User reviews

IMDb isn't really a site designed for people to rate video games, but this entry is too much fun to not talk about, so I'll write a review anyways. If you look deeper into my ratings you'll notice how I gave all the Zelda games I've played a perfect 10. I love the series' storytelling, quirky characters, engaging puzzles and charming level designs, but I do often wonder if these games deserve such a high rating. They do slightly suffer from repetition (Ganon must have multiple lives!), and there are a few irritating glitches that can hinder my overall enjoyment. Which is fine because, after buying the Nintendo Switch and trying this game out for a few good hours, I think this game is worth all the hype. And what hype it has!

In short, this game is an absolute blast. Open-world games have been done before (Skyrim), yet every little detail, every little technique, and the various ways you could go about on your adventure make this huge world feel fresh and exciting. There is so much to do in this game, and it never gets boring! Link could climb up steep cliffs, transport to towers, paraglide, and enter "Shrines" to solve puzzles by using magic in clever ways. Even the horse-riding was fun! I love how immersive this world is, because everything (graphics, controls, gameplay) is so flawlessly executed and so absorbing. It breaks a few video game conventions we're so used to, making this game an exciting, entertaining ride filled with smooth game-play and fun characters.

I haven't gotten too deep into the game yet, so I can't really comment on the main storyline too much. So far it has the typical Zelda formula, but with an interesting techno-twist that doesn't feel misplaced. The character interactions are natural, and the quests push the story forward instead of making them feel like filler. So far a good start.

Overall, this game is innovative, breathtaking, challenging, imaginative and endlessly addicting. I believe this is one of Nintendo's most well-crafted games they've made, and I'm not saying this out of pure nostalgia. If you're a Zelda fan, a casual gamer, or someone that thirsts for adventure, this is a great choice.

Easily one of the greatest games of all time, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild delivers a satisfyingly beautiful presentation on scale, world building, story, gameplay, and design. Most of my gripes are buggy graphics and such that have more to do with the Switch's shortcomings as opposed to the games'. And even gripes that are the game's fault are done purposefully to make the game better. If you play this game you will certainly not be disappointed.

That was the short version, long version of why this game is awesome along with a plot synopsis will continue now.

Synopsis: A century before the game begins, the peaceful kingdom of Hyrule was attacked by an evil entity known as Calamity Ganon, who is the game's version of the usual Zelda villain Ganondorf. Princess Zelda and her knight Link, fight the evil Ganon but lose, and Link barely escapes with his life. He's placed in a bed of water inside a cave for a hundred years and when he wakes up with no memory of what happens, he has to fight to defeat Calamity Ganon and his minions to purge Hyrule of its darkness.

Okay so first the plot. I'm not too familiar with the canon storyline of Zelda, but from what I've heard the game's storyline is completely original, at least in its structure. I really like how it got the elements of Zelda's story and broke them up into little parts and built up in its own unique way.

And surprisingly enough for such a simplistic children's story of good versus evil, it's very compelling. Link's memories become somewhat of a mystery and how he is in a world he has to defend but not remember becomes very interesting. Sure the whole "You don't remember me but you should" angle from almost every NPC becomes pretty flat, but I'll admit that its very compelling.

What limits the stories RPG elements such as the bog standard story and robotic NPCs are pretty much forgotten. I mean, the game is just genius. The music is atmospheric and engaging, what should make the game boring and forgettable such as the conventions of video game RPGs and fantasy instead make the game more classic. The combat sticks to the average shift and strike sort of method but still remains very very fun. There were times when I was on the edge of my seat, just slamming the respawn button to get back at an enemy in the game who defeated me.

Speaking of which, this game does not treat you like a baby. It doesn't hold your hand through a two hour tutorial, the handling of mechanics is very straightforward, and most of all the difficulty. On a scale between a Disney Channel online game and Dark Souls, Breath of the Wild is somewhere in the middle. It's easy enough that you can progress without being a hard core gamer, but hard enough to want you to keep getting stronger.

