’t fare too well up close like this, it’s certainly an immersive take on the 2D environment.
It all seems familiar until you obtain the sword. Then, you see the Doomslayer’s arms reach out to grab them, garbed in medieval-style leather and looking very un-Link-like. Some Octoroks spawn back outside, and Link’s sword – despite it not being the Master Sword – fires projectiles to deal with them.
Octoroks look rather more terrifying than usual at this close range, and the earth-dwelling Leevers glide silently, menacingly along under sand, waiting for their moment to pounce.
The VR effect makes the first dungeon’s familiar, somewhat bland layout seem more dangerous and mysterious as well, throwing off your sense of direction and adding an extra bit of tension with its narrow passageways.
You can check out the full video on YouTube – and it’s probably the only Zelda VR you’ll get for a while. With Nintendo having apparently abandoned Labo VR after a small handful of projects made use of it, it seems unlikely we’ll see VR make a return in Tears of the Kingdom, or any other Nintendo game for that matter.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF
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