Welcome to the most polite, post-apocalyptic versus medieval fantasy showdown you’ll ever see. On one side, we’ve got Link,Hyrule’s eternally reincarnated silent protagonist with the personality of a golden retriever and the power level of a small deity. On the other, Aloy,a fiery-haired, tech-savvy hunter-warrior who says what Link never could: full sentences.
So, who really wears the crown (or the headgear override module) of survival and adventure mastery? Let’s break it down,ten rounds, one winner, and zero room for Hylian favoritism or Forbidden West bias. (Okay, maybe a little room.)
Lore Power Level
Cosmic vs. Cybernetic
Edge: Link
Let’s not sugarcoat it: Aloy fights AI-enhanced metal dinosaurs and wins. That’s already better than most Marvel sidekicks. But Link? Link fights gods. Real, timeline-shattering, curse-casting, “the world was better before your kind came” kind of gods. Demise, Majora, Ganon, Vaati,they don’t just threaten towns, they rewrite destiny. Link’s threats come with theme music and often involve spiraling into different dimensions or time periods. Aloy’s villains might be smarter, but Link’s are scarier.
Score: Link 1 Aloy 0
Gameplay Feats & Mechanics Abuse
One of them plays chess. The other breaks the board and fuses it to a chicken.
Edge: Link
Aloy plays by the rules. Link is the rule-breaker. Bullet-time bounce? Flying minecarts? Shield surfing on explosives? Link abuses mechanics like a speedrunner in a hurry to make it to grandma’s for soup. Meanwhile, Aloy respectfully sneaks, rolls, and overrides machines like a responsible open-world protagonist. Admirable? Yes. Cheeseable? Not even close.
Score: Link 2 Aloy 0
Speed & Reaction Time
Blink and you’ll miss Link. Or Aloy. But mostly Link.
Edge: Link
Aloy dodges laser-shooting dino-turrets with grace, but Link literally slows time with style. From bow-aiming in mid-air to launching himself into orbit using a Korok and a frying pan (don’t ask), he’s out here performing Olympic-tier parkour with the laws of physics begging for mercy.
Score: Link 3 Aloy 0
Durability, Regen & Healing
Who snacks their way through a war better?
Edge: Link
Aloy carries potions, berries, and cool gear. Link? Link carries a backpack full of gourmet entrees, half a forest of cooked mushrooms, and literal fairies in jars. She heals like a survivor. He heals like he’s got an all-you-can-eat pass to immortality.
Score: Link 4 Aloy 0
Arsenal & Abilities
One’s MacGyver. The other’s Iron Chef crossed with Dr. Strange.
Edge: Link
Aloy has bombs, override tech, and traps. Link has that too,plus magnets, stasis fields, time reversal, teleportation, remote bombs, flame rods, flying machines, and the ability to fuse a flamethrower to a cartwheel and call it strategy. Aloy’s arsenal is sleek, strategic, and devastating. Link’s is chaotic genius in cosplay.
Score: Link 5 Aloy 0
Player Influence vs AI Power
If the player is a gremlin, who becomes unstoppable?
Edge: Link
Aloy’s gameplay favors tactical finesse. Link’s gameplay favors, “What happens if I launch this rock into space using a spring-loaded shield while mid-air parrying a Lynel?” With the right player, Link becomes an eldritch trickster god.
Score: Link 6 Aloy 0
Environment Interaction & Map Control
Who dominates the sandbox?
Edge: Link
Aloy is smart with terrain,stealthy, strategic, and deadly in the right brush. Link, meanwhile, becomes the terrain. He Ascends through ceilings, Ultrahands literal aircrafts, and teleports across the map mid-battle. Where Aloy builds traps, Link builds chaos.
Score: Link 7 Aloy 0
Mentality, Plot Armor & Game Logic
Protagonist privilege: who wears it better?
Edge: Aloy
Finally! A win for Team Aloy! Link is legendary, yes, but there’s an official timeline where he fails. Oops. Meanwhile, Aloy’s survival is hardcoded into the narrative,she dies, humanity dies, roll credits. She doesn’t just have plot armor,she is the plot.
Score: Link 7 Aloy 1
Strategy, Adaptability & AI Behavior
Battlefield brains vs sandbox brilliance
Edge: Link
Aloy is clever, calculating, and tactical. Link is a MacGyver with a mystical toolbox. Spring-shield counterattack? Fire-arrow cooking traps? Using Stasis to send boulders flying? He adapts faster than a YouTube comment section.
Score: Link 8 Aloy 1
Narrative Control & Plot Trajectory
Whose story can’t survive without them?
Edge: Aloy
Aloy’s entire saga depends on her. She’s the key to the AI network, the biological override, the savior of a dead world. Link? While vital, he’s more of a repeating prophecy,the next hero always rises. If Link fails, the story branches. If Aloy fails, humanity branches straight into extinction.
Score: Link 8 Aloy 2
Environmental Advantage & Adaptability
Aliens, dimensions, broken physics?
Edge: Link
Aloy’s used to mechanical monsters in deserts, jungles, and frosty ruins. Link’s used to floating castles, time loops, moon-sized apocalypses, and creepy mask worlds. When logic breaks down, he gets stronger.
