Start from 2:54 to see the Lanayru Sand Sea in all its glory. Credit: Youtube user SasukeIII
While both Wii Zelda games were excellent in their own right, ultimately, I felt that Twilight Princess's world was built with a complexity and care that wasn't always present in Skyward Sword.
An exception, of course, is the Lanayru Sand Sea. The desert area in general had already impressed me with the Timeshift Stones - an ingenious twist to time travel mechanics - and Lanayru Mining Facility, probably the most atmospheric and unique dungeon encountered up to that point in the game. The Sand Sea, however, is in another category entirely.
When I first boarded the ship equipped with the Timeshift Stone, I was amused that the sand around it had turned to water, as it would have been in the past. As I motored along, the motion was so smooth that I didn't realize what was actually happening: the consistent radius of the Timeshift Stone allowed the boat to sail, even as the water it had passed over seconds ago caught up with time and reverted to sand.
I swore in amazement as small islands and atolls popped up all around me, and the sand dispersed to reveal bright coral and limestone rock. I was creating beauty in a desolate world, only for it to disappear moments later.
As tantalizing as Knights in the Nightmare's themes of decay and restoration are, Skyward Sword adds a melancholy slant with the fact that the restoration is only temporary. This creates a great appreciation for the splendour of the Sand Sea's harbour past, and a sadness for its loss that surpasses a standard time travel approach.
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