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The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

aka: Hyrule Wars: From The Legend of Zelda, The Legend of Zelda: Invasion, Zelda no Densetsu: Breath of the Wild
Moby ID: 84595
Wii U Specs
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Official Description (Ad Blurb)

Step into a world of adventure

Forget everything you know about The Legend of Zelda games. Step into a world of discovery, exploration, and adventure in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, a boundary-breaking new game in the acclaimed series. Travel across vast fields, through forests, and to mountain peaks as you discover what has become of the kingdom of Hyrule In this stunning Open-Air Adventure. Now on Nintendo Switch, your journey is freer and more open than ever. Take your system anywhere, and adventure as Link any way you like.

Features:

  • Explore the wilds of Hyrule any way you like—anytime, anywhere!
  • Climb up towers and mountain peaks in search of new destinations, then set your own path to get there and plunge into the wilderness. Along the way, you'll battle towering enemies, hunt wild beasts and gather ingredients for the food and elixirs you'll make to sustain you on your journey. With Nintendo Switch, you can literally take your journey anywhere.
  • More than 100 Shrines of Trials to discover and explore - Shrines dot the landscape, waiting to be discovered in any order you want. Search for them in various ways, and solve a variety of puzzles inside. The tasks you must perform in each Shrine varies, and you'll never expect the challenges you'll face until you enter. Some will involve realistic physics, and some will require you to harness the power of nature, including electricity, wind, fire, and more. Work your way through the traps and devices inside, utilizing your runes and think outside the box to earn special items and other rewards that will help you on your adventure.
  • Be prepared and properly equipped – With an entire world waiting to be explored, you'll need a variety of outfits and gear to reach every corner. You may need to bundle up with warmer clothes or change into something better suited to the desert heat. Some clothing even has special effects that, for example, can make you faster or stealthier.
  • Battling enemies requires strategy – The world is inhabited with enemies of all shapes and sizes. Each one has its own attack method and weaponry, so you must think quickly and develop the right strategies to defeat them.
  • amiibo compatibility – The Wolf Link amiibo from Twilight Princess HD, the Zelda 30th Anniversary series amiibo, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild series amiibo are all compatible with this game. Tap the Wolf Link amiibo (sold separately) to make Wolf Link appear in the game. Wolf Link will attack enemies on his own and help you find items you’re searching for. Tap a Zelda 30th Anniversary series amiibo to receive helpful in-game items or even a treasure chest!

Source: Nintendo.com Description

Spellings

  • ゼルダの伝説 ブレス オブ ザ ワイルド - Japanese spelling
  • 젤다의 전설 브레스 오브 더 와일드 - Korean spelling

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Credits (Wii U version)

946 People (914 developers, 32 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 95% (based on 88 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 86 ratings with 6 reviews)

Very nice Zelda game

The Good
The open world. I have spent more than 100 hours on this game easily

The Bad
the graphics not next gen

The Bottom Line
The best zelda game for the nintendo switch platform.

Nintendo Switch · by adamo · 2023

Biggest Disappointment in the Franchise

The Good
-

  • Innovative gameplay mechanics that encourage exploration, experimentation, and creativity.
  • Excellent use of the Nintendo Switch's hardware capabilities, with smooth performance and stunning visuals.

    The Bad
  • The open-world design may be overwhelming and lack focus for some players, leading to aimless wandering and frustration.
  • Its reliance on physics-based puzzles may make it feel more like a physics simulation than a traditional Zelda game.
  • Occasionally frustrating difficulty spikes, particularly in the later stages of the game.
  • Limited voice acting and dialogue options may leave some players feeling disconnected from the story.
  • Repetitive side quests and shrine puzzles felt like filler content.
  • Limited enemy variety. Some types felt overused or uninspired.
  • Lack of traditional dungeons led to some serious disappointment.
  • The game's story is relatively sparse and may leave some players wanting more context or exposition.
  • Inventory management was quickly tedious and overwhelming.
  • The game's durability mechanic can be frustrating, as weapons and tools break frequently and must be replaced.
  • Its reliance on physics-based puzzles may make it feel more like a physics simulation than a traditional Zelda game.
  • The game's cooking system can be tedious and time-consuming, requiring players to constantly gather ingredients and experiment with recipes.
  • The minimalist approach to its design & storytelling may be refreshing for some players, but others may find it underwhelming or unsatisfying.

