One of the most famous, well acclaimed video game franchises of all time has to be Nintendo’s prized treasure. Each new major entry aims to innovate upon the last, and the series has never strayed away from its main theme of providing the thrill of adventure through a fantasy world. Just speaking the franchise’s name, even an average person who doesn’t invest heavily in video games should be able to recognize what it is or remember iconic bits from it. The series I’m talking about of course is none other than The Legend of Zelda. You can’t deny how infamous it’s become as it’s set the groundwork for hundreds of games in the industry. The original Zelda released back on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1986 was a basic pixel adventure. The player was given a weapon, dumped into a sprawling, and told to explore at their own pace. Due to technology at the time map markers or cursors pointing towards the right direction didn’t exist, so the player had to rely on their own instincts and memorization of the world. This may have created a lack of knowledge on what to do or predict what dungeons would be trickier than others, but this helped widened that sense of adventure. That thrill when you finally figured out what to do in the puzzlebox of a world. Being excited when the game presents you a new tool and you get to test it out on enemies and even surfaces. Feeling proud when you spend minutes clashing against a powerful boss and feeling reward once you overcome them. These rewarding factors of the original Legend of Zelda is what made it an iconic classic, and signaled to Nintendo when stronger hardware comes they should expand on their ideas.
They did just that as with each major Legend of Zelda game, on home consoles specifically, they expanded on what the series could do. A Link To The Past not only gave us a more vibrant world to explore, but gave more diverse dungeons and encounters. Exploring the fantasy setting and trying to build upon the high potential future stories could bring. Then Ocarina of Time came along and was the first major entry to take place in a 3D realm thanks to the Nintendo 64. You were no longer moving North, South, East, and West. You had a full three hundred and sixty degrees axis, a horizontal axis, a vertical axis, and enemies could attack from any direction and out flank you easily. Combat was more challenging, but more engaging as sword fights required skill of the playing field and reaction to enemy attacks. Dungeons, while like the before, had more verticality and could rely on more creative mechanics due to tools that could have different reactions or ways to traverse the environment. Characters could be more expressive now that Nintendo knew how to program and detail 3D character models. The story is when Zelda became more explorative and in depth with its world. A hero being chosen by the princess to partake in a legacy to prevent the world going to ruins. Being sent to the future and seeing the prosperous world come to the apocalypse. Seeing figures he once knew now dead or part of a plan he didn’t even expect them to be related to. There was character building, lore, twists, and history that made a silly fantasy world more mature than it should have been. Ocarina of Time is considered a classic by many and it’s the one that set the formula all modern Legend of Zelda titles besides the one we’re talking about today follow. It’s one of the highest rated games of all time sitting at ninety-nine percent on Metacritic. However, does this mean the game is flawless? Was it truly immune to criticism?
Ocarina of Time was a step forward, but it ended up removing some of the essence of what made the original Legend of Zelda special and innovative for its time. The thrill of adventure was there narratively, but it wasn’t there gameplay wise. If you take a close look at the design structure of Ocarina of Time you realize the player is being railroaded down a linear path. They have to go to specific temples in a specific order, and trying to go there ahead of time will either lock them out or prevent them as they require an item or song to reach it. This means there aren’t that many rewards or satisfaction for going off the beaten path. Now linearity isn’t always terrible. Some of my favorite games are linearly structured and it can help keep a consistent pace. However, in the case with Ocarina of Time it does a lot of harm. Dungeon items you require will always be used against the boss within the dungeon you found the item in. Meaning a certain gimmick/rhythm can be found after a few dungeons. Backtracking through the mass world can be tedious, because the player knows there isn’t much to find while traversing it. Any optional content isn’t that great as the main path, and during replays of the game you realize to get to the exciting moments of the main story again you may have to deal with the tedious moments again as well. I’m not saying Ocarina of Time has aged terribly. It has aged really well, better than a majority of titles on the Nintendo 64. The formula it created though was brilliant, but heavily flawed.
