The game also doesn't track recipes for dishes you may cook at campsites, making it tricky to recreate stat-boosting dishes.For almost 20 years, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has been the benchmark Zelda game. Weather effects can frustrate – you can't climb cliffs in the rain, leaving you stood around in the middle of nowhere waiting for it to pass. Getting around the world can feel slow, even on horseback. Areas of attraction glitter in the distance and there's rarely anything you can't get to once it's caught your eye.Īre there downsides? A few. The stylised look is gorgeous, and the game world offers a phenomenal depth of detail. While the game was originally in development for the Wii U, it has been noticeably improved on the Nintendo Switch. Read more: Here's how much it will cost for all the Nintendo Switch kit It changes how you approach the game as a whole. He starts off with nothing but rags, and even as he acquires new weapons and powerful, elementally charged arrows, their scarcity and degradability make you cautious to use them unless you're absolutely desperate. Link also feels vulnerable in a way he never really has before. It forces you to be more tactical, stealthily approaching Bokoblin camps to take out foes slowly, rather than wade in, sword swinging.
Or, at one point, you might be left fighting off a foe with a wooden spoon. You'll build an arsenal of weapons dropped by fallen enemies' or found in treasure chests, but every attack weakens them until they break.Ī sword shattering mid-combat is a terrifying moment, leaving you to swap to a possibly inferior one you're already carrying or battle on with whatever you can find. There are seemingly none of the major items of Zelda lore here - goodbye, hookshot - that would serve you infinitely. All things end in this world, including Link's weapons. The other major challenge is impermanence. Combat is swift and fluid, and once you master it, incredibly enjoyable. Pick up the nuances though and Link is lethal in battle, dodging or backflipping away from attacks, then returning with a flurry of counters. Learning timing is key – double-handed weapons are more powerful but slower, some have greater reach, and you need to remember to catch boomerangs when they return. There's no real tutorial – well, there is, but it's hidden in a shrine you may not uncover – leaving you to guess at Link's more advanced attacks. This is where Breath of the Wild's difficulty comes in. He's seen in the distance from almost any high point, a towering dragon of roiling dark energy, coiled ominously around Hyrule Castle. Yes, Ganon is the de facto supervillain of the Zelda series, but he's never been so threatening as he is here. It's one you learn about almost straight away, after you emerge from your sleep – Calamity Ganon, the dark force that has blighted the land.
Main Quests move the story along, and there's far more of a narrative push to Breath of the Wild than you might find in other open world games a target, a fixed goal, even though you're welcome to ignore it for as long as you like. Yes, Zelda has quests now, tracked and updated as you progress through them, and split into three categories – Main Quest, Side Quests, and Shrine Quests.
Our unique trajectories through the game are a result of the glorious openness, leaving players free to choose which, if any, quests to pursue. Before that, James had been battling a dragon atop Mount Lanayru, a snow-capped peak on Hyrule's eastern reaches, while I was gallivanting about activating watchtowers, which fill in the world's map. While I was fighting my way through the innards of Divine Beast Vah Ruta – a colossal elephant mecha made of ancient stone and crystal technologies, one of four such wonders roaming Hyrule – James was getting on the Hylian property ladder, buying a house in tranquil Hateno Village. WIRED's James Temperton and I have both been playing the game, and had strikingly divergent experiences.
Much like the The Elder Scrolls series though, Nintendo's offering will offer each player something different, too. The comparison has been made before, so we'll make it again - forget Ocarina, this is Zelda by way of Skyrim. It's a world where you can hunt for pigs and wolves, go fishing, hoard items to sell, forage for ingredients to cook, or simply explore the vast world to uncover its secrets.
Contrast Breath of the Wild, which opens with hero Link waking from a hundred years of slumber, emerging into a version of Hyrule distinct from all before it - an open world, full of living creatures and hidden populations, traders and threats.