To aid your search, Link has a tablet (called a "Sheikah Slate") that can act as a map. You can then register them at a stable, where you'll be able to board and retrieve them, give them a haircut or switch saddles.įrom the moment you receive your first quest, it's clear that something's different here: You're not given waypoints. To catch one, you need to sneak up on it from behind, or above. Horses are common throughout most of Hyrule. Because of this lack of linearity, finally cracking a puzzle brings a sense of accomplishment that's been missing from almost every Zelda game in recent memory.Īaron Souppouris / Nintendo Into the wild It's up to you to work out which tool works in which situation. Rather than hand you specific items at the right time and tell you what to do with them, as past Zelda titles did, Breath of the Wild dumps a lot of skills on your lap at the start of the game. They're useful in combat, and essential to beating the other Shrines (there are 120, and completing them gives you additional life and stamina) and the more complex challenges that lie ahead. These come in the form of Runes, and the important ones let you set bombs, manipulate metal objects, turn water into ice or temporarily freeze an object in time. The first Shrines you come across are very simple, serving more as a conduit to grant you a set of powers that you'll use throughout your quest. He sends you on a mission to find Shrines - essentially single-room puzzles littered throughout the world - promising you a glider in return, and with it a safe way off the plateau. You very quickly meet an old man who recalls the first NPC Link ever met, in the original NES classic. Link begins his adventure on a plateau - a kind of tutorial area, but without the tutorial. The world of Breath of the Wild is enormous. Sure, there's a lot of talk of destiny and heroics, but when on the main quest, I felt a sense of purpose, a notion that I wasn't striding down a well-trodden road, but finding my way on a Tolkienesque journey. The narrative is structured around him, and the journey it sends you on feels natural and logical. He begins as a silent soul, almost devoid of life, but through the course of the game he uncovers facts about his past that build him out as a character. And those tropes that do remain have been disguised and evolved, leaving a game that feels fresher than I'd ever imagined a 31-year-old franchise could. While there's still a lot of that DNA in this game, the development team has thrown out some old ideas completely. You must, of course, save the kingdom and its Princess Zelda, so you travel to a number of dungeons, each holding a key item that will aid you on your quest, and defeat the bosses within, before facing off against the big bad. Then you discover that a mysterious antagonist is messing up the fictional land of Hyrule. The Zelda series has long followed a simple pattern: You awaken as Link, the silent protagonist, and find a sword and shield. Devindra Hardawar gives his own take on the game. In Breath of the Wild, I had heart-stopping, adrenaline-filled moments, I solved complex puzzles, but through it all, I walked my own path. When I needed to solve a puzzle, the game began pointing, beckoning me to do what the developers wanted me to do. When I jumped to evade an avalanche, Lara landed exactly where the game's developers wanted her to. After playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, though, they felt lifeless and stale.įrom Tomb Raider to Uncharted, the modern adventure game is a tightly choreographed charade, a 20-hour quick time event (QTE) with a clearly defined path. A year ago, I enjoyed those opening moments immensely. I then headed into a tomb, worked through a few puzzles, and triggered a high-octane escape sequence. In it, I scaled a mountain, leaping from platform to platform while the environment around me crumbled. I replayed the first 30 minutes of Rise of the Tomb Raider the other day.
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