3am ramblings
One of the most addicting games i've ever played no doubt about it. Devs have hit a crazy sweetspot and know how to keep you wanting more. My life has been nothing but waiting to get home to play this game for the last 2-3 weeks. Huge props to the devs for hitting this perfectly and with everything in the game just working that last delay was definitely worth it. I had so many moments of thinking “but what if I tried this” and it worked, I love having so many opportunities for that. I fucking love this game YET,

The dungeons were the worst part of this game. I did not think I would say that I found BOTW divine beasts to be more entertaining but I'd rather have one big puzzle instead of 3-5 smaller puzzles that feel like they belong in a shrine. My first dungeon was the Desert Temple and it sucked. The bossfight was cool but all the puzzles were mind numbingly easy and I was in and out of the Temple within 30 minutes. This was the same for basically every dungeon sadly. The Water Temple buildup was good because it felt like I was actually playing a zelda game having to “decipher” what the characters are saying to figure out the puzzle myself. For the end payoff to be 4 stupid simple puzzles and a very bad boss. Best dungeon in the game is the Wind Temple because it has a great buildup, the best (but still stupid simple if not bad) puzzles, and a very easy but fun boss fight. Piloting a mech for the surprise hidden shrine was fun for a few minutes until the horrible boss fight and monotonous run to it.

The shrines were not any better either, some were fun like the fake Halo 3 ending shrine, but most ended up feeling as if I was just starting a puzzle and being shown how to do something then it just ended. One shrine I remember was “can you pick up this battery and put it on electricity to charge then put it back where you found it?” I was out in less than 2 minutes and this happened on MANY occasions, when the dungeons felt just like the shrines a chunk of enjoyment was lost for the rest of the game.

The sky islands were too few and far between, I barely spent any time up there unless I ended up just being there to kill a boss or using it as a checkpoint when gliding to a spot I wanted to be on the map. Wish there was another big area up there like the tutorial island.


The overworld being the same sucks but I could let it slide for this game. The minor changes were cool to see but having to do the same routes again as in BOTW made me go on autopilot and spend most of my time trying to spend the least amount of time traveling between areas I did not need to/care about (why would I when my reward is only another weapon). At least the map seemed to shove me into the Depths entrances often enough to keep me entertained. 60% of my playtime was underground.

The Depths is a good addition to the game. I admittedly spent way too long down there completing it for nothing in return. (should have known) Hooray for me having like 2 quests already have light for them instead of having to do it then I guess. In retrospect it really is nothing special besides hitting a mine/getting ore/RARE cool combat encounter (little arenas scattered) But it sure as hell kept me from NOT getting bored aboveground! Moving down in the depths tested my patience at times but at least I had the ability to make the same airplane over 30+ times.

Ultrahand is cool if you use it, but I find myself to be more of a “get it done” player so the only time I really found myself building stupid contraptions was when it was absolutely needed. Maybe I didnt torture enough Koroks but I never made cars/planes in the overworld/sky islands if absolutely needed. Why would I put in all the effort to make a contraption if it is gonna timeout and break on me after 3 minutes when I could teleport to a Skyview Tower and just glide there instead. Or how about when I enter a shrine my build gets wiped, why would I even use it? Autobuild is supposed to help with moments like this but limiting it to 8 favorites is too small. My favorite ability is Fuse because it made the boring combat system semi interesting with whatever stupid shit I could come up with.

Main quest and overall story was alright, I don’t care for the series story but everything with Ganon was done well. I love how OP they made him feel throughout all the memories. Everything in this game in terms of atmosphere nails it 11/10. All the major locations/dungeons/final arena (and area leading up to it) are immaculate.

One of the most unique games I have ever played and will remember very fondly DESPITE all my ramblings about it, when the game hits it highs it is just That high. Far from perfect but jesus I can’t wait to see this game blowout everything at the awards. 8/10