5/5 ★ – Jack_Outside_The_Box's review of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

What can I say about this video game that hasn't already been said? For the past five years I've had Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in my backlog, slowly but patiently biding it's time for me to pick it back up. I remember initially playing it back in 2017 and getting relatively far in it but for some reason or other I got caught up with other games and stopped playing. This wasn't an indication of the game's quality in any sense as I remember really enjoying my time during that initial playthrough and in retrospect after giving the game the much needed time it deserves for this second playthrough, I realise what a fool I've been to sleep on one of the best video games ever made for so long. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the nineteenth instalment in the Legend of Zelda franchise which started out in 1986. Over the decades many games have been released which have each seen a new vision and focus serve at the core of each title. In 1998 the industry saw what the franchise was truly capable of with Ocarina of Time which to this day stands as one of the highest rated games of all time. In 2002 we saw Link and Zelda enter a cell-shaded world in the form of Wind Waker which showed the franchise had the ability to renew itself and try something different. Then followed Twilight Princess in 2006 and Skyward Sword in 2011 respectively. These titles saw the franchise enter the modern age with mature storytelling and visuals and a refined control system to boot. The history of Zelda has always been one of innovation and renewal and those core concepts are the foundation of what Breath of the Wild displays with almost perfect confidence. Breath of the Wild hasn't only revitalised the Zelda franchise, but I'd argue it's revitalised the open world genre and the gaming industry as a whole; it's that important a title in my opinion. The story behind Breath of the Wild is delivered in such a smart and immersive fashion. You play Link, a warrior who has slept in hibernation for the past 100 years after a great calamity ravaged the kingdom of Hyrule. You awake with no memories of what came before and through natural exploration and progression you soon learn that you were awoken by Princess Zelda who is trapped in Hyrule Castle by Calamity Ganon. It is up to you to travel the region and cleanse the great machines known as Divine Beasts so you may use their powers to help defeat Calamity Ganon and cleanse it's corruption from the land once and for all. I appreciate that brief explanation sounds like a lot to soak up but what I really enjoyed about the narrative is it's told to you in your own pace. You're never forced to go through specific story missions in order to progress, hell you can go fight Calamity Ganon straight away and beat the game in a relatively quick time if you so wish. The idea that Link lost his memories helps to immerse yourself with Link because like him, you have no idea of the history behind the great Calamity and what your relationship with Zelda or the champions were; so it helps to give you a great foundation to start off from and immerse yourself into as you progress. I also like the non-conventional format of storytelling used here, like I said you're never forced to endure the story and the way the game paints a picture of the storyline through the environment and memory flashbacks is a great way to lead the mystery for players to follow. The narrative isn't the main selling point of the game however, there's a reason I said this game revitalised the open world genre. What Eiji Aonuma and his internal team at Nintendo accomplished here is nothing short of revolutionary. They sought to redefine the conventions of Zelda in this title and in doing so they refined the conventions of an entire genre. The open world you are placed in is one of pure beauty, divided into several unmapped regions it's your job as Link to explore the wilderness of these environments and seek out what secrets and mysteries they hold. This in the plainest terms is the primary focus of this game, hence the name Breath of the Wild, you are exploring the regions in all their varied glory. I am amazed at how innovative the development team were in approaching this. The open world genre is often weighed down due to oversaturated maps with too many markers and not enough justification to explore the world at your own pace. Breath of the Wild defeats these issues by reverting them in fact. The only markers on the map are ones YOU put there. There are towers to climb akin to Far Cry but they don't show you areas to explore but simply reveal the region on your map; from there you have to actually explore this world and mark things down as you progress in order to populate the map at your own fancy. That to me is a brave and interesting move to take, as it actively encourages the player to go out there and explore as apposed to just following pre-defined points the dev team already set up for you. They want you to explore this world and so its giving you all the tools to traverse it at your leisure. The environmental design and the places to go in this world are so varied and distinct too. I honestly remember wanting to explore every nook and cranny of the map just to take pictures and find more secrets. It's a testament to brilliant game design too that they remove nearly all restrictions in traversal. You see any surface and Link will be able to climb it. You see a area of interest in the distance, you can jump and paraglide down to it. You see an incline, get your shield out and surf down that bad boy. Freedom is the heart of what you do in this game, it's layered into the story, it's layered into the environment and even the combat. You are truly free to do whatever you want with very little restriction and it's been so long since a game has made me feel like this. In terms of combat you are given many options also in how to fight the numerous monsters and foes that plague the land. The idea behind combat is pivoted around parrying or dodging then striking. Each enemy has their own style of combat too, so you need to consider what weapons you're using and whether the gear you have equipped is going to help you or detriment you. This is another instance of just how smart and innovative the game is. You go up against enemies on the fiery peaks of Death Mountain, you better make sure you have fire resistant gear and weapons otherwise they will burn to ashes before you can even strike your foe. Same for in lighting storms, metal bows, shields or swords will be no use because you will just stand as a lighting rod for each strike to attack you. So the games environment is not only there to benefit you, but to also challenge you in combat as much as exploration too. Initially I wasn't too fond of the fact weapons break over time but with enough exposure I learned that the game is trying to encourage you to try new things and in making your inventory not ever-lasting it makes you more willing to experiment and play smart with how to approach situations. My time with Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has been nothing short of perfect. I've lost so many hours of my days just exploring the wilderness, unlocking shrines and opening chests and it's honestly given me this really cathartic feeling of joy and wonder I hadn't had playing video games since I was a kid and that makes complete sense when you realise it was Nintendo behind it. As time goes by and we get older and more mature, Nintendo is constantly reminding us that it's never lost a beat and is always there to give us games that will constantly redefine the industry and set the benchmarks for all other games to come.