I can’t say I’ve been waiting almost 30 years for the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time because I didn’t have a frame of reference for the concept until Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy sparked the big modern video game remake boom when it was announced in 2016, and it then became a full-blown industry trend in 2019. However, once that trend marched forward in full force, you better believe I’ve been hoping for an Ocarina of Time remake, as any lifelong Zelda fan understandably would. Well, now, that dream has officially come true, with the remake of what is quite possibly the greatest game ever made arriving very soon on the Nintendo Switch 2. There’s just one problem—what am I supposed to do with my life until then?
Whether you’ve been waiting nearly 30 years for this remake or 30 months, we have officially reached the worst part of it. At the time of writing, the November 5, 2026 release of the Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake is now just one week away, and while that might sound like something to be excited about (and it is), it’s also something to dread. With such a short time now standing between us and the launch of one of the most anticipated games of this century, we are now in that limbo moment where nothing else sounds good right now except for the Ocarina of Time remake. No matter what new games are out, and no matter how good they are, none of them are going to satisfy us like Ocarina of Time. That poor backlog will just have to wait a little longer.
I Don’t Want to Play Anything But Ocarina of Time Right Now
Right now, I have a good number of games just sitting in my backlog that I genuinely want to play—games that I was actually waiting on for months ahead of their release. The problem is, when you’re a games journalist who is also a husband and father, sometimes you don’t get to play what you want to play, and instead, you play what you need to play. That doesn’t necessarily mean that when I’m playing those games I’m not enjoying them. Games are games, after all, and I still do have a bit of a choice in what I write about. Even so, this year has been different for someone like me in that regard, because my broad gaming interests mean that my backlog has been piling up with all the amazing games that have been coming out lately.
Guess the games from the emojis.
For example, I only just now “finished” Star Wars: Galactic Racer, which came out almost a month ago. That might seem normal at first, but considering when I say I have finished it, I really just mean that I finished the campaign one time, and that means I’ve only played it for about 15 hours. There is still a lot that I want to do in that incredible game that I haven’t even touched yet, but you know what? It’s not what I want to play anymore. I can practically taste the Ocarina of Time remake at this point, so when I was trying to decide what game to play just last night, none of them sounded good, even if they are objectively good games.
No matter what new games are out, and no matter how good they are, none of them are going to satisfy us like Ocarina of Time.
Another example of an amazing game sitting in my backlog is Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve—which I have started, mind you. But that is one game I have sincerely been waiting for since I attended a hands-on preview of the game earlier this year. Even so, despite making it through the prologue and the first mission, that’s as far as I’ve gotten. I clicked on it in my Steam library last night, but I couldn’t bring myself to actually click “Play.” By now, you know why, and it’s because it’s not what I want to play right now.
And finally, there’s Gears of War: E-Day. Listen, I don’t care what all the haters have been saying about that game. I just love Gears of War so much that I don’t care what they’ve changed or haven’t changed. To me, it has always been a great series, and I have enjoyed every game it has produced. However, not even my undying love for Gears of War has led me to even lay a finger on the latest game, which is also currently sitting in my Steam backlog just begging me to play it. I did play the multiplayer beta, and I loved everything about it. But Gears of War: E-Day‘s campaign, which I actually bought it for in the first place, I have yet to see. And I hate to admit it, but I won’t see it for quite some time.
I Have Plenty of Games to Play, but None of Them Are Ocarina of Time
Those aren’t even the only games I have sitting in my backlog right now. I still have plenty left to do in LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, which I really want to 100%, and I haven’t gotten around to doing everything there is to do in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced yet either. On top of all of that, I’m also in the middle of my second playthrough of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, which I started because I wanted to get myself hyped for Final Fantasy 7 Revelation. Now, you would think that having that many games to choose from would make deciding what to play pretty easy, especially considering how much I love all of those franchises. But no. Instead, I just sit there looking at my library, scrolling through games that I know I would normally have no problem spending hours playing, and then I end up playing nothing at all. It’s actually pretty frustrating, if I’m being honest.
I realize how ridiculous all of this probably sounds, especially when we’re talking about a game that’s only seven days away. But that’s just it. The Ocarina of Time remake is so close now that I can hardly stand to play anything else, and I know that once November 5 gets here, everything I’ve mentioned will be going right back on the shelf anyway. I guess that’s what makes this final week of waiting so miserable. It’s not that I have nothing to play. Quite the opposite, actually. I have more games I want to play than I know what to do with, and somehow the only one I can think about is the one I can’t play yet. So, I suppose I’ll just have to deal with it for another week, and then I can finally go back to Hyrule. As for the rest of my backlog, well, I wouldn’t get my hopes up if I were them.
- Released
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November 5, 2026
- ESRB
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Everyone 10+ / Animated Blood, Fantasy Violence
- Developer(s)
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Nintendo
- Publisher(s)
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Nintendo