Score: Link 9 Aloy 2
FINAL VERDICT: Game Over for Who?
Winner: Link
Despite Aloy’s undeniable brilliance, innovation, and plot-central importance, Link is simply on another level when it comes to raw flexibility, cosmic lore, and absolute nonsense you can pull off if the devs weren’t watching.
Aloy is the future. Link is the legend.
And legends? Well, they bring their own cheat codes.
TL;DR
- Aloy brings tech, tactics, and tight storytelling.
- Link brings god-slaying power, game-breaking tricks, and enough soup to survive a nuclear winter.
- In the arena of “who breaks reality better while looking stylish in green or post-apocalyptic gear,” Link slices through with the Master Sword and a flaming skateboard-fused hammer.
But hey,if the fight takes place in a server room with an AI doomsday protocol, Aloy might just pull off a save file overwrite.
Key Points
- Lore Scale: Link battles everything from grumpy kings to literal god-level baddies; Aloy mainly fights really, really angry AI robots and the occasional heavily-armed human who didn’t get the memo that she’s the protagonist.
- Gameplay Mastery: Link’s a master of finding ways the game shouldn’t work (speed glitches, physics abuse); Aloy masters playing the game exactly as intended, but like, really well, with strategic stealth and turning enemies into slightly confused friends.
- Arsenal Nature: Link’s got magic powers, can manipulate time, and will happily glue a rusty fan to a sword; Aloy packs high-tech bows, elemental ammo, and can hack a giant robot to fight for her because why not?
- Survival Tools: Link is basically a walking kitchen cabinet with a seemingly bottomless stomach; Aloy has to actually manage her berries and potions, like some kind of responsible adult.
- Plot Cruciality: Aloy must survive because if she doesn’t, literally the entire story grinds to a halt; Link usually has to survive, but hey, there’s a whole timeline where he didn’t make it, just to keep things interesting.
- Stealth: Aloy is a proper stealth operative, blending into tall grass like a pro and using overrides; Link can also crouch in tall grass, while wearing brightly colored clothes and whistling.
- Environmental Control: Link can teleport, lift metal objects with his mind, and just phase through ceilings; Aloy uses ropes and climbs things, like a normal person, but still impressively.
- Adaptability: Link can look at any two random objects and invent a horrifyingly effective weapon or vehicle on the spot; Aloy is more about meticulously planning her attack, hitting weak points, and praying the robot doesn’t one-shot her anyway.
- Unique Challenges: Link faces things like pig-demons, sentient puddles, and the sheer terror of a flock of angry chickens; Aloy deals with robot dinosaurs, robot tigers, and robot giraffes, all designed specifically to ruin her day.
- Experience with the Unusual: Link treats dimension-hopping and time travel like his morning commute; Aloy thinks fighting a corrupted giant metal T-Rex is a weird Tuesday.
Fun Facts
- It’s rumored (though probably just a fun theory) that Link’s English name was almost “Chris” just imagine yelling “Hey! Listen! Chris!” It’s less catchy.
- There’s a fan theory (with zero solid proof, but let’s roll with it) that the sound effect Link makes when he gets hurt was originally intended for an enemy. So he screams like a Bokoblin? Spicy.
- Yes, it’s true: Tingle, the balloon-obsessed character, is canonically 35 years old. Never stop chasing those fairy dreams, kids.
- Believe it or not, the iconic Master Sword didn’t show up until the third game, A Link to the Past. What was he using before? A really sharp stick?
- In early betas for Ocarina of Time, Link had an inventory screen so complex it looked like you needed a degree in backpack organization.
- Aloy’s voice actress, Ashly Burch, also voices Tiny Tina from Borderlands and Chloe Price from Life is Strange. Suddenly, Aloy seems way more likely to yell “EXPLOSIONS!”
- Developers specifically chose “Aloy” because they wanted it to sound tough and tomboyish. Nailed it.
- Aloy is a genetic clone of Dr. Nora Sobeck, but the Nora tribe isn’t actually named after her. It’s a genealogical link, not a naming convention link.
- Some of the terrifying machine designs in Horizon were literally inspired by dinosaur fossils. Because actual dinosaurs weren’t enough to give you nightmares, apparently.
- In the super early concept phase, Aloy was going to have a male sidekick. Guess they decided she was more than capable of handling all the awesomeness herself.
- The Banuk tribe in Horizon genuinely believe the machines have spirits. Don’t try to explain complex AI to them, it’s a whole spiritual thing.
- Aloy’s awesome Focus technology was originally just a boring augmented reality tool for finding information in the old world. Imagine using it to locate the nearest Starbucks.
- Seriously, attacking the chickens (Cuccos) in Zelda games enough times summons an invincible swarm of doom. They are the true final boss.
- Shigeru Miyamoto, Zelda’s creator, was inspired by exploring caves and forests as a child. Proof that letting kids run wild outside occasionally results in legendary video games.
- The Thunderjaw machine in Horizon has a truly ridiculous number of distinct combat animations. It takes a lot of effort to stomp that dramatically.