Likewise, there's something here for everyone. Hard core RPG fans can enjoy the rich worldbuilding and character design. Fantasy nuts can really enjoy the brilliantly created setting. And people who like fighting games can enjoy the very fun combat angle which is a very refined system which is based both on the player's skill and items. Everyday people who aren't too into gaming and just want to escape for a little can enjoy how investing the gorgeous graphics of the game are.

My gripes actually have reasons for them existing. I really don't like how weapons can break because its annoying to get a really cool or powerful weapon just for it to break two seconds later. However it prevents players from creating an overpowered build and flying through the game. I also don't like how the loading screen had awkwardly scratchy transitions and how riding at full gallop on a horse can make the bottom part of the screen sort of have an annoying 'ghost effect'. Again, this is the Switch's fault, not the game's.

Another gripe I have is the reliance on more powerful weapons as opposed to skill. To defeat stronger bosses you just need better arrows, which can be bought with the game's currency rupees. But this is just pretty tedious, grinding away at weaker enemies and selling their drops to exchange them for arrows.

Again this can be blamed on the simple fact that the game is an RPG, grinding is a simple facet of every role playing game. But it also limits the game heavily, you kill monsters to get drops, you sell drops to get rupees and spend rupees to buy arrows which defeat stronger enemies. You spend rupees on arrows pretty much. While limiting, I prefer this to simply having a purely skill based system which obligates newer players to just give up instead of grind when they reach an area of the game with too strong a boss.

Another gripe is that there is no simplified progression system to track your progress. Sure there's a 'Quest Log' that tracks how many quests you completed but still, on the game as a whole there is no way to know how many items you've obtained, there's no EXP system to boost your stats and most of all, and out of all of the game's content, how much of it you've experienced. Really enjoyable games such as Chasm, Assassin's Creed and even Lego Star Wars had clearly defined systems that let you know how much of the game there was left to uncover.

But like my other gripes I understand this entirely. In order to let the player create his own adventure instead of having a streamlined system tell him how much is left to uncover, he or she has to do it on his own, a surprisingly smart system for forcing the player to tackle the game on his or her own terms. Like Skyrim, the player does not have to follow the main story to progress through the game. He or she can take on side quests, dungeons and simply explore the game's magnigicent setting. This, like the removal of the average 'game percentage' aspect really allows the player to have the best experience possible.

The game gives an engaging experience on every level imaginable, from the simplest design to the most complex. The original game 'The Legend of Zelda' followed Link on his journey to reunite the pieces of the tri force, but this game focuses on Link's journey to defeat Ganon to free Hyrule from his grasp. The game does not retcon the whole series, but instead uses its elements in a new and intelligent way. It uses canon elements like building blocks to create its own beautiful masterpiece of a story and game. Unlike most RPGs, there is no leveling system, but instead...shrines which have replaced dungeons. Each shrine includes various obstacles, puzzles and enemies, at the end of which is a statue that gives you a Spirit Orb and a full health regeneration.

Every four Spirit Orbs lets you become stronger, either giving you an extra heart, or more stamina, which you use to run, glide and climb. There are over a hundred unique shrines with their own design and that in itself is genius and scrupulous game design. Can you imagine that? More than a hundred specially designed rooms, each with their own loot and obstacles. This really is a masterfully crafted game, with tons of effort and creativity thrown in. Little bits of fun here and there such as little 'Children of the Forest' or spirits, which have the most unique and interesting design, occur almost nine hundred times. How amazing is that? Nine *hundred* seperate encounters with unique spirits, each that give you seeds to max out your inventory. That is just one of the many aspects of the game that make it the most engaging and well designed video game ever made. The sheer amount of effort and ingenuity put into this game really shows, from the plethora of uniquely designed characters and monsters, items, dungeons (shrines), bosses, and puzzles.

I've never wanted to play a game that I hoped never ended except for this one. And when I finish it, I will probably play it again and again. And if you try it, you probably will too.

