In case you’ve been living under a rock (or just aren’t a big gamer, which is totally fair), The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom just released last week. It’s probably the single most-hyped video game release of 2023, and it’s absolutely smashing sales and receiving glowing reviews across the board. The doesn’t mean the game is perfect, and just like its predecessor (Breath of the Wild), this game is lacking in the dungeon department. Dungeons have defined the Zelda series since the very first installment, and are one of the most talked about features of the franchise.
So…here are my Top 10 Favorite Dungeons in the Legend of Zelda series!
10) Bottom of the Well ~ Ocarina of Time
I won’t try to pretend that I’m the biggest fan of Ocarina of Time in the entire world or anything, but what I am a really big fan of is when a non-horror game (or movie/show/book) decides to briefly lean heavily into the horror genre. The Bottom of the Well mini-dungeon does exactly that. The happy-go-lucky music of Kakariko Village drops out as you plummet into the well, and you find yourself accosted by a labyrinth of twisting tunnels and mysterious stains splattered on chain-laden walls. Ghosts and specters abound, and it all caps off with the aggressively creepy Dead Hand, who is probably still the most unsettling enemy in all of Zelda.
9) Hyrule Castle ~ Breath of the Wild
I don’t love Breath of the Wild as much as most other people do, but the freedom of exploration the game provides is definitely consistently enjoyable, and nowhere is that more present than at Hyrule Castle. From the moment you complete the tutorial, you can book it straight towards Hyrule Castle, scale the walls, and challenge the final boss. Should you do that? No! But, what I ended up doing mere hours into the game (and thoroughly enjoying every second of) was prowling the enemy-filled hallways for endgame loot and valuables, then skedaddling away with my riches and stomping the rest of the game’s difficulty in half! The excellently heroic musical theme of the castle itself was just the icing on the cake!
8) Thieves’ Hideout ~ Link Between Worlds
Classic Zelda games have a hard time engaging me, and the classic-inspired Link Between Worlds was no exception…for the most part. While I don’t have much to say about the game’s barebones storytelling or simplistic combat, I could praise the ingenuity of the Thieves’ Hideout for hours (especially as it’s of such a high quality compared to the rest of the game). Introducing you to the sassy and helpful NPC known only as Thief Girl, the two of you work in tandem to press buttons, flip switches, and tackle monsters to escape this treacherous den. Then, you throw down against a formidable skeleton lord who manages to be both slightly tricky and actually invigorating to fight (the only boss in the game to truly be so). It’s a blast from start to finish, and one of the several glimmers of hope in Link Between Worlds that helped me to feel I hadn’t totally wasted my time playing that game!
7) Earth Temple ~ Wind Waker
Continuing off of the trend established in the previous entry, the Earth Temple is yet another partner-centric dungeon. Alongside the plucky Rito sage, Medli, it is your task to plumb the depths of the (confusingly non-earth related) dungeon in order to rid it of the evil spirit that killed the previous sage. Ghosts and zombies are everywhere, though a bit more palatable in Wind Waker‘s cartoonish style (the ReDead scream is still horrifying, though), and the majority of the dungeon involves some very clever and intricate light-based puzzles by reflecting beams with your mirror shield and Medli’s harp. This dungeon was improved further in Wind Waker‘s HD rerelease, as it made it easier than ever to guide Medli around the spooky atmosphere of this forgotten temple.
6) Hyrule Castle ~ Twilight Princess
Hyrule Castle makes a second appearance on this list, but the Twilight Princess version gets higher praise from me due to the sheer cinematic scale of it all. Breath of the Wild‘s Hyrule Castle might also be your end goal, but it loses a tiny luster in the grand scheme of things since you can just book it right there at the start of the game (which, granted, is part of the charm). This game’s Hyrule Castle, on the other hand, is also your end goal and yet remains tantalizingly out-of-reach until these final epic hours.
It starts with a literal bang as Midna uses the power of the Fused Shadows to bust open the barrier, and it only gets crazier from there. A dark thunderstorm rolls in, and the distinct lack of music in the sprawling and uncannily huge outdoor garden is off-putting in the best way. After the final showdown with an incredible reoccurring miniboss, you burst into the castle and wander its wide halls and admire its gorgeous architecture as the music steadily ramps up. Beating down the toughest enemies in the game, you finally make it to good ol’ Ganondorf for the Zelda series’ best final boss encounter. Talk about a finale!
5) Snowpeak Ruins ~ Twilight Princess
Twilight Princess is not a Zelda game short on uniquely crafted dungeons, and Snowpeak Ruins is a great example of that fresh design philosophy. The dungeon takes place within these ruins of a long-abandoned military fortress, and trappings of that old archaic design still exist. At the same time, the current denizens have attempted to spruce up the mansion-like ruins into a livable home, thus creating a very distinct and memorable clashing of styles throughout the dungeon.