That sense of adventure through exploration and discovery was slowly lost, and veterans of the franchise were slowly beginning to lose interest as Zelda became more predictable. I’m not saying Twilight Princess or Skyward Sword are terrible, but it is understandable why these two are heavily divisive with fans. Now, it was around the Wii U era that Nintendo decided to rethink their approach with The Legend of Zelda. They have tackled every item in the book. Thrown whatever sh*t they produced from their bums at the wall, and found that it no longer began to stick and leave behind the brown stain. They needed to eat more vegetables and fruit, I mean they needed to remember why people loved The Legend of Zelda to begin with. So they went back to the original and found out why. The freedom, the discovery, and the rewards for when you finally pieced the puzzle together. This was when they decided to go back to the original roots. Much like when Resident Evil VII went back to the survival roots of the original. However, they needed to figure out how to reintroduce the formula of the original. That was when the developers produced a concept, more specifically a prototype, of what their idea could be. They showed Link in a blue tunic wandering around a pixelated world similar to the original. This time Link could create fires and they could spread rapidly. Enemies would casually roam around the world rather than spawn in specific spots, and rivers which once divided the player from reaching one end to the other could now be swimmed across or traversed with a boat. This build is what gave Nintendo the idea to create a systemic game, and the only way they could apply this formula was to go to the open world genre. A genre which at the time was becoming overdone by big Triple A companies who forgot what basic exploration was.
Nintendo was going to manufacture an open world Zelda and it would spend quite a bit of time baking in the oven. They showed a trailer for their new Zelda during an E3 convention in 2015, and they titled it as Breath of The Wild. The latest major entry since Skyward Sword in 2011. Fans were thrilled and couldn’t wait to see what this new entry would bring. Sadly though they would have to wait and with each delay they became less anticipated for the game as it felt like it would never come out. 2017 rolls around and Nintendo is getting ready to release their new next generation console which they teased a few months prior. The Nintendo Switch, a device that is both a home console and a portable one. You could SWITCH what the controller set up was like, SWITCH the setup of the screen, and SWITCH… you get the idea. One of the launch titles for the Nintendo Switch was none other than Breath of The Wild which was finally coming out. The game was released and it’s received well. Really well in fact! Breath of The Wild was not only a huge change for the Zelda formula, but also a change for the open world formula. Providing complete freedom upon exiting the starting area and allowing the player to go to any point of the map. Never guiding them with dotted lines and icons, and simply relying on discovery. This is what made Breath of The Wild special and receive high scores from both review outlets and your average players. At the end of the year it was nominated for multiple awards, and ended up being the overall Game of The Year for 2017. Breath of The Wild is considered a modern masterpiece and one of Nintendo’s greatest achievements in a long time. It has been five years since this game came out, and you may be wondering if the game still holds up well today?
I remember being a huge Legend of Zelda fan back in middle school. Got into the franchise through Wind Waker and proceeded to play Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. I was extremely ramped up for Breath of The Wild and my sibling was too as they were there alongside me to experience the greatness of these other entries. My mother’s best friend, who is basically our godmother, was able to get for us a Nintendo Switch for our birthdays in 2017 and packed along with it was a copy of Breath of The Wild. We booted it up immediately, dumped almost five hours on day one, and then proceeded to lose two months of our lives. Breath of The Wild at some point was one of my favorite games of all time. It played a huge role during middle school as I didn’t have that many friends and the game was practically the only friend I had. However, it’s been five years and a lot has changed since then. I grew up, made actual friends during the time, and encountered other games which kicked Breath of The Wild out of its position of being my favorite game ever made. I haven’t touched it since 2018, and the more time passes the more I begin to realize problems the game has. Stuff no one brought up during their reviews. The game was losing my respect, as well as Nintendo with the actions they have taken over the years.
