Zelda Ocarina of Time Remake Launches Today on Switch 2 — Metacritic 96, Highest-Rated Game of 2026

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake launches today, Thursday 5 November 2026, exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2 — and it arrives as the highest-rated game of 2026, with a Metacritic score of 96 based on 84 reviews. Nintendo has rebuilt the 1998 Nintendo 64 classic from the ground up, with redesigned visuals, fully voiced cutscenes and a symphonic soundtrack, while keeping the story that made the original the best-reviewed game of all time. If you own a Switch 2, this is the game everyone will be talking about this week.

The reviews landed a day before launch, and they were extraordinary. Critics called it the best-reviewed title since 2023’s Baldur’s Gate 3, and the remake’s 96 on Metacritic equals that game’s score. For the producer who made the original, the wait has been nerve-wracking. Eiji Aonuma, who directed the 1998 original and now produces the series, told AFP he was “all nervous” about how players would react.

Key Facts: Zelda Ocarina of Time Remake Launch

A 96 on Metacritic — the best-reviewed game of 2026

The numbers tell the story. The Ocarina of Time remake sits at 96 on Metacritic from 84 reviews, making it the highest-rated game of 2026 so far and the best-reviewed title since Baldur’s Gate 3 in 2023. It has equalled Baldur’s Gate 3’s score of 96 — no other game since 2023 has reached that mark. In the last decade, only three games score higher: Super Mario Odyssey, Red Dead Redemption 2 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

The original game casts a long shadow over those numbers. The 1998 Ocarina of Time is famously the highest-rated game of all time on Metacritic — the only title ever to be rated 99. That is the standard this remake was measured against, and the early verdict is that it holds up. IGN called it an “exceptional remake of an incredible game and a rich adventure that stands on its own”, and the Guardian gave it five stars, with Keza MacDonald writing that Nintendo’s modern Zelda team had “turned one of the best games of the 1990s into one of the best games of the 2020s, and made time-travellers out of us all”.

What’s new in the remake

This is not a simple polish of the old game. Nintendo describes it as rebuilt from the ground up for Switch 2, and the changes go well beyond sharper graphics. The visuals have been substantially redesigned, the movement and camera controls modernised, and the cutscenes are now fully voiced, with expanded character dialogue and a symphonic orchestral soundtrack.

The gameplay has been updated too. Link gains a dash ability and button-triggered jumps, letting him cross Hyrule Field faster and leap over gaps. A new Threads of Time feature recaps the story and tracks objectives for players coming to Hyrule for the first time. The ocarina can be played with traditional button controls — or by humming the melody into the Switch 2’s built-in microphone — and motion controls are supported for aiming tools such as the slingshot and bow.

There is also a companion service, ZELDA NOTES, available through the Nintendo Switch App: it records accomplishments, offers location-finding challenges and lets players create and share ocarina melodies. A Nintendo Switch Online membership is not required to play the game itself or to use ZELDA NOTES, though it is needed for cloud saves. It has been a crowded year for new hardware — from Nintendo’s own Switch 2 to Samsung’s next-generation Galaxy S27 chipsets — and the remake is built to show off what the new console can do.

The producer who is “all nervous”

Behind the remake is a producer with a personal stake in it. Eiji Aonuma, 63, directed the original Ocarina of Time — his first project working with series creator Shigeru Miyamoto — and has steered the Zelda series for more than 25 years since. Speaking to AFP in Paris ahead of launch, he admitted the nerves had not gone away: “I’m all nervous about releasing the remake of ‘Ocarina’ because I don’t know how it’s going to turn out; I can’t stop thinking about it.”

Some of the younger members of his team had never played the original, and Aonuma credits them with bringing a freshness to the remake. The release is part of the 40th anniversary of the Zelda saga, which Miyamoto created in 1986. Ocarina of Time is the fifth instalment, and the series has only grown since: its last two main games, Breath of the Wild (2017) and Tears of the Kingdom (2023), sold more than 55 million copies between them.

The story itself is untouched. Link begins as a young boy among the Kokiri, summoned by the Great Deku Tree, and his journey spans two eras of Hyrule as he faces Ganondorf, the Gerudo leader seeking the Triforce. For returning players, it is the same adventure; for new ones, it is a story long called one of the greatest in games, now told with voices, music and visuals to match.

Switch 2 only — and what it costs

One thing to be clear about: this remake is exclusive to Nintendo Switch 2. Nintendo has not announced a version for the original Switch, PlayStation, Xbox or PC, and the game was built specifically for the new console. It supports TV, tabletop and handheld play, HDR on compatible displays and amiibo — with Young Link and Young Zelda amiibo planned for 2027, unlocking special in-game masks.

In the UK, the digital edition costs £49.99 and the physical edition carries a £58.99 RRP. The game is rated PEGI 12 in the UK and Everyone 10+ in North America. Nintendo has also not publicly named the development studio behind the remake — some retailer listings have suggested Monolith Soft, but that has not been confirmed by Nintendo or the studio.

For readers in Pakistan, the honest answer is that no Pakistan price has been confirmed yet. Nintendo has no official Pakistan storefront, so local pricing will depend on importers and retailers once stock arrives — and any PKR figure circulating online right now is a guess, not an official price. Pakistani buyers are used to checking launch-day pricing carefully, as with the OnePlus 16’s confirmed Pakistan price and specs at launch, so it is worth waiting for retailers to list the game before paying a premium. The estimated download size is 27 GB, so digital buyers should make room on their console first.

Perfect timing — two weeks before GTA 6

The launch date is no accident. The remake arrives just two weeks before Grand Theft Auto 6, the most anticipated game release in history, which may yet rival Zelda’s Metacritic score — the previous two GTA games are rated 97 and 98 on the platform. Nintendo has fired the first shot in the biggest fortnight of the gaming year. The hype around GTA 6 is already spilling into wild territory, including an Xbox Series X console giveaway themed around the game — but this week belongs to Link.

There is one launch-day curiosity worth noting: TheGamer reported that the remake was already running on PC via emulation on its launch day — a sign of how eagerly it was awaited, not a recommendation. The remake is a Switch 2 exclusive, and the way to play it as Nintendo intended is on the console.

Twenty-eight years after the original set a standard no game has beaten, its remake has done something almost as remarkable: made the whole games world stop and pay attention again. The reviews say it is the best game of 2026. From today, players can judge for themselves.

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