After 10 years of work, the creator behind the internet's most famous unofficial Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake project has laid down their sword, stating that "the best move would be now to move forward."
If you're a Zelda fan who's had any level of access to the internet over the last decade or so, there's a very good chance you've come across Giuseppe "CryZENx" Macula's Ocarina of Time Unreal Engine remake. The creator first began posting videos recreating parts of the original 1998 game with shiny new visuals back in 2016, and it's only grown from there. Progress has been steady, with fans even able to play through their work, but the journey ends here (thanks, Time Extension).
"I think I have made history with my Remake," CryZENx writes in a Patreon post celebrating the announcement of the official Switch 2 Ocarina of Time remake, noting that they don't want to "step" on Nintendo.
"The best move would be now to move forward" with a new project, the creator believes, "because im sure nintendo will do it this time the right way."
They've followed this up with another post to clarify that their project has now officially "stopped." They're still keen to make more content, and have been asking fans for suggestions about what they might like to see them recreate next, but don't expect more Ocarina of Time.
To be clear, in none of CryZENx's posts has the creator indicated that Nintendo had gotten in contact with them to request that they stop working on their remake, so it seems this was a decision made purely out of respect.
We've not actually seen much of the official Switch 2 Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake yet, but funnily enough, the glimpse we saw of Link actually matches up with the more realistic-looking vibe CryZENx has been aiming for for all these years pretty well. Clearly, the modder is happy, too: "Finally after 20 years we got a real remake with a high budget."