I was losing sense of what made me happy when I was younger. I’ve been revisiting a couple of games recently, and looked back at 2017 and how amazing of a year it was for gaming. I looked over Breath of The Wild and decided it was finally time to start a new playthrough. See what has changed since then. I grabbed my sibling, we started a new save, and after three weeks we beat the game again. Is the game still as amazing as we remembered? Yes, mostly. I still think this game is amazing and I highly recommend it, but there are criticisms to be made and I don’t think it deserves a perfect review score. I mean I have handed out a couple of carless 10/10s in the past, but this one I really don’t think is one. It’s a bit flawed, but it is still a masterpiece in many cases. Breath of The Wild is stupendous and I thoroughly believe it’s the best Zelda title ever made. Today we’ll be talking about Breath of The Wild and why it deserves your attention.
Into the wild. Into the fray. Up and away!
Story
I will be detailing the first five to ten hours of Breath of The Wild. That includes everything close to around the time you reach Kakariko Village, and I’m doing this because I believe it’s the best for the sake of this review. If you haven’t played Breath of The Wild or know about its story then I recommend you finish it before proceeding. I don’t even know why I’m writing this when so many people have probably finished the game by now. There’s even the crazy bastards who found every single collectible and one percent the ga-why am I saying this right now. Dear lord, I really want the length of this review to be chunky. Anyways, you have been warned readers!
At the beginning there were three goddesses and they created a relic known as the Triforce. It consisted of three pieces and whoever possessed a piece would be given its assigned gift. There was the Triforce of Courage, Triforce of Wisdom, and the Triforce of Power. The goddesses would then proceed to create a world filled with plantlife and of course creatures to roam around in. As time passed these creatures began to evolve and with it came civilization. A kingdom was then formed and soon they discovered the gifts, guidance, and teaching of the goddesses. This kingdom was known as Hyrule and it was led by Princess Zelda and her father. Zelda held the Triforce of Wisdom, and she was protected by her loyal knight Link who held the Triforce of Courage. All seemed well, but there was a prophecy. It existed before the world which our characters stood on could even be walked around on. The Link and Zelda we see in each game are actually reincarnations. During Skyward Sword, a being of evil cursed the original Link and Zelda. Stating all three of them would be reincarnated over and over again to fulfill the same destiny. See a world potentially get torn apart unless a hero is able to assemble the strength the slay said evil. Link and Zelda may not have any memories from past reincarnations, but they still proceed to battle evil no matter what happens.
In past Zelda games you start off in a small town. Hours before the catastrophic events of the main plot happen. In Breath of The Wild you spawn at the end of the catastrophe. Link wakes up to find himself within what appears to be a tomb. The walls are carved in a particular pattern, he is submerged within a glowing liquid, and a blinking light lures him. He is then contacted by a higher being who claims to be Princess Zelda. She claims Link got in a terrible accident and was taken to the Shrine of Resurrection to heal. He’s been sealed away for one hundred years and she has managed to survive that time. He exits the Shrine and takes a device Zelda left behind for him. A Sheikah Slate, a tablet designed by the Sheikah to record and plot information. Link awakens to find himself in a vast world. Full of wildlife, but the ruins of what appears to be a once prosperous kingdom. He is greeted by an old man and is told they are stuck on an isolated piece of land known as the Great Plateau. Link then activates another terminal similar to one found in the Shrine of Resurrection, and all of a sudden towers and shrines throughout Hyrule begin to sprout from the ground. When Link does this he sees a gastrous being emerge from the distant Hyrule Castle. Zelda claims this being to be known as Calamity Ganon, the monster who brought destruction one hundred years ago. She has managed to seal herself and the monster for one hundred years, but she is slowly losing power and the monster could escape any minute. It’s Link’s job to save these monsters, and by helping the old man from earlier he is given a piece of equipment to float down from the Great Plateau. However, the Old Man reveals himself to be the spirit King Rhoam, the ruler of Hyrule and father of Princess Zelda. He claims he was slain during the emergence of Calamity Ganon and states what happened one hundred years ago.
