A clown has appeared in town, and he tells Link about a new area of the Drablands that’s just been discovered: the Den of Trials. This is apparently a marathon challenge dungeon like we’ve been seeing since Wind Waker’s Savage Labyrinth, and there’s a special outfit reward for those who make it through and prove they don’t need it. (I may have extrapolated that last part.)
The third area is the Volcano, and the first level is Blazing Trail. The first stage introduces the new item, the Boomerang. Like the Water Rod and Gripshot, the Boomerang has a function that serves as an alternate way to get a Link across a barrier: it grabs the Link and brings him to the thrower. The second stage has a puzzle involving volcanic rocks that break apart under the Links’ weight (but regrow if they do sink into the lava) and Boomeranging to get to the combat encounter: Fire Keese and Hinox. The Hinox aren’t as tough as they were in A Link Between Worlds, but the fire in the area adds a bit of challenge, especially with the “Link who takes fire damage runs around uncontrollably with his buns on fire” mechanic from Four Swords making its return. Stage three has falling boulders to avoid while navigating the path. The final stage has rising and falling levels of lava, with a few safe high points for the Links to stand while battling Kodongos and Fire Keese. It’s funny how a little change can affect things; if this were water, I’d have hated it, but with fire/lava it’s actually fun.
Next up is the Hinox Mine, which gives the Links a Bow and two Boomerangs. (In situations like this, I try to give Green Link the item there’s only one of.) The first stage is short and mainly exists to sell the idea that Link can grab bombs from bomb flowers with the boomerang. Then the real fun starts with the second stage, which puts the Link in a minecart and they have to use their items to open the way to the gate. The third level is more of the same, with three crystal switches that must be activated (thankfully, not linked). Then the fourth level has the miniboss: Hinox Brothers. At first, there’s just one, throwing bombs into the Links’ minecart that the Links need to toss back and the timing makes it tricky. Then there’s two of them and it’s easy to fill up the cart; the trick I found to staying alive was keeping active Links toward the edges of the cart and exploiting the fact that Doppels don’t take damage.
Third is the Den of Flames, which has another new item, returning from Minish Cap: the Gust Jar. It can blast Links across gaps, put out flames, and accelerate swinging platforms. The second stage has a bunch of Fire Hardhat Beetles, because if there’s one enemy that had to be made more annoying, this was it. The third stage has swinging platforms to manipulate and firebars to avoid. The boss room is simple but annoying: Fire Keeleons that spit bombs, followed by a couple more with Fire Hardhat Beetles.
Finally, there’s the Fire Temple. For the first time, there’s three separate items: Bow, Boomerang, and Gust Jar. All three are required to get through the first stage’s puzzles. The second stage pits the Links against more minecart-riding Hinox; one at first, then two more once the first one’s defeated. This fight is much easier than the Hinox Brothers for four reasons: First, the Links’ platform is stationary, so they only have to account for the enemy carts’ movement. Second, the platform is bigger, giving more room to get away from bombs. Third, the bombs don’t come as fast. Fourth, there are bomb flowers the Links can use to get their own bombs, so they don’t need the Hinox’ bombs to win the fight. The third stage has puzzles involving a big block and lava geysers that can lift the block.
And we come to the boss of this very tiresome area, and they top it off by bringing back our old friend Moldorm. (It’s wearing armor, so it looks less like a chain of leafy hamburgers.) Fire geysers scattered around the platform add a bit of challenge, but it’s the multiplayer mechanic that makes it really frustrating. Moldorm will focus on the active Link and only reveal its tail weak point periodically. And once the active Link is switched, there’s a fraction of a second before the tail becomes invulnerable again. Also, the reason Moldorm in general is so annoying is its tendency to push Link off of platforms, and Doppels are neither immune to being pushed around nor falling damage. As the fight goes on, Moldorm raises its tail so it requires a Totem to hit. For the final phase, the tail requires a full Totem to hit, but Moldorm loses the ability to focus and bounces erratically around the platform. Also, the tail’s up so high the Totem Link can shoot over Moldorm’s body and hit the tail, which feels like a mercy.
Next: I’d try to keep the song theme going, but if a song’s got a snowflake in it, it automatically becomes a Christmas song.
