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This is my first OOT hack that I've played so far, I got a rekindled interest in romhacks after seeing some stuff about Sealed Palace recently and wanted to give this hack a shot. I can say that the idea of the hack is really great, I like the idea that the previous 2 games had a focus on time manipulation, meanwhile this one doesn't allow for that in the slightest, it really gives a different outlook on things.

The overworld and dungeons are likely the best parts of this hack, since from what I can tell, every area is completely new, including completely custom secret grottos, which was something I really didn't expect considering that OOT and MM often copy and paste the same grotto with a different chest likely to save time developing new areas. I personally enjoyed exploring the world, and the ideas for the dungeons and mini-dungeons are quite great, from things like a woodland mansion to ideas like an abandoned slaughterhouse or an old bomb factory taken over by Lizalfos.

The soundtrack is also quite great, consisting of pre-existing songs recreated in the OOT soundfont, allowing for certain tracks to be recognizable and reimagined for use in a Zelda game, and they often fit the areas they're associated with as well, which is always a plus.

Of course, every hack has downsides. Despite the fact that the world clearly has a lot of love and effort put into it, I can say that the writing can be a bit mediocre at times. If you're playing this hack and reading every line of dialogue, you will find some grammatical errors, which didn't kill the experience for me, but it's still important to mention. The ending isn't really anything to write home about as well, all I can really say about it without delving into spoilers is that I was disappointed by it, so I'll leave it at that.

While I had these issues with the hack, I can say that it very much is quite a fun experience, especially when exploring the world to the fullest. While this hack is a bit more mature than traditional Zelda experiences, I did find some enjoyment in it, and I'd say for the dungeons alone this is a great time for any Zelda fan looking for a challenge or reimagining of the game.

Intrigued by the edgy reputation of this hack I gave it a try, it's quite good ! I ended up enjoying myself much more than I expected. The dungeon design is very good. The overworld is a bit... fractured I would say, but it's functional nonetheless. There are some spelling/grammar errors, I gather the author is French because as a fellow French guy I recognize some typical French mistakes patterns. But I don't think it detracts from the experience.

I finished the third dungeon and wasn't sure what to do next, so I wandered a bit and ended up playing other games instead because the olderf I get the less patient I get with games. But I still wanna beat this hack some day. I spoiled myself and watched the endings on YT, I think they're brilliant and a nice change from the usual cheesy "beat bad guy, save the world, happy ending" kind of affair. Before the ending(s) there's not that much of a storyline as far as I could gather, but the general tone is definitely quirkier and more mature than the usual Zelda fare, which is a breath of fresh air.

But in the end of the day story doesn't matter much in a Zelda game, the meat of the game is the dungeons and the ones I completed were really very good. So try it ! And hopefully I'll be able to expand on this review when I'm finally done beating the hack.

Among the very limited selection of proper OoT romhacks currently available - (by proper, I mean those that offer a fundamentally different experience from the original game, and more than a limited amount of gameplay) - Master of Time seems have developed a reputation as the fundamentally flawed step-sibling of Nimpize Adventure and The Missing Link. I've seen plenty of criticism tossed at it, with players casting particularly harsh judgement on the story, dialogue, textures, and endings. Though a few of these quibbles are legitimate, they are not even remotely problematic enough to overshadow Master of Time's positive qualities; it's genuinely baffling to me that the collective focus within the OoT community seems to be fixated on negative aspects that are minor in the grand scheme of things.

Master of Time is the sole full-length OoT romhack that does not reuse any environments from the original game; Don Camilo has crafted a brand new world here, one that dwarfs OoT's Hyrule in its expansiveness. Though many are vast in size, these new areas are meticulously crafted, each with plenty of character and lots of individual facets to explore. In addition to the full-length dungeons (some of which are quite a bit larger and more intricate than their OoT equivalents), Master of Time includes a plethora of mini-dungeons that provide exploration opportunities far beyond what the original game offers. The fact that a single person crafted such a sprawling game filled with this many unique and creative environments in their spare time is incredibly impressive. I was deeply drawn in from the get-go, and have since replayed the game several times from start to finish, feeling rewarded each time. Some have claimed that the textures are ugly, or too dark; I've always thought the creator of the hack was simply trying to create a specific type of atmosphere.

Gameplay-wise, Master of Time feels like a genuine OoT companion piece. It provides a very well-rounded blend of exploration, puzzle-solving and action/combat akin to the original game. One unique new aspect is a significant focus on platforming, which Don Camilo does a really fantastic job of incorporating into the OoT framework in a way that feels incredibly natural and additive to the experience.

