Its being co-developed by ex-Metroid devs
This is the big one. The one that defines all the points to follow. While Mega Man creator Keji Inafune has largely been ReCores public face, Inafunes Comcept is co-developing the game with American studio Armature. Armature was founded by a director, art director, and technology engineer from Retro Studios. Retro Studios is best known for creating the Metroid Prime series for the Nintendo Gamecube and Wii. And, with its blend of open-world exploration, ability-gated traversal puzzles, and big old boss fights, Metroid has always been Nintendos space-Zelda. And Armature is not holding back about its heritage with regard to ReCore.
Youll get really attached to your gadgets
One of the most affecting elements of Zelda games is the way that your growing inventory of weapons, gadgets and tools ultimately becomes part of your persona. The likes of hook-shots, boomerangs, bows and bombchus arent the usual incremental upgrades and tactical tweaks. Theres none of your half-arsed, +4% accuracy to scoped fire nonsense here. They fundamentally change the way that you can interact with and access the world around you, and so they fundamentally change the way you see that world, and the way you see yourself. Zelda games arent just about exploration. Theyre about a sense of personal growth. And so you get really attached to your gear. It becomes an inseparable part of you.
Its open-world feels like a sandy, space-Hyrule
Its an unmistakable feeling. As Joule steps out from the stranded vehicle shes made home, that just left the starting area in Zelda feeling pours out of the screen in waves. The sudden burst of light and space, as the ground spreads out around you, hitherto unseen, organic shapes replacing rigid, man-made structures as all is suddenly sky and landscape. Canyon walls and hilly vantage points tease the path to even more freedom just a little further ahead. Insurmountable columns and ridges, that feel suspiciously surmountable due to their rather platform-like placings near each other. The sense that if you can work out how, theres a route there.
Its got the same sense of hidden-in-plain-sight discovery
Yup, the use of gear feels exactly like Zelda too. Following a brief battle with a mob of robot enemies - which, although gun-based, uses a very familiar blend of lock-on targeting, close-range combat, and evasive dashes and rolls - Joule starts exploring the immediate vicinity. Shes surrounded by the aforementioned insurmountables, but after a few moments investigation, their nature rapidly changes.
A man with significant Zelda experience is working on the soundtrack
Composing ReCores soundtrack is Chad Seiter. He might not have written Zeldas original music - that, as is the case with many classic Nintendo soundtracks, is the work of Koji Kondo - but he has done the next-best thing. As well as writing several game scores and the music for a huge number of movies, he arranged the music for Nintendos ongoing, live Zelda concert tour, entitled Symphony of the Goddess.
