If you’ve played any portion of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, then you know it has some pretty great musical themes. And so many of them, too! Different songs play during different events, discoveries, battles, and even changes as Link’s context changes. Day versus night, sky versus. depths, horseback versus walking – everything in the game has its own theme. Of the game’s massive soundtrack, one theme in particular sticks out for the most unusual reason, and that theme is the Shrine Battle theme.

As the name states, this theme plays whenever you enter a shrine that presents a battle instead of a puzzle. It lays in stark contracts to the quieter, mystical-sounding theme that plays whenever Links is a puzzle shrine. The Shrine Battle theme almost sounds futuristic in comparison, with its quick, electronic tones and offbeat energy. It almost mimics the movements of Link’s robot-like enemies, the constructs, which he must defeat in order to call these shrines done. In particular, the theme moves back and forth between sets of rhythmic chimes and dissonant but melodic interludes in a way that reminds players they have to stay on their toes and not become too complacent. While I love the odd mix of features in the theme, it’s the chimes that conjure up thoughts of a very different game: Mass Effect!

Listening to these themes back-to-back, they are obviously quite different, but the steady, cadenced chimes in both feel like they could be distant cousins. Considering how much time I’ve spent staring at galaxy maps in the Mass Effect trilogy, it’s no wonder that its accompanying music has been burned into my memory banks. When I first heard the Shrine battle music in the game, it immediately felt familiar. Where in the world had I heard this before? The same thought popped up with each battle shrine Link entered, and it bothered me so, until I finally made the Mass Effect connection. Of course, with this association now fused (no pun intended), I will never not think of forever staring at galaxy maps with Commander Shepard whenever a battle shrine ensues. Not that I’m complaining, of course.

Lede image captured by author during gameplay of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (© Nintendo).