So, I’ve played through Breath of the Wild, and now that I’ve had time to digest the many aspects of this fantastic game, I can really write more about it. The first and best thing I can say is that it made me feel like a kid again. I haven’t felt that way since Wind Waker, and that is really, really saying something. The game designer in my head will often nitpick things as I play, and while he wasn’t entirely silent, he was mostly as enthralled as I was. Majora’s Mask might still be my favorite Legend of Zelda, but it’s very, very close. Hell, maybe they’re tied. I can’t really say.
My opinion of Twilight Princess is basically that it’s an extended, episodic Ocarina of Time ripoff that exceeds it in most aspects of control/graphics/music, etc., but ultimately fails to exceed it as a whole, and I really, really dislike Skyward Sword, which I’ll write about another time. But I haven’t had something take me back to Hyrule and keep me there in a very, very long time, and even though I invoke Wind Waker, even that didn’t bring me there like this game did.
What is perhaps most impressive to me is that while characters can enrich an experience, I feel like I’d enjoy this game with any face. The enchanting characterization and development of smaller parts of the world is just Zelda bonus to what was already a great game. I think one way it really succeeds is in that it lets you go in virtually any direction from the start, and you just sort of find your way. It does openness very, very well, and Link’s ability to climb and interact with the world around him exceeds that of any other Zelda to date.
However, it does have some minor drawbacks that I cannot help but address:
A big thing going through my head thinking this is comparing it to Skyrim. And while Skyrim ultimately feels more grounded — even for a “you’re the chosen one, epic dragon-slayer game — that isn’t what anyone’s looking for in Zelda. We want the ascendent chord, the come-up — our noble hero on a divine quest. And while we definitely get that, one aspect of its execution here is a world that remains largely unfilled. In Skyrim, you will find remnants of the lives of others, be it mini-quests to find some drunk’s ale, sidequests to rescue a kidnapped child, or even just an old letter detailing the death of the former occupant of a now-empty house. A lot of times in Breath of the Wild there’s just a lot of land, colored with whatever biome you happen to be in. A great deal of care was put into creating this world, but I feel like they forgot to fill many parts of it, and once you’re used to the ebb and flow of the game, it can often create a sense of ennui that pulls you out of the world until you find the next “thing”. My inkling is much the same as with Skyward Sword — they created a beautiful world and tried to fill it after the fact, and stopped before they were finished. I think they might be better off filling small parts as they expand, to really give life to what they create, as opposed to it simply being the home to a shrine puzzle and a couple of Korok seeds. That is what made Skyloft feel so much more alive in Skyward Sword compared to, well, the rest of the game. Breath of the Wild has plenty of liveliness despite this, however, and this bit of emptiness only becomes apparent when you’ve spent a considerable amount of time in this most recent incarnation of Hyrule.
The story, while incredibly engaging, and telling us a tale that allows us to climb up after the fall, largely feels to be only half-complete. I’m reserving judgment on this aspect for now, as there’s apparently DLC coming out to flesh out the first half of the story, which, if done in a satisfying way, may make this game’s story feel more complete. Obviously, I’m not a fan of DLC being done this way, but, better than not existing.
Something I think the game does very well is its sense of scale. And an area I think it falls short on is when it takes itself a bit too seriously and tries to draw your attention to that scale. I like when the gameplay itself shows you the grandeur of the world before you, rather than a mini-cutscene or fixed camera angle that is basically “HEY LOOK AT THIS THING!”
For once, the music did not floor me. It was charming in many places, and I like how there wasn’t always music, but sometimes I felt it was too light a touch for when I really wanted a theme going in the background.
Ultimately, I don’t think any of these things really takes away from the game enough to remove its status as a masterpiece. It’s one of my absolutely favorite games to date, and I can only hope this is the new starting point for future titles in the Legend of Zelda series. The beauty of this game’s scenery, atmosphere, the driving feeling of playing this game, its satisfying difficulty, engaging puzzles… I could go on. I would rate this game 10/10, easy, and I don’t think its shortcomings come close to affecting my impression of it. I’ll flesh this out a bit more once all DLC has been released, and I’ve had time to complete it.