The citizens of Hyrule were digging into the kingdom’s mountains and discovered relics and devices left from past generations. These relics were designed by the Sheikah, a tribe of warriors and protectors, and they were designed to not only provide convenience but protection. More of these relics were discovered and by analyzing this technology the Hylians were able to create devices and the materials they were made from. Such devices discovered were these machines capable of fighting, scouting, and traversing difficult terrain. They deemed these machines the Guardians and quickly the Hylians tamed them. There was also a scripture left behind. Stating the evil from before had accumulated into this corrupt mass, and a hero and princess related to the gods would chase it back. The Guardians would provide protection, and the heroes would prevail. Sadly, this is not what happens. Calamity Ganon emerges from the surface below and the Guardians are corrupted by its power. They are then ordered to eradicate any living being they come across and this is what led to the downfall of Hyrule.
King Rhoam orders Link to save his daughter from the clutches of Ganon, and he won’t be at peace unless he does so. He then gives him direction towards a village which may help him across his village. Kakariko Village, the home of the Sheikah Clan. They are able to identify the Sheikah Slate and technology which Link wields, and tell him to head towards specific locations so that he may regain his memories and stand a chance against Calamity Ganon. Link discovers there are four Divine Beasts across the land. Giant Guardians designed to protect certain regions and were once piloted by Champions who Link once worked with. The Champions were slain and control of the Divine Beasts were lost. If Link could fix all four of the Divine Beasts, regain his memories, and obtain a weapon from the past then maybe he can save Princess Zelda. It’s up to him to strive and bring back the hope Hyrule once had.
Strange voices lead me forward. Keep guiding me.
Gameplay
Breath of The Wild strays away from the modern Zelda formula we knew since Ocarina of Time and goes for an open world approach. Rather than have a bunch of condensed areas connected to each other and loading screens being placed in between them instead you have this big sprawling map. What I love about this game is that once you exit the Great Plateau, otherwise the two hour starting area, you can go anywhere on the map. Some areas will kill you quickly as you need clothing, the gear, and stats to stand up against the foes of that area, but at least you are provided the choice on what challenges you want to tackle first. As I said, there are no loading screens separating each section of the map. You will never be stopped and have to wait for content within the map to load, and anytime you do have to wait is when you have to go to a dungeon separated from the open world. Okay, so there is still some waiting to be found within Breath of The Wild, but it's a step forward and this sprawling world showcased what the Switch could handle. That Nintendo was willing to push next gen hardware.
A lot of open world games now suffer from a problem we call bloat. To match the size of the world and not make it feel devoid of interesting points you need to fill it with content. However, developers have struggled to either fill it with engaging content or fill it with enough so that all the markers and points of interest of the map don’t feel overwhelming. This is what we call open world bloat. What could be nailed down to checking boxes off and doing busy work rather than appreciate the world the developers set up for the player. Breath of The Wild, while not having perfect content everywhere, does provide viable points of interest. Shrines, towers, townships, and sections where you have to go towards to progress the main story. What’s great is that unlike a majority of open world games out there you don’t always have to follow a dotted line or icon to locate these points of interest. The player is expected to find these points in the distance, mark it with a radar, and traverse there by themselves. A dotted line isn’t created and they can decide how they navigate towards this point of interest. This helps the open world feel more free rather than restrictive as most open world titles have to hold the player by the hand just to take them to what they believe are the exciting bits. I covered this open world approach in my Elden Ring critique a few months back and I think that does a better explaining why this approach works.