Wow. This game may not be perfect, but it's damn near it. Possibly the best launch title for a game system ever. But if you're not quite sold on the Switch, I would get a Wii U, some games, and BOTW. Everything about this game is the most perfect it could've been. Screw XBONE, PS4, and PC. You don't have BOTW

I have spent my whole life playing the Legend of Zelda series loving each entry of the series, however over time I have noticed that the series has become far too formulaic and after Skyward Sword hand holding was taken way too far. Which is why I am glad to say that Breath of the Wild has taken every bit of the formula that was monotonous and threw it completely out of the window.

For the first time since the first entry way back in 1986 you have complete freedom of how you want to approach the game. From the very first moments you see the world unfold around you it won't be long until you get to explore the large and vast world of Hyrule.

After you complete the very brief tutorial of the game you can go wherever you want and do whatever it is you want to do. Feel like going straight to Hyrule castle to fight Ganon? Go ahead but don't be surprised if your ass gets completely handed to you.

One thing to note in Breath of the Wild is that the difficulty of the game when it comes to combat has become increasingly harder and you must learn to adapt to new ways of handling these encounters as you play. There were many times I would be killed again and again forcing me to keep loading back into the same confrontation which forced me to change my approach.

With all my praises of this game the one complaint I habe is the story itself which given the scope and scale of the game I expected to be much more. I soon realized the true story of the game is your adventure and when I came to think of that I didn't mind so much that the story wasn't stronger as my adventure and my journey throughout the game was so fun and compelling that there were times where I didn't even notice the story so much.

I really hope to see where Nintendo can take the franchise from here and with their new approach to the Zelda formula I hope to see many Zelda games with this level of freedom in the future. A definite must own for Zelda fans and even those who are curious or new to the series.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is an amazing game that will surely be seen as a go-to definition of open-world gaming comparable to Grand Theft Auto or Super Mario 64; and even a little Skyrim-esque in parts. Breath of the Wild feels like a Zelda game, but also feels like an adaptation of the games by Hayao Miyazaki's team at Studio Ghibli. This game is unimaginably gorgeous to look at and play. Its scope is nearly quadruple that of Ocarina of Time (and I freaking LOVE Ocarina of Time), and it's such an enormous game that I wonder if I'd dare to say that it's even BIGGER than G.T.A. V. Also it's the launch title that made the Nintendo Switch SOAR to the top of the charts!

Get this game if you're a human being with a pulse and who has a strong love for all things video-games. Also, this is THE Zelda game for anime fans to get into.

A huge problem with previous Zelda games is the limited freedom. Nintendo completely changed that with Breath of the Wild.

As soon as you walk into the endless world of BOTW, EVERYWHERE you see you can visit, heck if you want to, you can run in and defeat Ganon without anything! It truly is a change to the Zelda series. The story-line is great and the cut-scenes with voice acting make it seem that much more interesting. Plus, with the Switch, you can play a major console game on the GO! (Beat that Horizon Zero Dawn and any other Switchless console/PC game.)

Another great thing about BOTW is all of the side quests, shrines, korok seeds, DLC and MORE! So when you finish the main quest you haven't finished the game. There are still places you can visit and hundreds of things you can do among all of the side quests, DLC, etc.

No game is perfect, it does have some flaws such as the occasional drop of frame rate however it has improved and doesn't disrupt the experience.

Overall, it's an excellent game for young to old, zero Zelda experience to an Ultra Zelda Fanboy and non-gamer to hardcore gamer.

This is the best game I played becuse the map is realy big it has long gameplay and good storyline

This game places you in the middle of a massive land so detailed and beautiful that it truly depresses you that it's not real. There are areas where the temperature goes down or up and you have to deal with it. It rains and that affects things like climbing (speaking of climbing, you can climb almost every surface in the game). You have stamina which makes you have to think about how you will get from point a to point b. The game makes you think the way you would if you were truly in the wild.

