"Open your eyes… wake up, Link”
I was there from the announcement of this at E3 2014 to the release in 2017. Once I got my hands on Breath of the Wild, my perspective on open-world games changed forever. Simply, no open-world game hits the same as this. The pure sense of discovery and adventure from exploring the map is like no other in the vast sea of open-world games. You will get sidetracked 90 times while trying to complete one goal.
This has Zelda DNA but is a pretty far variant from what people are used to in a Zelda game, and in many ways, it’s for the worst. The Divine Beasts are pretty lame, especially compared to the traditional dungeons of the franchise. Shrines do get repetitive and kind of become more of a chore later on. The story and lore here don’t compare to the dark and weird stories of previous 3D Zelda games.
Combat is fine. It feels like the bare minimum just on its own, but what makes things fun is your creativity. The way you can mess with the physics engine and create unique ways to take on enemies makes things so much fun. A big reason why this game is so special is the absolute freedom you have.
The art style is fantastic. While it’s easy to imagine what a Zelda game would look like on stronger hardware, this uses what it has to its advantage completely. I love the art direction.
The way everything in the world sounds is just peak open-world gaming; I can’t get enough of it. This doesn’t have the best music of the series by far, but the way it’s used throughout the game, either when you’re on a high mountain or when you’re walking through a field, adds so much to this game, and I don’t think it’s discussed enough.
Will Tears of the Kingdom make this game just seem like a tech demo? Yeah, probably. I can’t wait!"
I was there from the announcement of this at E3 2014 to the release in 2017. Once I got my hands on Breath of the Wild, my perspective on open-world games changed forever. Simply, no open-world game hits the same as this. The pure sense of discovery and adventure from exploring the map is like no other in the vast sea of open-world games. You will get sidetracked 90 times while trying to complete one goal.
This has Zelda DNA but is a pretty far variant from what people are used to in a Zelda game, and in many ways, it’s for the worst. The Divine Beasts are pretty lame, especially compared to the traditional dungeons of the franchise. Shrines do get repetitive and kind of become more of a chore later on. The story and lore here don’t compare to the dark and weird stories of previous 3D Zelda games.
Combat is fine. It feels like the bare minimum just on its own, but what makes things fun is your creativity. The way you can mess with the physics engine and create unique ways to take on enemies makes things so much fun. A big reason why this game is so special is the absolute freedom you have.
The art style is fantastic. While it’s easy to imagine what a Zelda game would look like on stronger hardware, this uses what it has to its advantage completely. I love the art direction.
The way everything in the world sounds is just peak open-world gaming; I can’t get enough of it. This doesn’t have the best music of the series by far, but the way it’s used throughout the game, either when you’re on a high mountain or when you’re walking through a field, adds so much to this game, and I don’t think it’s discussed enough.
Will Tears of the Kingdom make this game just seem like a tech demo? Yeah, probably. I can’t wait!"