Normally Link would walk or run towards his destination, but Breath of The Wild decides to add something more nuance to traversal. It gives the player the ability to cling onto any wall-like surface in the world and climb around it. Meaning they aren’t just limited to the ground and this heightens the ability to get from Point A to Point B in any way you want. Why take a giant curve along a cliff when you can glide over the put and attempt to climb the cliff to the top. Notice how I wrote the word “attempt” down. The downside of trying to climb is that it uses stamina. The stamina slowly drains overtime and when it’s out Link will be forced to let go. Climbing isn’t the only action in Breath of The Wild which uses stamina. Running, swimming, charge attacks, and gliding using the Paraglider all use a bit of stamina and when you run out Link enters a tired state. He may walk slower, be more exposed to damage, and in the case of swimming he drowns and is respawned back on shore. The stamina meter is a limitation you must know how to work around, and Breath of The Wild would rather have the player take their time navigating the world rather than rush through it carelessly. Otherwise they run into dangerous scenarios they have uneven chances of surviving.
I should probably move onto combat now as it has received a drastic overhaul compared to previous entries, and we might as well dive into consumables as it ties into collecting the many treasures you find across your journey. Unlike previous Zelda games where you mainly used your sword and any equipment you find instead you pick up a multitude of weapons. Each weapon is part of a different class, has different attack wind ups and windows, and stronger weapons are harder to come by while exploring the world. You have swords, greatswords, spears, axes, boomerangs, sickles, shields to block attacks and parry at the right time, and bows to shoot arrows from afar. You carry a ton of weapons at once, but to balance out the wider arsenal there had to be another downside added. Every weapon, shield, and bow you use has a set durability number and the weapon will break once all durability has been used. This creates a problem of not being able to approach fights head on or only being able to fight for a limited amount of time, but it does create benefits previous entries have not seen. Rather than throw yourself into the fire every single fight you now have to consider the choices on hand. Do I have enough supplies to survive this fight and do I want to waste this powerful weapon against a singular weak foe? You may even consider environmental factors. Advantage points or objects you can use against foes.
The choices you have are increased with the newly added Sheikah Slate. In previous games, each dungeon would give you a new item to solve puzzles with. Some items used stamina as they unleashed magical abilities, and others had unlimited uses as they were used to traverse the world. The Sheikah Slate is a step up from this as it goes against previous standards and offers tools which fit the open world formula. Magnesis to levitate and move metal objects, Stasis to freeze solid objects and hit them numerous times to charge up a launch, and Crynosis to create frozen pillars and water surfaces to climb onto. You even have bombs, which were staples before but are now an infinite use item with a charge rate rather than a finite item. There’s a round one to roll across the ground, and a square one to stay in place. You can even have two bombs out at a time which allows you to create two traps/explosions. What these Sheikah Slate tools do is give Link different options. Maybe you want to create a frozen pillar to block projectile attacks, climb onto cliffs quickly, or better yet traverse across a huge body of water. Magnesis can move heavy objects, but maybe you can drop metal crates on foes or knock them over. Using Stasis on a rock and charging up a launch can make it hit a foe, or destroy an object blocking your way. The Bombs can be used as traps, or trigger explosive canisters which enemies always seem to be around so that you won’t have to waste resources like Fire Arrows and can instead save them up.
Breath of The Wild is a more systemic game than previous Zelda entries and it shows how the world reacts. You can light grass ablaze and watch it spread rapidly. Then you can utilize the updraft created by the fire to soar upwards. You may use electricity to shock enemies standing in water, or better yet during a lightning storm through a metal weapon towards an enemy so it strikes them instead. Knock a weapon out of their hands, pick it up, and then use it for yourself. You can get really creative and that’s what I love about this game. Is it the first open world to have this much reactivity and systems? No, because titles like Horizon Zero Dawn and even Metal Gear Solid V were touching upon systemic gameplay. However, this was a huge change for the Zelda formula. Another huge change is how the player recovers health. In previous entries you cut grass and hearts are dropped which replenish your health. In Breath of The Wild you must consume food and meals to restore your health. Meals usually contain more benefits and nutrition than just snapping away at raw food in the wild. Sometimes you can contact potions and apply effects to meals if you know what certain ingredients do. Replenish your stamina while climbing by eating a skewer made with a Stamella Mushroom. Increase your strength by making a fruit salad with Mighty Bananas. Contact a fire resistance potion using Chu-Chu Jelly and a couple other ingredients. The meal system makes it so that you must rely on rations rather than conveniently get hearts, but another problem arises which we’ll address later.