Since this dungeon is technically a home too, the process of exploring is different as well. You have a central base in the middle complete with safe room and infinite healing via warm soup. You branch off from their, exploring dilapidated sitting rooms at one end and crumbling battlements at the other. All of this is combined with some of the toughest puzzles in the game and some ingenious use of ice physics, and an unforgettable clash against the nightmare-inducing possessed version of the very same nice lady whose house this is and whose husband has been giving you soup!
4) Sandship ~ Skyward Sword
The Lanayru Mining Facility dungeon earlier in Skyward Sword introduced the timeshifting mechanic, and the Sandship arrives later in the journey to definitely perfect said mechanic. By striking purple stones with either sword or arrow, you can shift portions of the world around you into earlier states of being (and in Skyward Sword, the present is dusty and decrepit, while the past is bustling with fancy technology and life). After scouring an ocean of sand for this wayward ship, you climb aboard and must conquer it inside and out to find the treasure awaiting within.
The puzzles in this dungeon are true brain-teasing stuff, including a bit where you shoot the timestone through a slat in the ceiling, and another bit where you raise and lower a lifeboat to change between floors of the ship through an open window. You do battle against an evil robot pirate lord on the bow of the Sandship, jousting until you shove him backwards to his demise, and then a massive tentacled monster starts destroying the ship while you flee to safety and battle the beast atop the floating remains of the vessel. It’s a crazy set-piece dungeon from start to finish!
3) Ancient Cistern ~ Skyward Sword
There’s an extremely compelling argument for the Ancient Cistern to be the best dungeon in all of Zelda, even if I chose two other dungeons to place higher due to more of a personal preference. In fact, many online lists will feature the Ancient Cistern in the top position or very close to it. There’s absolutely nothing that this dungeon does wrong, and it gets so many tiny details right. It’s probably the best dungeon in the series to point to as an example of just how ingenious the developers of the Zelda franchise are.
The dungeon is gorgeous, with sparkling golden architecture above ground, and a dark desolate wasteland just under the surface. The way you flip up and down between these variations on theming are perfect, and the entire dungeon is evocative of an old Buddist story known as “The Spider’s Thread”. The zombies that lurk below are scary (especially when they chase you up your escape rope), the dungeon item (which is a whip) is put to very creative use, and all of the scripted fights are a blast (particularly the showdown against the mechanical menace Koloktos, frequently cited as one of the best Zelda bosses of all time).
2) Arbiter’s Grounds ~ Twilight Princess
Having the Arbiter’s Grounds so high on this list shouldn’t be much of a surprise, as I featured the entire story arc surrounding this dungeon on my Top 10 Chapters in Gaming list a few months back. Everything about this point of the story is incredible, and half of the fun of this dungeon is what comes immediately before and after. We lead in with a stealth sequence of infiltrating a monster camp and doing battle with the same reoccurring miniboss I mentioned earlier in this article, and end with awesome Ganondorf foreshadowing flashback cutscenes.
The dungeon itself is certainly no slouch, though. It’s a spooky, very Egyptian-themed dungeon involving sinking sand, zombies shambling out of crypts, and ancient traps just waiting to spring on an unsuspecting Link. The dungeon also introduces the Spinner, which is probably the best criminally underutilized dudgeon item in the series. Skating around the dungeon is a blast! This dungeon also uses both normal Link and Wolf Link in tandem to solve puzzles, includes a miniboss shrouded in mystery even to this day, and caps off with one of the most exciting boss confrontations in Zelda history!
1) Sky Keep ~ Skyward Sword
Every time I think about this dungeon after a while, it blows my mind all over again. To be honest, I couldn’t quite tell you why I rank it so high or why it means so much to me, but for some reason this dungeon really resonated with me during my first playthrough of Skyward Sword and all the way to this day. It’s the final dungeon in the game, and it puts each and every one of your skills to the test. Maybe it has something to do with my penchant for fondly remembering moments in games that were extremely difficult, because this dungeon definitely kicked my butt for several hours!
The entire core of the dungeon is what is so difficulty and memorable about it. The dungeon takes the shape of one of those 3×3 sliding puzzles, wherein the actual space of the dungeon is just a starting lobby and then a grid of eight sliding rooms. The catch is that you have to manipulate these rooms yourself at certain panels in the dungeon, so that you yourself are putting the dungeon together. The ways in which you have to back into and out of room configurations, sliding rooms around to line things up just right so that you can proceed, is mind-boggling. It makes you want to scream in anger before it all clicks, and shout for joy once you’ve solved it!
And there’s not even a boss! You have a miniboss rematch against another evil robot pirate, but your main goal is simply to assemble the Triforce. This dungeon is the final test for a hero set by the goddesses, and it really shows. Every previous dungeon theme and gimmick makes a return, and there’s no item or mechanic that goes unused by the end of the Sky Keep. And yet, instead of feeling like a lazy retread, this dungeon feels like a natural conclusion to your journey that still has a few final tricks up its sleeve!
But hey, that’s just my opinion!
The Contrarian Corner 