Instead of worrying if I was following the correct path, for the first dozen hours or so, I largely ignored the story altogether. But it very quickly turned into a liberating sensation. After spending 40 hours playing a game that literally pointed me in the right direction at all times, now I was forced to fend for myself. I played Breath of the Wild immediately after finishing another huge role-playing game, Horizon Zero Dawn, and it was a jarring transition. This lack of direction can be disorienting at first. Of course, the game doesn’t even tell you what a divine beast is. In order to defeat Ganon you’ll need to first uncover four “divine beasts” scattered throughout the world.
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Another presents a series of images of scenic Hyrule locations from before the calamity, and asks you to find them as they are now. One line of quests tasks you with uncovering shrines (more on those later) using only lines from a poem or a riddle as guidance. Instead, it tells (or shows) you what needs to happen, and lets you fill in the rest. Breath of the Wild rarely gives you explicit directions as to what to do. One of the game’s greatest strengths is how it goes about explaining how you will do that - or just as often, not explaining it.
The lack of direction can be disorienting at first This review contains light spoilers for the early hours of Breath of the Wild.
And I’m entirely convinced that this is the best Zelda game I’ve ever played. But even still, these bold changes have profoundly altered my expectations of what a Zelda adventure can be. In some ways it feels like I’ve only scratched the surface. I want more.Īt 50 hours into the game, I still haven’t reached the end of Breath of the Wild. I want to uncover new secrets and abilities. I want to go the places I’ve yet to discover. The scale could have been daunting, but the joy of discovery and the satisfaction that comes from finding your own way make it inviting instead. Zelda games have always been large, but Breath of the Wild feels uniquely grand, a massive open world filled with so much to do that I suspect most players - even those who complete the main story - will miss large swaths of the map. It isn’t always as curated and cinematic as other Zelda games, but the unpredictability makes it feel like a true adventure, where you’re uncovering your own path, instead of hitting your marks and following the script. Breath of the Wild is more open and natural than its predecessors, letting you discover things - like how lightning works - through experimentation. Most recent Zelda adventures have become formulaic, abiding by a rigid and proven structure that offers nostalgia and familiarity, but little room for revelations, either big or small. With the steel unequipped, I was able to safely make my through the storm.īreath of the Wild has something that’s been missing from the series for years: surprise. I couldn’t understand why the lightning was targeting me, the helpless hero, until I realized that both the spear and shield on my back were made of metal. Every time I restarted, the same thing would happen. The sharp sound rapidly came closer and closer until zap! I was electrocuted to death by a bolt.
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As heavy rain began to pour, a strong wind rustled the tall grass, and in the distance I could hear the crack of lightning.
While running through the picturesque green fields of Hyrule, a massive storm unexpectedly rolled in. The moment I realized The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild might actually be my favorite Zelda adventure ever struck me like lightning - literally.