On other notes, the story's great, the npcs and all fun, the combat is excellent, and the shrines are a real treat. But the best part about this game is the freedom you feel of simply being in the great outdoors where you can go wherever you want and do whatever you want.

What can I say besides "what a god damn excellent game" as a Zelda and open world game fan I was more than satisfied!

In my opinion, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a perfect representation of how the series started and what it was supposed to be. An open world game where you can explore the vast world and complete your quests however you please. It's a great experience for both beginners to the series and hard-core fans of the Zelda franchise.

Wow this is just an amazing game i love it so much i do not remember seeing an amazing game like the legend of zelda Just a creative game at an open world level at the highest level I could really imagine gameplay I did not know and I really like to know I have been a fan for years and I just have not been such a really good game in terms of industry and good in my opinion 10 out of 10 is without a doubt really among my favorite games I've finished it three times already and it took me a full time to finish it but overall I enjoyed every moment and I think every good Zelda player dealing with Nintendo must play this game.

While most of the Zelda games have had quite a bit of world-building and exploration, they took this to a whole new level here. The world and exploration is more vast. I hope Nintendo continues with the open-world idea. I was eager to explore more of the world with this game. The world is immersive and you can cook your own food, run into people, encounter shrines, build your own house and town, and other challenges...there is a lot of things you can do in this game.

I guess I'm in the minority here, I don't understand why people dislike the Divine Beasts dungeons, I thought it was a neat concept to have you control the divine beasts while also figuring out the puzzles in the dungeon. But I think it's because I'm a sucker for puzzles. Too bad you can't go near them after you defeated the bosses. I mean, what if there's a chest in there that you may have forgot? I love most of the champions and how they give you powers after you complete each Divine Beasts.

Gameplay aside, the story was so-so and again too dramatic. The story was nearly non-existent, there is like no established story except for you have to defeat the Divine Beasts, find all the memories, and defeat Calamity Ganon. I didn't like the idea of Link waking up from a hundred-year sleep with amnesia and some of the characters such as Zelda, Impa, and Revali were annoying characters to me. Zelda is an overemotional brat who pressures herself, takes her stress out on Link and cries too much. Some people do complain about how stoic Link is in this game and it makes me wonder why Nintendo downgraded Link's expressions in this game after the last few 3D Zelda games had a more expressive Link in my opinion.

Some things didn't make sense such as the Master Sword killing you. The ending didn't make sense and it didn't seem to wrap everything up. It just ends with Zelda and Link looking up at the sky and how did Zelda survive a hundred years and hold in Ganon for this long? Wouldn't that be tiring for her?

I don't know if I should recommend this game or not, it's okay but the story seems pretty short and non-established. I do feel it's overrated. Also, Zelda and her relationship with Link was off-putting. I don't ship Zelink and not in a million years do I want them together.

I'll start by saying I'm a HUGE Zelda fan. I have literally played every Zelda game with the exception of Tears of the Kingdom (which is the sequel to this one). I have every Zelda amiibos, and Zelda books such as Hyrule Historia, Zelda Encyclopedia, etc.

Despite all of that, I am no Zelda fanboy. I am not blinded to a game's flaws simply "because it's Zelda". And this game has a plethora of flaws. I am thoroughly convinced that anyone who claims this game is the "best game ever" has not played good games outside of Nintendo consoles.

Let's start with something most people agree with: The fragility of weapons. Weapon usage and weapons breaking is nothing new in gaming. But the way BotW implements it is easily the worst. Imagine the fierce deity sword from Majora's Mask breaking after swinging it a few times. Imagine you gather the best materials to craft an epic Ancient Sword and it shatters a couple of enemies later. Yes the devs want you to use different weapons, but for god's sake this isn't how you go about doing that. Not only is it dumb as heck, it's frustrating.

Oh classic empty and pointless Hyrule. A few scattered enemies here and there, some pointless koroks hiding about and... that's about it. This version of Hyrule is among the least engaging and least interesting Hyrule across the Zelda series. But wait, you're Spiderman! You can climb mountains all day! Unless it rains... or your stamina runs out...

