Reward of the Wild
Two months on, the latest Legend of Zelda still has plenty to offer.
Was it because I felt I had stepped into my own personal adventure directed by Hayao Miyazaki? Was it because when I came back to unconquered locales after developing my skills, it was I who emerged the victor on return? Was it because every inch of this world is filled with either a surprise, a reward, or the smallest touch that made it feel that much more vibrant and alive?
After nearly two months’ deliberation, I’m still not convinced I could tell you exactly why I loved The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild so much. It’s all of these things and more, so much more — but whatever the alchemic combination, through the intense 110 hours of making it through the game, each moment gave me the greatest gift any Zelda title can give: the sense of adventure. But Breath of the Wild’s masterstroke is transposing that to a sense of discovery.
That includes every facet of the game, by the way, not just the rush of giddy awe that accompanies that first cliff-top absorption of the vast Hyrule vista. Here’s one of many stories: in one particular encounter with monsters, a lizardy foe had just clocked my stealthy approach. In the fraction of a moment before he would launch his attack, I noticed his shield was made out of wood. I also recalled that I had a fire arrow on me. So with Link’s elfish arms drawing the bow and my eyes widening in slow-mo realisation, I fired said arrow into his shield, and the creature’s alarm at his now-ablaze item gave me the precious second I needed to unsheath Mr. Master Sword (not a euphemism) and take that mother down.
A simple and obvious tactic, in hindsight. But the game’s triumph is in letting you figure this stuff out for yourself. It plants the seeds of inspiration from the outset, its sandbox gameplay essentially a freeing shrug of ‘hey, it’s up to you pal’. However, I’m not one-hundred percent sure why I started writing about Breath of the Wild; I don’t know exactly what type of point I want to make, or at least one that hasn’t been made many times before. All I am certain of is that I needed to write about it. I quickly lost count of the number of times I let out a small gasp upon discovering something unique, intriguing, mysterious, or simply downright beautiful. It may have been the aurora at Hyrule’s highest peak, or flying around for the first time with one of the magnificent dragons, or the ingenious dungeons which mine the perfect balance between being complex and breathtaking.
But there’s so much more to do, and to explore — and that’s not counting the DLC coming later in the year. After I’ve completed that, and I’ve scoured every inch of Hyrule’s varied terrain, what then? How can Nintendo top this? I think it’ll be a while before the next game that grabs my attention so HOLY CRAP MARIO KART 8 DELUXE IS HERE. See you in another 110 hours.
