Did A Link Between Worlds feel too Familiar?

A Link Between Worlds, as the proclaimed sequel of A Link to the Past, reuses a lot of elements in order to evoke a sense of nostalgia in Zelda fans who played through the 1992 classic. The newest Zelda installment on the 3DS even borrows the entire overworld from A Link to the Past, albeit in both polygonal and stereoscopic 3D this time around. Did Nintendo made the right decision to lift huge chunks of content from A Link Between Worlds predecessor, or did they go a little bit overboard?

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Regardless of how much I enjoyed A Link Between Worlds, at times I felt as if I was playing through an A Link to the Past re-envisioning rather than a true sequel. I did appreciate the clever mini-dungeons hidden throughout the overworld, among many other new additions; however, the sense of complete familiarity never quite left me, and I never felt that I was exploring truly new ground. Perhaps this was the exact intention of the developers, and I respect that, but with even the newly introduced Kingdom of Lorule being really nothing more than a Dark World equivalent, I felt that original content did ran short in A Link Between Worlds.

I remember Twilight Princess being criticized for lacking a distinctly unique identity, being a spiritual successor of and lifting numerous elements from Ocarina of Time; despite the fact that the game was chockfull of completely new areas, characters and items. What is it about A Link Between Worlds that doesn’t provoke the same kind of reaction that Twilight Princess did? Perhaps it is the fresh idea of renting and buying items, which allows for awesome non-linear gameplay. Perhaps it is because the gameplay is satisfying, fluent and constant, without annoying interruptions or hand-holding. Perhaps it is because of the charming music. Even so, couldn’t the developers have kept only some prime iconic elements of A Link to the Past to capture its essence, such as specific characters, tunes and a couple of locations, while granting the rest of the game a creative reimagining like in Twilight Princess? I feel that A Link Between Worlds could have been a worthy sequel to A Link to the Past without borrowing as much from A Link to the Past as it does now. Heck, they could have kept the entire Hyrule overworld as it is now, if you ask me, if only they made Lorule to be a totally new experience.

Lorule and the Dark World, compared.

Despite the aforementioned, I am of the opinion that A Link Between Worlds was still quite an enjoyable game to play and an excellent addition to the Zelda franchise, as the new content which the game did feature was very satisfying and the game’s attempt at innovation within an established formula was mostly successful and fully commendable. I just wish the new installment could have offered us a slightly more unique experience. What do you guys think? Was the amount of unique content to your satisfaction, or did you feel it was just a little bit too familiar to your liking? Let me know in the comments below!