The uselessness in the water. You remember how Ocarina Link basically did an entire dungeon underwater? Or how Twilight Link could throw waterbomb and do all kind of cool stuff? Well this Link can't do any of that. If you're in the water, and there's an enemy in the water, consider yourself utterly useless.

Time-wasting mechanics. One of the very few perks for "exploration" in this game is finding Koroks hiding all over, all so that you increase your pack size. They're scattered everywhere and it's only purpose is for you to spend dozens of additional hours in the game looking for them. Yeah, it's as dumb as it sounds. There's even one part where someone is sleeping on a pedestal that you need to activate. And instead of Link pushing the person aside to access the pedestal, the game wants you to believe that the only way to get them out of the way is by bringing them some water from across the region. Truly facepalm-worthy.

Crappy story, terrible Zelda. Even for Nintendo standards, this story is easily bottom 3 Zelda stories period. Personally, even Zelda 1 feels like it has a better story. Because no story is better than whatever this game tries to tell you. Most of the time you see Zelda, she's either whining, crying, or complaining.

I can go on but I think I'll leave it there. Won't even go into how terrible the "dungeons" and "bosses" were, or I'd be here all day. Honestly I think a 4/10 is awfully generous for this game. It does have some neat gameplay but... that's kind of about it.

I have played a lot of games in my life but none of them left an impact on me the way BOTW did. I was never Zelda lover before so i decide to by this game randomly because of a the positive reviews it got. From the moment i started playing the game i was overwhelmed because this game doesnt hold your hand ...it sets you free to discover the kingdom as you please. You can spend hours just roaming without even accomplishing a single thing and it will feel like a few min have past becasue there is so much to discover. My 3 kids got addicted to this game by just watching me play. What a wonderful experience and im so grateful i randomly decided to buy this game. At 36 years old i fell in love with Zelda and i cannot wait for BOTW 2.

I mean this game is a masterpiece, anyone who says otherwise has probably not even completed the great platue.

Got a friend who tried the game once, then I asked how he liked it, and then he said it was boring. I asked him how far he was into the game, he said he didn't know. I asked him if he had gotten the paraglider and he didn't know what it was. And then I said he hadn't even completed the tutorial. Lmao.

Then I got another friend that I let borrow my game to try it. A week passes and I ask, how did you like it? He responded I played for 10 minutes and then didn't want to play more because he said he didn't like the graphics. Bro what?

Though I didn't really grow up playing Zelda on the NES or SNES I've come to fall in love with the series over the last couple of years, from the music to seeing some of the games, I thought what a better time to finally make the plunge and play the game than with the hotly anticipated BOTW for Nintendo Switch and Wii U. I chose the Wii U version.

Of course the story is pretty simple, Gannon is evil, now stop him and how you do that is largely up to you. The routes you take, the quests you do, the story you watch take shape through your actions or lack of actions. I've never been a big puzzle game person and BOTW will offer some puzzles ranging from tutorial to head scratching that requires some deep thought on the best way to solve. Many of these puzzles do have multiple ways to solve it.

The vast open world wastes no time getting down to business with nothing more than a pair of shorts you are thrusted and expected to figure things out. Thankfully the game is very intuitive it's not hard to pick up on what needs doing and how to do it, quickly, especially in combat. As the game progresses you continue to explore the large and vast world of Hyrule and figure more challenges and obstacles, much through trial and error.

Traveling is time consuming, you will spend a great deal of time moving from place to place. There is always something to see and do, finding a shrine to solve a puzzle or uncovering more of the map by climbing large towers. Doing the shrines is optional but will benefit you in the long run by allowing you to increase health and stamina to better handle the obstacles.

Combat while intuitive is more often a hassle than a reward. Weapons are puzzling fragile and break after so many uses. While weapons and shields plentiful, you're still limited by what you can carry, unless you want to embark on quests to expand your inventory by finding tiny little needles in the large haystack of the world. Breaking weapons is all to common as even with the best weapons you're still only doing chip damage on tough enemies and bosses.