Contrary to popular opinion, I think the plot of Master of Time actually works quite well. The root cause of time being frozen prior to Link's arrival is something that could have been explored in more depth, but other than that, the story unfolds in a coherent manner. The much-talked-about big reveal near the end is really one of those perfect endings that is totally predictable, yet difficult to see coming; a variety of hints throughout the game come into increasing clarity as the player progresses. The only heavily-criticized aspect of the game that truly deserved much more polish is the dialogue translations. The grammar is often choppy, and detracts from the game's otherwise deeply immersive nature at times. Beyond that, the story itself is quite satisfying in my opinion.

Much has been said about Master of Time's "edgy" nature. Yes, it is a fair bit more thematically mature than the original game - and the rest of the officially-released Zelda games, to be honest. For those who have a deeply personal attachment to the series, its characters and storylines, spanning from childhood into their adult years, I can see how Master of Time's intense plot elements and environmental aspects might seem very incongruous. The hack takes place in a strange land that vacillates between majestic and unsettling, filled with jaded, paranoid inhabitants whose collective ill will reaches depths far beyond anything in the officially released games. It is clearly aiming to provoke a sense of disquiet in the player at times, and is very effective at doing so. A handful of scenes throughout the game are quite disturbing within the larger context of the story; to write them off as "edginess for the sake of it" would not be giving the creator enough credit. There are deep political undercurrents to the game that may be lost on players living outside of Don Camilo's native France, but these lost-in-translation elements don't detract from the gameplay experience in any meaningful way.

The game offers several different potential endings to discover, depending on actions taken by the player later on in the story progression. The primary ending is understandably infamous, and has been critiqued to death by everyone and their dog; while it may not be as satisfying a final note to go out on as one might like (and this is a valid complaint), I honestly think it fits the game that precedes it like a glove, for better or worse. I have heard a rumor that Don Camilo became burnt out on the project after a year and a half of his one-man development show - which is pretty understandable, honestly - but wanted to release it so people could enjoy the fruits of his labor, instead of simply letting the hack rot on his hard drive in unfinished form. So, he allegedly cut out the planned final area(s) of the game, and modified the planned endings so as to make them work with the completed material. Perhaps someday he'll feel up to tying everything together, and we'll get to play an updated version of Master of Time. Until then, this released version is still a remarkable achievement; a free, full-length Zelda game, packed with everything that made OoT great, and a few new elements that only add to the experience. Don't let the game's reputation keep you from playing it!

Master of Time is an amazing undertaking - probably the largest-scale all-new adventure romhack for Ocarina of Time there is. I don't think a single map is recognizable from Ocarina of Time - *maybe* one or two of the original underground grottos are there.

The game boasts an impressive 6 'main' dungeons, with two bonus optional dungeons and a good handful of mini-dungeons to explore - some mandatory, others not. Every one of them is themed in an interesting manner - one of my favorites was the Moblin Hideout, an area in the volcano crawling with moblins at war with the Gorons. While some of the author's tendencies in dungeon design do tend to shine through, all of them are interesting with new or expanded puzzles, technical challenges, and challenging mobs of enemies. Dungeon layouts are also designed to allow for easy backtracking once a room is 'cleared'. The game doesn't include any bosses, although some dungeons end with a final challenge - which may be a group of enemies or something more technical, like a boat ride with doors that need to be unlocked before the player is pushed into the abyss.

Some areas in the last two dungeons got a little bit more challenging than I expected, with some hookshot targets that were almost out of reach or lengthy sequences of tasks, but none are out of reach for a player who has played through Ocarina of Time a few times. It feels like the game was designed to prevent speedrunner exploits from bypassing areas, while still not requiring speedrunner-level skills to complete - a great level of difficulty.

The writing is a little simple at times, and some characters only get a handful of lines. Early NPCs often seem to have a similar 'voice' to their writing, although this improves in the later game. I don't think the writer's first language is English. Regardless, the game is always understandable, even if a proof-reader may have helped.

The game is a bit harsher with money as well - blue rupees are now worth two rupees, and reds are worth five. Like-Like's will instantly melt your shields and tunics as well. It feels like a good answer to the original game's overabundance of money, especially as you still need to buy tunics for some of the dungeons.

Outside of a couple of skultulas in awkward locations, an unexplained crash after a teleportation event, and an NPC whose dialogue inexplicably reverted to asking for help after I had helped him and been rewarded, I didn't encounter any serious bugs. For a full-length romhack that seems to have been developed by a single person, I consider this to be a significant level of polish. I wish some of the main characters would appear more often and give more dialogue, but what is present is more than sufficient.

The world is extremely edgy. Be prepared for some gory scenes. Although sometimes it felt a little over the top, I found the world compelling and I loved delving into these dark areas. There is literally so much to discover in this world and some of the side content is extremely clever.

...And then there's the ending.

