The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is a 2011 developed and published by for the . A high-definition remaster of the game, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, was co-developed by and released for the in July 2021.
Taking the role of series protagonist , players navigate the floating island of Skyloft and the land below it, completing quests that advance the story and solving environmental and dungeon-based puzzles. The mechanics and combat, the latter focusing on attacking and blocking with sword and shield, are reliant on the peripheral. A mainline entry in , Skyward Sword is the first game in the , and details the origins of the (created from the Goddess Sword) , a recurring weapon within the series. Link, a resident of a floating town called Skyloft, sets out to rescue his childhood friend after she is kidnapped and brought to the surface, the abandoned lands below the clouds.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is an video game in which players take on the role of series protagonist through a series of overworlds populated by monsters and navigating dungeons featuring puzzles and further enemies including dedicated bosses. Link is controlled using the and , and the expansion device is required to play. The greater majority of gameplay mechanics revolve around use of motion controls: these include camera control with the Nunchuck and general hotkey actions and movement linked to the Remote. Jumping across gaps and scaling ledges happen automatically within context. The Nunchuck is also used to make Link perform a forward roll. In addition to his standard pace, Link can sprint for short distances. Sprinting and other actions such as climbing and carrying heavy objects is limited by a stamina meter, which recharges after a few seconds when not performing actions that drain it. When depleted entirely, Link's movement speed is reduced and he is left vulnerable until the metre refills. Standard navigation takes place from a third-person perspective, while the Dowsing search function switches to a first-person view: Dowsing scans an area for a selected object, with new Dowsing objectives appearing depending on game context