Cheap one-shot-kills also seem oddly common, even when equipped with armor getting a single arrow in your side or a lucky swipe from an enemy you'll be dead before you hit the ground. The game can still be forgiving in this sense, when you are knocked on your knees you'll have a decent moment to get back up to defend yourself before more damage can be done. Save scumming can help prevent excessive setbacks and the auto-save system works as well as it needs.

I can't speak for the Switch but the Wii U version suffers lag and even momentary lockups at times. I know this game has been in development for a long time and I know game consoles like the Switch aren't made overnight so no doubt R&D and development had to have been working on since the early days of the game's production but the fact the issues are happening when the Wii U has been on the market for several years, this is a first-party-in-house development by Nintendo just screams amateur hour.

BOTW is a visually impressive and fun game with a few minor irritants. The frustration though does lead to more and more desire to continue and push on instead of surrendering and that is the mark of a great game.

I enjoyed the 3D games such as Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess; however, I also found them to contain flaws. Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess I found the dungeons over huge, Majora's Mask I felt was too repetitive and then Windwaker I found to have a very bland over world as it just took forever to sail to places. Skyward Sword I could not even get through because there was a really good game in there, but it was plagued by the WII's shoddy controls. This one though was just great, not perfect, but closer than any of the other 3D perspective games I have played. My other super favorite Zelda game is the one for the Super Nintendo, Link to the Past. This Zelda game is more about exploring and I enjoy doing that a lot. There are dungeons, but they are navigated easily and it doesn't take all that long to get through them and I did not need a guide to navigate them! A real treat and a great entry to the series.

The story has Link awakening from a slumber with no memories. He gets a device called a Shieka Slate that helps him navigate the world and he sets out on his quest to stop Ganon who is at it once again! Link must find shrines to increase his power, he must free the guardians to gain powers and help aid in his quest to defeat Ganon and he must help the lands become free of terror that is Ganon!

The game play is mainly exploring as you get to got where you want after you get through the first plateau and get the glider. Granted, it becomes easier getting places the more stamina you build up as this Link has amazing climbing abilities! It is fun just searching for towns, stables to spend the night and checking the map and seeing if anything looks interesting to explore. You can find this little guys called Koraks that give you seeds that help expand your inventory and you can find shrines to help you can heart containers and more stamina plus there are fairy fountains to help increase the strength of your inventory. Weapons break in this one and at times that was a bit annoying, but not as bad once you get the master sword. I also wish Nintendo had a trophy system because it would have added more motivation to complete quests, as you do not get all that much for completing most quests, usually just rupees which are kind of plentiful in this one.

So, definitely my favorite of the 3D perspective Zelda games and perhaps my fave period. I loved the exploring aspect of the game, though I did not really take advantage of the horse riding in this one. I was afraid I would miss too much riding the horses. It is fun finding new places in this one, as I said I would open the map and try to figure out an interesting place to go during my quest. Where a shrine might be hidden or a Korak may be hiding. I liked freeing the guardians and gaining powers that would help me survive longer or explore more fully too. Just an incredible game, I like this format and hope they do a variation of it for another Zelda, but perhaps add a few more typical dungeons to change it up.

There is no game in the universe that is better than Breath of the Wild no game has gotten even close to being as good as Breath of the Wild and this game is the best game of all time!

This Games Is Awesome And The Cool Adventure Games

I have played every Zelda game and with the exception of Skyward Sword, which I think is garbage, I never thought any of them were spectacular but certainly great. This is the first Zelda game that I am actually comfortable calling a masterpiece.

The art style is beautiful. The story is powerful. The characters are interesting. The voice acting is fantastic. The music ranges from soothing to intense. There's so much to do! It's never boring. It's also really funny.

Nintendo has absolutely outdone itself in every way. This is my fifth favorite game of all time. And in a couple years from now people will consider this game a classic.