It's abrupt. You get seriously amped for the last dungeon, you're ready to enter the final area... and the game ends. MoT seems to be infamous for its endings (yes, there are three possible endings). None of them are satisfying, and it feels like the game is missing the last dungeon.

But the game is so solid despite this that I can't reasonably hold the game back for it. If nothing else, the game is worth picking up. Moblin Hideout, Lozan Castle and Jail, the Butcher, and the secret dungeon in the hospital are all so cool and definitely worth seeing. If you're a fan of Ocarina of Time, you need to check this game out for these areas. Enjoy the journey, not the destination.

Spoilers ahead:

I remember playing this demo back in June before its final release that came out a month after playing and was Amazed to see how much changed in the overworld to demo, you think this story is edgy? in the demo version Link was an alcoholic that sold all his items for booze money LOL. But not goning to talk about that, but the gameplay in the "original" version I played

First off I wan't say I like the textures in the rom that others do not like, its unique because its mostly just its own game, and also want to mention the soundtrack in this entire game is fabulous, what a great soundtrack Don was able to put into the game

As the intro says Link has been asked to help bring back the flow of time and restore night-time as its making the people in Abello start to become crazy as you later find out in the game. One game breaking glitch i heard someone find is the Gibdo in Sagnal Tomb, make sure not to die to him or he wont reappear and means a reset.

The game starts you off on a good track if you know where to go before entering the first dungeon, once you get your set of items and leave Sagnal village the game just completely opens up to this massive overworld which I completely feel in love with, the time Don put into this and even a custom overworld map is just brilliant and impressive. You go to the town castle to find something isn't... right. You find a book that helps you out on which ways you need to go to complete your journey and solve/fix the flow of time to bring everything back to normal, or so it seems

The gameplay in this game to amazing, every dungeon/mini dungeon/extra areas are full of great and unique box and switch puzzles something Ocarina of Time didn't do much of and this game just pushed the limits to show you how much more OOT could've done. Forest area and Fire, Spirit and Water Temple areas had some nice touches to collecting the skulltulas and even extra dungeon heart pieces felt more rewarding and not chore or tedious to the matter. Have to say the Lozan area and Death Temple were probably my favorite parts in the entire game, just a big 2 section area of a huge map and the music was the perfect fit for the "Land of the Dead" with a Shadow Temple/Ikana Valley with Dies Irae being the theme. The hospital had an interesting mini dungeon to say the least to help get a item you didn't really need, but the thought of that dungeon is pure brilliance. The Slughterhouse was you can say somewhat disturbing but liked the lore behind it if you talked to the NPC's if you wanted to know what the hell is going on in this country Abello. Slaughterhouse also had nice connection to the Sewers of the castletown to find more disturbing things, and help you venture later on through the game. The game was also straight forward on letting the player know you need this item are you cant go through to this place so keep on searching. There are no Bosses in the game which was nice mix instead of fighting a repetitive boss i beat hundreds of times, which also gave you more heart pieces to collect

I'd say I spent 15-20 hours playing this game with all the new areas, dungeons and collecting all Heart pieces and Skulltulas, the exploration of this game is really impressive and felt really rewarding finding secret areas and even little easter eggs

Also if you talk to alot of NPC's and read up some things in this, you can see alot of political & power hungry statements throughout this game I will not mention. There is also some vulgar language in the game, but if you want to play this game for yourself and find out, I'd say go ahead, not all things in life or even video games are sunshine and flowers

Just 2 things I disliked about this mode were things like the hookshot targets are so far out of range you need to stand literally on the edge of something just so you can reach the target or even trying to get a skulltula token. And the Zora diving mini game was pretty bad aswell, not only do you have to deal with the clams (you can kill them before trying) but the seaweed under water just almost makes it impossible to see where the blue rupees are in completing the mini game

Yes this game does have a edgy story to it, and a somewhat bad ending(s) but if you can get past that and not listen to what other people had said about this, go and play it for yourself, you will not regret. This game really has not so many hard points to it, I would say even your average OOT player could play and beat this in times due.

I had fun playing this game, which Is why i went the distance to 100% and fully complete this game. And hopefully other like this game like I did. This for now is the first fully new OOT rom we have, So it is quite impressive to see what can be done with the tools we have now

9/10

This is a pretty well made oot hack with great dungeon design and music,but some of the textures and writing/typos can be pretty bad. And without SPOILING anything ...

There are multiple endings, but the bad one is REALLY bad and the "Good" one is extremely unfulfilling.. but overall, it's certainly a worth-while fun experience from start to end as long as you can get pass the few not so good parts as I stated above. it's also the first full length ooT hacks that's also console compatible. That being said, I do hope these issues as mentioned get resolved in the future,because this hack definitely has potential to be one of the greatest oot hacks ever made etc story definitely needs a re-write imo.