A Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker Mod Is Removing One Of Its Defining Features

A new mod for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is removing one of the game's most iconic features, draining the Great Sea and removing the game's water. The initial launch of the GameCube's first Zelda game saw a significantly different version of the beloved franchise than fans were expecting. Replacing the iconic kingdom of Hyrule was the vast openness of the Great Sea, tasking players with traversing the oceans of a flooded kingdom of Hyrule. Now, one fan creation is looking to reverse the flooding process within the game.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker's Great Sea serves as one of the biggest factors that sets the game apart from its Zelda counterparts. Whereas most games in the Zelda franchise feature players travelling throughout the kingdom of Hyrule, the story of The Wind Waker takes place a century after Ocarina of Time, featuring a flooded Hyrule. Players are now tasked with navigating the Great Sea, riding atop the talking King of Red Lions boat, visiting the various islands and helping their inhabitants along the way. Now, however, the Great Sea is being drained in a new Wind Waker mod.

The project, referred to as Wind Waker: Unflooded, re-imagines the world of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker without the sprawling ocean of the Great Sea. The massive undertaking looks to re-create the world lost beneath The Wind Waker's Great Sea, taking inspiration from fan maps of The Wind Waker's version of Hyrule. The base game of The Wind Waker only briefly features the underwater version of Hyrule, visiting Hyrule Castle and Ganon's Tower. The project's team also confirms the 3D modeling to be roughly 45% finished.

Wind Waker: Unflooded's new take on the world of The Wind Waker comes as the game served as one of the franchise's most divisive entries on launch. Many fans were critical of the game for its cel-shaded cartoony style, serving as a stark contrast from the more realistic artstyles of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. The Great Sea was also a