This game is everything I wanted with an video game. The exploration, the lore and gameplay is just well done. It hade been a long time since I first played it and I recently picked it up again and is still just as amazed as the first time.

Well it's been a while since I've done a video game review, hasn't it? That's partly because this is how long it took me to beat this beast of a game, so if what you want is something to get absolutely lost in for a good long while, this is a wholehearted recommendation just for that alone. I did everything that I thought might have an impact on this review (i.e getting all those damn Korok seeds was just not happening), but I did all the main quests, shrines, and side quests, and didn't obsess over anything else.

And I should mention here that this is my first Zelda game, so if there's anything here that upset die hard fans, I can't really comment on that.

But as someone who has played his share of open world games, I can tell you that this is one of the best worlds I've ever had the joy of experiencing. This is mostly because it fulfills the promise many open world games make and then don't keep of "go anywhere, do anything". Once you can leave the tutorial area, pretty much anything is open to you. You're not likely to run into enemies you're not supposed to fight yet and get creamed because of the lack of a leveling system, nearly anywhere can be accessed even with your limited stamina if you're persistent enough, and areas with hostile environments can be easily prepared for with foods that have heat or cold resistance that are found pretty soon after the tutorial area.

Even with those rare areas that are more difficult to survive in, if you're like me and absolutely have to fill in the map as soon as possible, places like the burning hot Death Mountain and my idiotic run to the main town to find a shrine to fast travel back to without any fireproof elixirs prove that it feels more like a little extra challenge than something that was designed to be impossible at that point.

And while we're talking about freedom, I can't go any longer without mentioning how much I love that Nintendo clearly looked at Skyrim and all the memes about walking and awkwardly jumping over mountains you're not supposed to be able to get over, and decided to make scaling mountains much easier by letting you climb up almost anything, no matter how steep it is, much more fun, and even involve a little bit of skill being required in how well you can judge how far your current amount of stamina will allow you to climb before you run out and fall. And then they let themselves go crazy with how much verticality they put into the world, and it's not annoying in the slightest.

And there's so many interesting sights and things to do, and the game looks and sounds so damn gorgeous overall that not once was I ever bored just seeing the sights and looking for shrines.

So what do you do when not exploring? Well, the main quest involves you reactivating the four "Divine Beasts", ancient creations corrupted into doing the bidding of Ganon, and the quests associated with them all are fun and you meet some quirky and funny characters along the way. Then the Divine Beasts themselves are intricate puzzle rooms, kind of an extension of the shrines, and they're really fun as well.

Speaking of the main quest, I should mention that the story of this game is a bit more developed than I was expecting from a Nintendo game, even though it is mostly told in flashbacks from 100 years before the start of the game. It does a good job of having interesting and likable characters, especially Zelda herself, who is plagued by self-doubt issues and is generally way more well rounded than I was expecting. It's not really a focus though, so don't expect too much of an epic narrative or anything.

You can find Koroks bloody everywhere, little tree people that give you an item you can use to upgrade your inventory capacity once you solve a simple puzzle or challenge to find them, and while most of them aren't challenging at all, they're adorable as all hell and fun to find, but the other thing you'll spend most of your time doing is looking for shrines, little puzzle dungeons that give you a Spirit Orb once you complete them. Get four of these, and you can choose to have an extra heart, or more stamina. This is the main way you get more powerful in lieu of a leveling system, and the genius way this game adapts to that is that generally speaking, you don't encounter tougher enemies or get better weapons until you've completed enough of these shrines.

And another thing you'll spend a while doing that is surprisingly not tedious at all is scavenging for materials, and then cooking with them, turning them into meals or elixirs with effects ranging from flat healing bonuses, to temporary damage or defense buffs, speed boosts, temperature resistance, the list goes on, and far from being boring, actually makes the world much more enjoyable by encouraging you to find all sorts of crazy foods and monster parts to see what combinations you can come up with, and there's a lot of them.