    The Bottom Line
    The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a deeply flawed game that falls far short of its potential. While its open-world design and physics-based mechanics may be innovative, they ultimately feel like gimmicks that add little to the overall experience. The lack of traditional dungeons, underwhelming storytelling, and tedious gameplay systems make it a chore to play rather than an enjoyable adventure. The game's frustrating difficulty spikes, lack of enemy variety, and overwhelming inventory management only add to the frustration. In short, Breath of the Wild is a disappointing entry in the Zelda series that fails to capture the magic and charm of its predecessors.

Nintendo Switch · by WONDERなパン (16461) · 2023

Always come back to it

The Good
The game it's the epitome of polish. From the landscape design to the little tibbids of story it has. It really shows how Nintendo cares about Zelda and offer the best single player game that comes through this franchise. It's strange how some gameplay elements thart can be seem as flawed work very well in this Hyrule version. And, yes, I'm speaking about stamina and weapon degradation. If you think about it, Zelda has never been a role-playing game; having to craft weapons or look into resources to repair them won't make sense on an action-adventure game like this. Also, open world gameplay should have its limits and I think that stamina cost is fairer in Breath of the Wild than others. So, for the haters, it's really a question of liking open world games or not.

The Bad
The game is incredibly frustrating sometimes, though. There are a lot of annoyances that hamper exploration like weather, night spamming monsters, scarcity of some cooking ingredients and distances between warp points. Also combat mechanics are very simple and some abbilities like using the gadgets or parrying seem like a waste of time because carrying some heavy weapons look like a better way to end fights quickly. A good combo system is severely missed here. And last, dungeons... For a Zelda game you expect about 7/8 of them and more larger and profound than they are in Breath of the Wild. It needs a lot of mental effort to not think about the quantity of opportunities lost in this matter.

The Bottom Line
So, my review should be about 2 stars of 5. But, I don't know why, I spent about 300 hours on this game and, from time to time, I missed it and start playing again just for the sake of seeing how beautifully crafted Hyrule is... Maybe is one of those pieces of art which parts come together better than separated.

Nintendo Switch · by JoseMR · 2023

[ View all 6 player reviews ]

Trivia

Tribute

The game pays tribute to late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata through the character Botrick, who bears a striking resemblance to Iwata. Botrick tells Link about the Satori Mountain, with "Satori" being derived from Iwata's first name Satoru. At top of the mountain is a mystical horse called the Lord of the Mountain, whose Hyrule Compendium entry reads:

"This noble creature watches over all animals that make their homes in the forest. Legends say this holy creature is a reincarnation of a sage that died on the land it now protects. It has an acute awareness of its surroundings, so it seldom appears before people. It's also known by its other name, Satori."

Delay

The game was originally announced for a Wii U release in 2015, but was later delayed to a 2016 release as developers felt the game would not be finished for a 2015 release. Early in 2016 it was announced that the game was going to be delayed again to 2017, where it was finally released on not only the Wii U but also Nintendo's new console, the Switch.

Guardian Music

The music that plays during Guardian battles is monotonous due to the length of the battles, with most weaker players being defeated quickly and most stronger players being able to destroy them quickly. Unusually, 1 minute and 13 seconds into the music, the rhythm briefly changes to a slightly more upbeat tune before changing back; Nintendo likely implemented this to ensure the music doesn't sound monotonous in the event that a player somehow manages to drag out a Guardian battle for a very long time, but it means that most players will never hear this tune.

The End of an Era

The game was the final Nintendo game to be released on the Wii U.

Awards

  • The Dragon Awards
    • 2017 – Best Science Fiction or Fantasy PC / Console Game – Won
  • The Game Awards
    • 2017 – Game of the Year – Won
    • 2017 – Best Game Direction – Won
    • 2017 – Best Art Direction – Nominated
    • 2017 – Best Score / Music – Nominated
    • 2017 – Best Audio Design – Nominated
    • 2017 – Best Action/Adventure Game – Won

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Harmony♡.

Additional contributors: Havoc Crow, Rik Hideto, firefang9212, Deleted, Shiho Takamori.

Game added March 3, 2017. Last modified March 26, 2024.