Breath of the Wild is an incredible game and will be remembered as one of the best in the series, but I don't think it's perfect as a Zelda game. I understand the need to innovate and change things especially in a series that's coming to 40 years old, and all of this is completely based on my preference on what I want from a Zelda game, but I really do wish they'd stuck with the classic features like dungeons and a bunch of key items as without them it doesn't feel the same to me.

The dungeons/shrines we get in Breath of the Wild are cool, and most of the time are clever little puzzles, but every singe one of them is way too short. Even the Divine Beasts left me feeling wanting more as they were too short or too small an area to work with. I'd had much rather had all these ideas for the shrines put into the divine beasts and give us 4 really strong, clever and satisfying dungeons than 120 small shrines which are either stopping before they get good or feel lazy like fighting a guardian 10 times.

I also feel like the item collecting was very important to the sense of progression in a Zelda game. Collecting an item 10 hours in which changes the way you can approach old areas (such as the hookshoot, boomerang, lens of truth etc.) felt so satisfying to me as you could physically see your inventory grow with unique items which makes gameplay easier, such as being able to access new areas like Ikana Canyon in Majora's Mask being accessed by getting Epona, and to get Epona you needed the Goron mask and the powder keg license. Everything perfectly worked off each other to progress Link through his journey. Now whilst this is similar to BOTW where you gather stronger swords, shields and bows it's not really the same, as this game's approach to being able to do what you want when you want means that fundamentally this approach doesn't work and it's a bit disappointing having the only way to see your strength grow being your health and stamina.

Overall, whilst I do have complaints solely based on my preferences, Breath of the Wild is still an awesome game with one of the best open worlds I've played on. I just hope for the next Link's adventure they go back to the original formula as I don't think every Zelda should be as open as this.