This game has been an interesting experience but has ultimately been hard to gauge for me. This is my first Zelda game and my thoughts are long-winded and scattered.
I'll start with everything this game gets right. This game deserves a lot of the praise it gets in terms of open-world delivery. I'm so glad a game finally had the guts to stop putting obnoxious icons all over the map and just present the world as it is. Whilst it was still overwhelming for me in many ways, it takes steps in the right direction to fix open-world design. The way koroks and shrines are spread out also helps this as exploring gives the sense that you will be rewarded and you often are. The major landmarks are also well-placed as from the tutorial area you are subtly guided to the most important areas, letting the game direct you to find the meaningful content. The fact you can climb and reach any point on the map at any time is also fresh and liberating as getting to these areas and working your way through the scenery is the bulk of the game. Games are still catching up in 2022 to this type of design.
The animation is also excellent which is par for the course for Nintendo, and the movement, traversal and skill systems feel natural, intuitive and fluid. Animations flow into each other and make playing as Link enjoyable. The visual design and art-style are also excellent and the world (mostly) looks visually attractive despite the hardware limitations. The music, whilst subtle and understated, is adequate and even great in some areas (Hyrule castle, Rito Village).
The main attraction to me is the rich and intuitive physics and elemental system. Through the runes, weather, different arrows, weapons, and environmental objects, you direct agency over the game world in a way I've never experienced before. Everything you do has a tangible and predictable response and the game forces you to react to every situation you are in. Things like gliding from the updraft of grass on fire, or using stasis to launch a rock onto a Bokoblin camp are amazing and unique to this game. Nintendo obviously spent a lot of time crafting this system and it is still impressive. Initially, as well, the world is exciting and the premise is interesting.
However, this game falls short to me in a lot of regards. There are obviously technical and performance problems and the fps is really atrocious in a few places, but that sort of thing doesn't bother me too much. I'm more concerned with the gameplay, story and world.
As I've mentioned, the open-world is unique and innovative in its design, but there's really not a whole lot of unique content that you actually discover. There's a few towns, but mostly you will discover two things: shrines and koroks. Once you realise there is little else to find, exploration becomes much less exciting. Everything interesting will end up as one of these two things. The biomes are fun but many such as the Gerudo desert, the Faron woods, and Hebra all feel overly large and spaced out compared to what they actually offer. I wish there were more things to do, as despite doing so much to end the checklist-mania of games like Assassin's Creed, the shrines especially start to feel like chores by the end. A few are great puzzles, but most are far too short to be memorable, or simply combat challenges or single rooms with no challenge at all.
Whilst the world is this game's greatest success, it is also its biggest drawback. The towns and quests you visit and complete are relatively characterless and dull, and are usually over within a few hours. The characters that inhabit this world are given very little to do, world-building lore and history is sparse and the main characters are a mixed bag. The voice acting is all over the place and whilst the bulk of the story concerns the champions, none of them are given any character despite being cliche and tropey. Zelda is interesting, but she suffers from the voice acting too: it feels lacking in direction.
I'm more acquainted to games like the Witcher or Skyrim, which, whilst markedly worse in gameplay, have interesting lore, world-building, quests and characters that make the world believable and interesting. That kind of thing is not present here and detracts from my enjoyment. I want to explore a world that feels tangible, rather than merely a sandbox littered with collectibles and landmarks.
The lack of dungeons is also a drawback for me. The 4 divine beasts are fine, if short and fairly similar. Hyrule castle is awesome and really fun to explore but feels like the only real dungeon in the game. I always enjoyed the spelunking nature of games like Skyrim where there'd always be some ruins or caves to delve into and find treasure lurking nearby. Whilst this game is vastly different in its approach, I feel it could measurably benefit from something like this.
The story is also fairly disappointing. I wasn't expecting too much really and the flashbacks are fine. What bothers me is it doesn't really feel like Ganon is a legitimate threat. He does nearly nothing to stop Link across the game and the plot is basically just Link appearing, completing a vigorous training regimen of trials, getting all his gear, activating the divine beasts and strolling into the castle to obliterate his foe. Apart from the boss fights, Ganon just sits there and it makes it seem as though Link had an easy time. For this epic, end-of-the-world plot, this feels underwhelming. The final boss fight is also a little easy and I believe it should scale so its not just a cakewalk when you've done all the content.
Finally, I'd like to talk about the expansions. These are half and half for me. The master trials were my favourite part of the game by far: using every aspect of the game to beat the increasingly hard rooms of enemies was really fun. It made you engage with all the systems it had taught you and was challenging as well as rewarding, with the upgraded master sword being one of the best weapons in the game. On the other hand, the Champions Ballad was just okay. Basically just another 16 shrines and a dungeon, it was a little underwhelming. The shrines were similar quality to the base game, and the final dungeon was the best of the divine beast dungeons, but it felt unnecessary and just more of the same. Not bad, just not exciting. The master-cycle is a cool reward but after attaining it there is very little to do in the game.
Drawing things together this game has been a mixed bag of excitement and disappointment for me. I struggled to enjoy it in the same way others have, and, whilst understanding what is so appealing about it, I can't honestly say this was more engaging to me than other open-world games like Red Dead or Skyrim.
The fandom around this game is also extremely toxic. The overriding opinion on this game is that it's a 10/10 and anything I've seen that disagrees has been brigaded by a group of fans that exclusively play Nintendo games. A lot of people bought this game, and most people probably enjoyed it and don't go harassing people for not feeling the same, but there is no doubt a group of people who shut down any criticism of this game online.