And the soundtrack is bloody beautiful, most areas have a unique theme that has that pleasant ear-wormy and comforting feel whenever you warp back to it, and they all just make you feel so welcomed. Even if you're in the aforementioned lava town.

BUT.

Is the game a masterpiece? Game of the decade? The best Switch game to date? No. No, no, and...well I hope not, but at present it's the only one I've played so I can't say.

I have no real problems with the story or how it's structured (except maybe the old man telling you a bit too much too fast early in the game), and I have even less with the presentation (even if Zelda's voice actor is so obviously an American actress doing one of those awful "posh and royal" accents that just sounds like mocking posh English people). No, nearly all of my problems are with the gameplay, and while most of them are minor, there are quite a lot of them.

But first, you might be surprised to hear that one of the more common complaints; that the weapons are far too easily broken, is actually not something I had an issue with. Granted, this could have something to do with the extremely limited moveset they all have, but you'll quickly learn that if you really liked it, you can find an identical copy of that weapon somewhere, and it'll likely be easier than you think to do so. And hopefully you'll also learn to use your rubbish weapons against weaker enemies, something that I can't help but feel the people who don't like this system picked up on for a while.

So what don't I like? Well...how about we start with combat, since I haven't mentioned that yet.

The combat is satisfying enough, and there are a number of creative ways you can exploit the environment, your magic powers, or even the weather to makes fights easier, but when it comes down to actually smacking enemies about, you hit them until they fly away, then move on to another enemy. In short, it's a bit too simple to be really something great. While you do this, you're also dealing with a godawful lock on camera that doesn't let you change its target, a system that in theory gives you a few free hits if you dodge an attack at the perfect time, but in practice is completely broken and activates whenever the hell it wants to, and a difficulty scaling system that makes the game far too easy by the end. There's also no limit to how many ingredients for meals you can carry, so you'll never find yourself running out of healing items. And added to that, the enemy variety is a little low.

Some of the shrines are ridiculously easy to the point of being an insult to your intelligence, and occasionally the game likes to give you a combat challenge instead...which is the same damn thing every time. Just fight a robot and you're done. The only difference is usually how much of your time the robot decides to waste depending on its health bar.

And what about those awful side quests, huh? While some of the quest givers are charming, nearly every single quest goes no further than "go get thing for me". You go get the thing, and it's over. There is one single side quest I'll remember from this game, and even it is plagued by excessive grinding for materials.

Those are my big issues, but there's also so many little ones that are just annoying enough to make the game a bit of a drag when they pop up.

Every so often, it'll start to rain. It looks cool, but what's not cool is that when it rains, climbing - while it's still possible - takes up so much more stamina, in a way that isn't fun or challenging, it just encourages you to give up and go somewhere else, feeling extremely bummed out. And sometimes the game will decide to be even more of a prat and start raining when you're already halfway up a mountain, at which point you are screwed.

Considering how often you fast travel, horses are virtually useless because you can't take them with you, and you have to go to a stable to get any you have tamed.

The motion controls in a small handful of the shrines are nothing short of ghastly, and even though they're only in five of them at most, trying to get the damn things to just tilt a little bit more by twisting my Switch Lite around enough to dislocate my wrists was one of the most unpleasant experiences I've had with a game in ages - maybe more than The Last Guardian.

I could go on with a whingey list of nitpicks, but this review is far too long already and I think you get the point. I had a lot of fun with this game and it's one of the most enjoyable open world experiences I've ever had...for the open world. Most other things have a laundry list of nitpicks that make me think that too often is the game restrictive and shallow rather than the masterpiece it could have been.

This is still a recommendation though, if you like open world games then you owe it to yourself to play this.

And, honestly, if you do...why the hell haven't you played it already? Go do it! Like, now! I'll shut up and let you do that now.

This is the worst gaming experience i've had since Fortnite. The storyline is weak af and world is empty. The only thing that was good about the game was finishing it because it was that bad. Nintendo needs to make good games like Agar.io or they will be cancelled.