It’s been almost a month since E3, but the familiar buzz amongst the gaming community is still present.
One game from this year’s event in particular stands out for many a Nintendo fan, and that is of course, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
What Breath of the Wild brings to the table is unlike any Nintendo game we have ever seen. It has so many classic Western RPG elements, some of which the Zelda series has been lacking recently. I mean Link can jump! Revolutionary!
Breath of the Wild is breaking almost every Zelda convention. You no longer have to thrash clumps of grass with your sword to find hearts. Instead, you must forage for ingredients that you can cook in order to regain health. If you shoot a fish with a fire arrow, it instantly cooks. Pretty neat, right?
Although we saw shield durability in Skyward Sword, Breath of the Wild is taking item durability to a new level. Every weapon you pick up will eventually break, meaning you’re going to have to be pretty tactical when facing a strong boss. The chances are a “Bokoblin’s Spear” isn’t going to get you very far. There is though a lot of discussion about what role the “Master Sword” will play. Will it be the game’s only unbreakable weapon? Or perhaps it will just have a more significant tolerance and can regularly be repaired.
Another point that must be discussed is the game’s world. At E3 we only got to see the very first area in the game, “The Great Plateau”. By the looks of things, this area is absolutely huge, and Eiji Aonuma explained that this is only a tiny fraction of the map. If you were thinking the world might have looked a little empty then fear not! Aonuma stated that they had removed NPCs from the demo as they wanted to keep some surprises for the full game. He also promised that there would be plenty of towns and villages for gamers to explore in the full game.
The world is more interactive than ever before and you can set fire to basically everything. Starting fires is definitely going to be the new pot smashing or grass-cutting. You can also use the environment to your advantage to sneak up on enemies and defeat them without having to throw yourself into the middle of a battle. For example, at E3 we were shown that you could roll a boulder down a hill onto a Bokoblin camp.
Interacting with these elements doesn’t necessarily mean that they will automatically fall in your favour. You have to carefully and intricately plan out where you will move these items. You can create a bridge by cutting down a tree and cause it to fall across a gap in the ground, but make sure you chop at the right point so it falls exactly where you want it. Many players complained that there was far too much handholding in previous Zelda titles. This included rather obvious landmarks and prompts. Breath of the Wild will allow players to discover more for themselves with freedom to explore and figure out the game.
I honestly cannot wait for this game to be released. For once, Nintendo has listened to exactly what fans have asked for and given the series the overhaul it so desperately needed. Hopefully this means more players will be introduced into the series as well as the game still exciting its loyal fan base.
Thank you so much Nintendo.
Feature photo credit: telegraph.co.uk