One thing I finally want to address is how progression works in Breath of The Wild. In previous games you would have to collect Heart Containers to increase your maximum health. Usually they are dropped by bosses, but they were also obtained by exploring the world and doing side quests. This was fine. It encouraged going off the beaten path, but there was a certain amount of absurdity found within these side quests. What exactly are you supposed to do and what quests will give you the upgrades needed to grow stronger? Breath of The Wild fixes this by removing Heart Pieces all together and replacing them with Spirit Orbs. Obtained through Shrines which are the miniature dungeons scattered around the world. These orbs can be exchanged at statues resembling the Goddess Hylia and you need four of them to obtain a Heart Container. However, these orbs can also be exchanged for Stamina Containers which increase your maximum stamina. You gave me a reason to explore the world and do what would normally be optional content, as you need to grow stronger to face evenly against the final boss who is difficult if you decide to charge straight towards him. Besides that there isn’t much else I can about Breath of The Wild besides some more in depth thoughts at the end. Hopefully you can save the sacred princess once more.
Life at the end of the slumber!
Thoughts
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild five years later is still a tremendous game. Every idea it does right is nailed tremendously and for another open world title it stands out for how it differs from other genre contemporaries. It’s a masterpiece, but just because it’s a masterpiece doesn’t mean it’s a perfect video game. I was worried when it came time to write this review. On the one hand I get to do a deep dive into a game I once loved. Figure out what works, what doesn’t work, and point out criticisms reviewers failed to make. On the other hand I face the harassment of those who worship this title. A lot of people consider Breath of The Wild to be one of the greatest games of all time. In fact, some outlets consider it the best game ever made.
I’m kind of angered by this, because not only do I find the game flawed but calling it the best game ever made depends on who you are talking to. A person’s favorite game of all time will differ, but saying if they don’t think it’s this and their a terrible person says a lot. My two favorite games of all time are Bloodborne and Hollow Knight, but I’m not saying you too have to believe these two are the best games ever made. My cousin’s favorite game is Portal, but you don’t have to choose Portal because she said so. People have different opinions, but there’s not an ultimate answer. I also think it’s because Breath of The Wild was the first open world game to readjust the genre. Any open world that has come out ever since has been compared, but I think it was to a negative effect. Any open world that now comes out is considered flawed or not as good as the gold standard, which I really hate because sometimes the games you are choosing to compare are so drastically different that why would you compare them. Breath of The Wild is one of the best open world games to come out, but it’s not my favorite open world. To be honest I still love Outer Wilds, Elden Ring, Ghost of Tsushima, and Horizon Zero Dawn more and some of these didn’t contain the amount of freedom that Breath of The Wild had. I enjoyed these titles more and that’s what I want you readers to take away from this review. Different opinions from people.
Outside of that let’s start addressing the game itself. Starting with the problems and what I’ve noticed during my replay of the game. Weapon durability is a chore to deal with. I know they needed to justify the constant looting the player is doing, and how they can carry multiple weapons at once. However, I wish there was a way to tell how many times a player could use a weapon before it breaked. Better yet, allow the player to repair weapons that were broken and wanted to keep. Every major RPG I’ve played, from Dark Souls to Original Sin 2, has durability and when a weapon breaks usually its efficiency and damage number goes down. Why not do that, but when it comes to repairing the weapon let the player use resources they have acquired across their journey. That way you consider what to give away and put those gems you have been accumulating across the game to actual good use. I also think that while food is better than cutting grass to get hearts and let the player experiment with ingredients does have terrible balancing. There is no limit to how much food and supplies you can carry, so what you can end up with depending on how much you collect is a pocket of infinite healing sh*t. Master the flow of combat and pull out a sack of food to restore to maximum health if the meter is low. So what’s the point of playing carefully in an apocalyptic world if you are practically unkillable?
