Published Jul 4, 2026, 8:00 PM EDT
James is a gaming writer from London who has spent thousands of hours exploring titles from every genre. Though he has a particular affinity for multiplayer titles like World of Warcraft, Destiny 2 and League of Legends, he has also put thousands of hours into single-player experiences, from deep RPGs to epic PC strategies. When he’s not playing or writing, he can usually be found supporting his beloved Brentford FC.
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Of all the Legend of Zelda games past and present, none have been on quite as significant a journey as The Wind Waker. When it first dropped back in 2002, it just wasn’t what fans wanted at the time, particularly as many were expecting a more dark and realistic tone after the notorious tech demo Nintendo showed off for the GameCube at SpaceWorld 2000.
Since then, it has come to be one of the most highly appreciated games in the series, with many actually placing it at the top of a tree that’s filled with brilliant games. As such, many have called for it to return in some form for the modern generation of consoles, and a new release has finally shown us exactly what that could look like.
Over on YouTube, the channel Manza 3D has uploaded a video entitled A Day in Outset Island – Zelda: The Wind Waker. Built inside Unreal Engine 5, it’s a beautiful window into what a new Wind Waker remaster could look like, and it’s safe to say that it really is enough to bring a little nostalgic tear to the eye.
In sharing a window into the process used to create the island, the creator shared the following:
“This is my personal reinterpretation of Outset Island from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. This personal project was developed over several months using Unreal Engine 5, with modeling done in Blender and Maya, and texturing in Substance 3D Painter and Quixel Mixer. I reimagined the island — redesigning the assets, and adding new props, vegetation, ruins, and beach details to create a fresh, stylized version of this beloved location.”
Though this isn’t a playable game by any stretch, the fact that it has been created by one person really does show the potential of a new release with a full team of experienced developers working on it.
With Zelda celebrating its 40th anniversary as a franchise this year, there’s a lot going on for fans to be excited about. The Ocarina of Time remake is obviously the big one, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be more coming down the pipeline to mark the occasion.
Whether that means a Wind Waker HD will finally leave the confines of the Wii U remains to be seen, but we can all live in hope that the Twilight Princess double pack becomes a reality this year.
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