A good game by many standards, but not the masterpiece, 10/10, game that I was looking for at the moment. I'm excited to see what they do with the sequel, however.
I'll start with everything this game gets right. This game deserves a lot of the praise it gets in terms of open-world delivery. I'm so glad a game finally had the guts to stop putting obnoxious icons all over the map and just present the world as it is. Whilst it was still overwhelming for me in many ways, it takes steps in the right direction to fix open-world design. The way koroks and shrines are spread out also helps this as exploring gives the sense that you will be rewarded and you often are. The major landmarks are also well-placed as from the tutorial area you are subtly guided to the most important areas, letting the game direct you to find the meaningful content. The fact you can climb and reach any point on the map at any time is also fresh and liberating as getting to these areas and working your way through the scenery is the bulk of the game. Games are still catching up in 2022 to this type of design.
The animation is also excellent which is par for the course for Nintendo, and the movement, traversal and skill systems feel natural, intuitive and fluid. Animations flow into each other and make playing as Link enjoyable. The visual design and art-style are also excellent and the world (mostly) looks visually attractive despite the hardware limitations. The music, whilst subtle and understated, is adequate and even great in some areas (Hyrule castle, Rito Village).
The main attraction to me is the rich and intuitive physics and elemental system. Through the runes, weather, different arrows, weapons, and environmental objects, you direct agency over the game world in a way I've never experienced before. Everything you do has a tangible and predictable response and the game forces you to react to every situation you are in. Things like gliding from the updraft of grass on fire, or using stasis to launch a rock onto a Bokoblin camp are amazing and unique to this game. Nintendo obviously spent a lot of time crafting this system and it is still impressive. Initially, as well, the world is exciting and the premise is interesting.
However, this game falls short to me in a lot of regards. There are obviously technical and performance problems and the fps is really atrocious in a few places, but that sort of thing doesn't bother me too much. I'm more concerned with the gameplay, story and world.
As I've mentioned, the open-world is unique and innovative in its design, but there's really not a whole lot of unique content that you actually discover. There's a few towns, but mostly you will discover two things: shrines and koroks. Once you realise there is little else to find, exploration becomes much less exciting. Everything interesting will end up as one of these two things. The biomes are fun but many such as the Gerudo desert, the Faron woods, and Hebra all feel overly large and spaced out compared to what they actually offer. I wish there were more things to do, as despite doing so much to end the checklist-mania of games like Assassin's Creed, the shrines especially start to feel like chores by the end. A few are great puzzles, but most are far too short to be memorable, or simply combat challenges or single rooms with no challenge at all.
Whilst the world is this game's greatest success, it is also its biggest drawback. The towns and quests you visit and complete are relatively characterless and dull, and are usually over within a few hours. The characters that inhabit this world are given very little to do, world-building lore and history is sparse and the main characters are a mixed bag. The voice acting is all over the place and whilst the bulk of the story concerns the champions, none of them are given any character despite being cliche and tropey. Zelda is interesting, but she suffers from the voice acting too: it feels lacking in direction.
I'm more acquainted to games like the Witcher or Skyrim, which, whilst markedly worse in gameplay, have interesting lore, world-building, quests and characters that make the world believable and interesting. That kind of thing is not present here and detracts from my enjoyment. I want to explore a world that feels tangible, rather than merely a sandbox littered with collectibles and landmarks.
The lack of dungeons is also a drawback for me. The 4 divine beasts are fine, if short and fairly similar. Hyrule castle is awesome and really fun to explore but feels like the only real dungeon in the game. I always enjoyed the spelunking nature of games like Skyrim where there'd always be some ruins or caves to delve into and find treasure lurking nearby. Whilst this game is vastly different in its approach, I feel it could measurably benefit from something like this.
The story is also fairly disappointing. I wasn't expecting too much really and the flashbacks are fine. What bothers me is it doesn't really feel like Ganon is a legitimate threat. He does nearly nothing to stop Link across the game and the plot is basically just Link appearing, completing a vigorous training regimen of trials, getting all his gear, activating the divine beasts and strolling into the castle to obliterate his foe. Apart from the boss fights, Ganon just sits there and it makes it seem as though Link had an easy time. For this epic, end-of-the-world plot, this feels underwhelming. The final boss fight is also a little easy and I believe it should scale so its not just a cakewalk when you've done all the content.
Finally, I'd like to talk about the expansions. These are half and half for me. The master trials were my favourite part of the game by far: using every aspect of the game to beat the increasingly hard rooms of enemies was really fun. It made you engage with all the systems it had taught you and was challenging as well as rewarding, with the upgraded master sword being one of the best weapons in the game. On the other hand, the Champions Ballad was just okay. Basically just another 16 shrines and a dungeon, it was a little underwhelming. The shrines were similar quality to the base game, and the final dungeon was the best of the divine beast dungeons, but it felt unnecessary and just more of the same. Not bad, just not exciting. The master-cycle is a cool reward but after attaining it there is very little to do in the game.
Drawing things together this game has been a mixed bag of excitement and disappointment for me. I struggled to enjoy it in the same way others have, and, whilst understanding what is so appealing about it, I can't honestly say this was more engaging to me than other open-world games like Red Dead or Skyrim.
The fandom around this game is also extremely toxic. The overriding opinion on this game is that it's a 10/10 and anything I've seen that disagrees has been brigaded by a group of fans that exclusively play Nintendo games. A lot of people bought this game, and most people probably enjoyed it and don't go harassing people for not feeling the same, but there is no doubt a group of people who shut down any criticism of this game online.
A good game by many standards, but not the masterpiece, 10/10, game that I was looking for at the moment. I'm excited to see what they do with the sequel, however.