Cadence of Hyrule just got a whole lot bigger with the release of the third and final DLC: Symphony of the Mask. With a whole new story and a few new modes added this is by far the best addition to the original game.
Skull kid
Symphony of the mask adds yet another character to the game: Skull Kid from Majora’s Mask. This time around the new character gets its own story and a new map to explore. The previous character additions offered a new way to play but could only be used to go through the original story. Symphony of the masks is a whole new adventure with new challenges. When you pick a previously released character you more or less need to stick with it throughout the whole game. All these characters have their merits and flaws. Switching on the go would sound awesome to me. Apparently, that’s the idea behind introducing skull kid.
As Skull Kid, you get tasked to defeat Ganon by the great Deku Tree. To do so, you’ll need to find different masks that give you different powers. All these extra powers will be useful if you want to survive this new adventure. Donning the Zora mask for instance gives you the ability to swim while another mask lets you shoot projectiles. Besides the special ability these masks grant you, you also get a different attack power. Switching is done by pressing the shoulder button and can be done on the fly. This makes for some more tactical changes based on the situation.
Not easy at all
With these newly acquired abilities, you would be overpowered in the original game. That’s probably why you can only play a new adventure with way more enemies than before. I found myself multiple times being ganged by multiple enemies during my playthrough. In the base game that would’ve meant game over for sure. With the new abilities and some tactical thinking, I could survive (barely) this time around.
Puzzle mode and arena mode
With 5 to 7 hours of extra content added to the base game, you can’t really go wrong with this DLC. Besides the new story arc, they also added some extras. Puzzle mode throws some challenging rooms at you to conquer. Thinking ahead and planning your way around the puzzles and enemies isn’t for the faint of heart. Another mode that will surely test your skills, is Arena mode. During your playthrough of the Skull Kid story, you’ll encounter the arena for the first time. This mode in which you are matched against hordes of enemies can also be played as a standalone version, also opening it up to the other characters.
Get the full DLC pack
If you liked Cadence of Hyrule and were thinking about getting some DLC, I would strongly advise getting the full pack instead of cherry-picking one over the other. Sure, Symphony of the mask is by far the best of the lot but the others also added so much extra content it would be a shame to miss out on. You can find out what’s in DLC pack 1 by clicking here. I didn’t write a review of the second DLC pack because that only added alternative soundtracks and nothing gameplay-wise changed. Which is not saying I disliked the 2nd pack in any way. I immediately switched the original soundtrack to the version FamilyJules made and haven’t switched back since.
Conclusion
Symphony of the Mask is a great addition for those who already enjoyed the base game. It adds a bit more depth to the gameplay and a nice new story arc. As mentioned before, get the full pack to get the best bang for your buck.