Other complaints include side content outside of the main story and dungeons being pretty bad. Narrowing down to collecting items for an unimportant NPC and getting a reward that wasn’t even worth it. The DLC was really disappointing from what I remember. The first batch gave you a set of trials to max out the Master Sword which was fine, but it also gave you a hard mode which was not balanced out enough. It makes it so that powerful enemies replace their weaker counterparts and their health regenerates, which is pretty terrible because it means you’ll be avoiding combat more often than in your basic playthrough. The second batch of DLC was even more disappointing. Basically they wanted to explore the background of the supporting cast which they did, but the content they provided wasn’t well thought out and didn’t add much to the game. The frame rate tends to drop if too much is happening on screen or if the player is moving too quickly through the world as it struggles to load content. This I can overlook as it rarely happens and it’s understandable for a launch title for the Nintendo Switch. Final complaint is that if you know exactly where you are going you can become overpowered easily, especially during the endgame. Removing all challenges the game has, but I do feel like this was the point. To start off powerless and weak during the beginning. To show you have stripped from your powers and the world is broken beyond belief. To work yourself up towards power. To stand tall against all adversities and come out strong when you finally triumph. To see how much power you have accumulated by the end and show all your work led up to this climactic moment.
What are some positive points I have to make about Breath of The Wild? Well I complemented already that the world is vast and i love how you explore any area of it once you exit the starting area. The lack of dotted lines and a liminal UI which allows the player to appreciate the world more. I like how dungeons no longer gave you equipment and centered around them, so you had to experiment with what was on hand rather than follow the previous rhythm of using the dungeon item against the dungeon boss. I really love the art style personally. It goes for a cell shaded look and at times Breath of The Wild feels like an anime. With all its vibrant colors, shading, and use of lighting. It’s still one of the best looking games on the Nintendo Switch. The music while not being a favorite I personally love as well. It’s not energetic, but it’s peaceful and helps add to the sense of loneliness felt while exploring a desolate world.
One aspect I think still holds up really well is the story. It’s not a tremendous story and there are times it felt like the writers could have done more, but it is really well presented. I like the themes it circles around. Link has forgotten his past memories and overtime he regains them. Slowly learning of the world he once knew. How it was brought to ruins and how all of his friends are now dead. The kingdom he grew up in is now in ruins and there will never be an attempt to resurrect a once prosperous society. People have forgotten what Hyrule was and the groups who still do remember Hyrule treat it as a tragedy for it was. Guardians and monsters roam the world and your life can be taken within a second if not careful. All hope is lost and you are just wondering how Link feels with all this. How does he remain vigilant in a cold, desolate, and depressing world? Well he’s a mute emotionless protagonist like Joker, but it’s to save the princess. The princess whom we learn through our memories did her best to protect her kingdom. Ultimately failing not because she was weak, but because she was surrounded by friends. You being the greatest friend she ever had and remained with her till the end. Sacrificing her kingdom to protect you and those were at least able to escape. Sealing away the calamity and waiting for years until you recovered. Just so she can meet you again and go on wondrous. Link and Zelda. Two friends who want to discover, explore, and witness the beauty of nature. Even if there is nothing left to take care of them or provide for them, they would learn to survive together. There’s nothing much to take away, but it’s a tale that shows beauty even till the end. After all this time is Breath of The Wild still a great game? Yes! I still highly recommend it and any complaints I have don’t drag down what I enjoyed the most. It still has amazing exploration, world design, art design, story, and progression. There’s a ton of content and hours of play to be had. Another reminder of what Nintendo can achieve if they put their hearts into a project. In the end I give The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild a 9/10 for excellence at best. Seems really high for all the criticisms I made, but I still love this game and believe it’s one of the best. Truly, ever so truly.
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