Art direction is off the chain. Stylish as hell with a point of view. Gamifies language learning in a way I've never seen before. The gameplay system for decoding the languages is stunningly simple, elegant, and flexible. It rewards observation and inferences, and it genuinely tickled the part of my brain that I used taking language courses in school.
Only a couple of minor gripes. I echo those who feel the stealth seems shoehorned in. Easily the weakest element of the game. It's not what I'm here for. That said, at least it breaks up what would otherwise be gameplay largely made up of jogging up and down the environment. My only other complaint is that the difficulty scaling seems off. I found the third language the most challenging by far to piece together, while the last was disappointingly easy; translating almost all of it relies on linking cognates from the previous languages in a contrived way. This is a mechanic used sparingly throughout the rest of the game. It makes the final stretch somewhat less satisfying than it otherwise could be.
All in all, though, an exceptional title. Absolutely worthy of the praise it received in 2023.

A great game. A not-so-great zelda game.

I had the privilege of getting this game on day one. I bought the collectors edition. I was extremely extremely excited for this one. The final trailer they put out for the game still gives me chills, top 3 videogame trailers of all time. Looking back, I maybe went too hard on it when I first got it. I was losing sleep and was not a kid anymore. So I rushed through it the first time, demolishing it, not taking time to stop and smell the flowers.

Second time around was master mode and full DLC. I noticed something: This game is a real treat and I am tired of open world games. It's not just that they are way too large in scope and design, but they are also incredibly empty. Every game is boasting on how large their map is but it makes me want to play it less. It's too much. Maybe as I age I'm finding I pine for concise games with brevity. That being said, drinking in the atmosphere carefully crafted by the game designers is unmatched. What a beautiful world created here. The game is so committed to it's idea and scope that Nintendo pulled this one off, to an extent.

I think being a lifelong Zelda fan hurts my perception of this title. The game is great, but in terms of how - Z e l d a - it is, the game is lacking on multiple fronts. Foremost is the music. While the music fits the scope of the game's vision and is beautiful in its own respects, BotW is a step backwards in terms of legacy and connection to the Legend it claims to be a part of. It is a void in the space of magnificence.

Now, I have a respect for how storytelling is told in an open-world game and how each studio may do it differently, but god did they do a poor job with it in this title. I did not quite understand the subtext and supportive story after collecting the memories and reading through zelda's journal and everything. I had to later watch a synopsis on youtube literal years later to actually wholly understand what was going on. I understand there is something to be said for the subtlety of this game in general. Most of the world is subtle and hiding under the surface, waiting to be explored. But damn, please don't do it to the main narrative. It IS a good story. I LIKE the story. They just needed to tell it in a better way.

I could go on about the dungeons or whatever you want to call them. Shrines. I did all of them and they were fun. Some better than others. They didn't have that Zelda magic which is fine. They were just fine.

At the end of the day, the game is fun. It is a good game. It's huge in game and out of game. It was culturally explosive around the world. I do not think it is perfect though. I do not trust people who give it 10/10, 5/5, perfect no notes. I do however like having them around because sometimes you need a pal with blind optimism.