Although is regularly derided for being one of the most linear and straightforward games in the franchise, it also has some of the absolute best level des🐟ign in a AAA title. Vir🐼tually every single area in has the care and attention of a dungeon, leading to non-stop set pieces from start to finish.
The Silent Realm challenges stand out as some of the most nerve wracking set pieces in , forcing Link to stealth by dangerous enemies. On top of being one of the few Zelda games to maintain an actual difficulty curve up to the end, this makes Skyward Sword surprisingly challenging to beat. The Silent Realm is one of the most chilling settings to come out of , but there are ways to cut th🔯e tension.
Study The Level Design
There are four Silent Realm cha🥀llenges in Skyward Sword, all of which with their own unique level design. While each Realm’s geography is based on an area you’ve already visited – Faron Woods, Lanayru Desert, Eldin Volcano, Skyloft – there are several Guardians patrolling the area who will take Link out in a single hit. Your goal in each Silent Realm is to find all the Sacred Tears corresponding to the area’s Goddess.
Grabbing a Sacred Tear briefly stuns nearby Guardians, allowing you t♌o grab more. All the while, you’ll need to avoid patrols while keeping an eye on your timer. Run out of time and the Guardians will instinctively aggro towards Link until you grab your next Sacred Tear. Make sure to take your time and actually study the level design, otherwise you’ll get lost or cornered and lose progress.
Plan A Route And Stick To It
The upside to getting caught during a Sacred Realm challenge is that any Sacred Tears you nabbed get registered onto your map. This allows you to plan a course during repeat playthroughs. That said, this is something you should (and can) be doing at the start of each challenge. Link begins each Silent Realm🌄 in a protective circle whe💎re Guardians can’t hurt you and the timer doesn’t drop.
Take the time to look at the map, study what patrols you can, and track down Sacred Tears accordingly. Randomly running🏅 around looking for Tears is a recipe for disaster, as is improvising when you have some idea of wherꦍe you’re going. A level of exploration is necessary for the Silent Realm, but it’s more important to stay focused and craft a path that loops you back to the starting point. Once you grab all the Sacred Tears, you’ll need to race back to the beginning in one piece.
Avoid Waking Water Like The Plague
When it comes to stealthing by Guardians, you aren’t just avoiding their line of sight but also tryi🀅ng not to trigger their hearing. Silent Realms feature almost holographic bodies of water called Waking Water that generate loud noise when stepped ꦿon. It only takes a single step to trigger nearby Guardians and Waking Water tends to be well hidden in the level design.
Be mindful of where you’re walking and always pay attention to your immediate surroundings. Accidentally stepping on or running through Waking Water can kill an otherwise successful Silent Realm run. There might be instances where you have no choice but to cut through waking Water, however, so be ♏aware of the Guardians around you and have an eౠscape plan at the ready.
Pace Your Light Fruit
There are only a few Light Fruit in each Silent Realm challenge, but they’re incredibly important for tracking down all the Sacred Tears. Picking up one Light Fruit lights up beacons above each Sacred Tear for 30 seconds. This makes it easy to s♕pot Tears you might ꧑have missed while giving you an important sense of space for the level design.
As there is a set amount of Light Fruit, you need to be careful about how many you’re picking up and how quickly.𝔍 Blasting through every Fruit you see will mean running out before you have every Sacred Tear. The beacons are very helpful, so make sure you&rsquo൲;re only picking up Light Fruit when you actually need them.