The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the nineteenth main installment of The Legend of Zelda series. It was released simultaneously worldwide for the Wii U and Nintendo Switch on March 3, 2017

Story

Link awakens from a deep sleep and a mysterious voiceguides him to discover what has become of the ruined Kingdom of Hyrule.^[3] Link meets an Old Man, who turns out to be the spirit of the deceased King of Hyrule. Link learns from the King that 100 years prior, a great evil known as the Calamity Ganon rose up and laid waste to the kingdom and its people.^[4] Unable to be defeated, it was sealed within Hyrule Castle, while the ruins of the land were ravaged by nature over time. Although trapped, the Calamity Ganon has grown in power, and Link must defeat it before it breaks free once more and destroys the world.

After escaping the confines of the Great Plateau, Link is encouraged to meet the wise Sheikah elder Impa and learn about the Guardians and Divine Beasts: 10,000 years prior these machines were created and successfully used by another Hero and another Princess to defeat the Calamity. But throughout the ages, knowledge about the ancient technology was lost until excavations in Hyrule brought them to light once more, coinciding with the expected return of Ganon a hundred years ago. The Guardians were reactivated and four Champions were chosen to control the Divine Beasts: The Zora princess Mipha, the Goron warrior Daruk, the Gerudo chief Urbosa, and the Rito archer Revali. All the while, Zelda was unsuccessfully trying to gain access to her own prophesied powers, accompanied on her quests by her knight, the Hylian Champion Link. When the Calamity Ganon ultimately attacked, it devastated the Kingdom of Hyrule by taking control of the ancient machines and turning them against the Hyruleans. As a last resort, Zelda was able to place the gravely wounded Link in the Shrine of Resurrection and use her awoken sealing powers to trap herself with Ganon in Hyrule Castle.

As Link sets off on his quest to defeat Ganon, he is asked to investigate the fate of the Divine Beasts and their former Champions. His ultimate goal, however, remains to reach the Calamity and free the trapped Zelda before the whole world is laid to waste. But with the entire Kingdom of Hyrule before him to explore, it is up to Link himself to decide how he wishes to fulfill his foretold role as the Hylian Champion. 

Open World

Breath of the Wild features a vast open world for Link to explore. Most of Hyrule's scenery is accessible by walking, paragliding or climbing. While the game still includes barriers (such as weather effects, inhospitable environments or strong enemies), many of these can be overcome by using Food, effective weapons and armor or finding alternate routes. The world also includes an elaborate physics system which allows for creative interactions (e.g., cutting down a tree and using its trunk as a raft on a river, or setting grass ablaze and spreading the fire with wind gusts).

Unlike many previous Zelda games, Breath of the World does not enforce a specific order in which quests or dungeons have to be solved, with the exception of completing the starting tasks on the Great Plateau. It is possible to challenge Ganon right after leaving the starting area, though the game does encourage exploration in order to solve Ancient Shrines (and thus gaining additional Hearts or Stamina), find useful and powerful equipment, and defeat the game's own version of dungeons, the Divine Beasts. Additionally, many of the game's puzzles can also be solved in various different ways, often rewarding Link for creative solutions.

Controls

Link's controls in Breath of the Wild are reminiscent of previous 3D Zelda games. However, the game is the first to require manual jumps as opposed to auto-jumping over small gaps which was introduced with Ocarina of Time and a long-time staple of The Legend of Zelda series.

Cooking

A new feature introduced with Breath of the Wild is Cooking, which enables the creation of Food that recovers Hearts and bestows various effects on Link. Meals are cooked by broiling up to five edible Materials at cooking pots, such as meat, berries, fruits or herbs. Elixirs can be mixed by including monster parts in various recipes. Depending on chosen ingredients, Link's health will be replenished and/or he will receive effects such as Elemental Resistance, additional Stamina or Hearts, or buffs to his Defense or Attack.

Equipment & Durability

Link can equip a huge variety of different weapons and armor in Breath of the Wild, allowing for adaptation to the ever-changing environment of Hyrule and tactics used by different enemies. Notably, almost all weapons found in the game will break after a certain amount of hits. This new Durability system often forces Link to use weapons gained from enemies, even weak ones, instead of just wielding the best sword available in the game. An indication of a weapon that haven't been damaged is indicated by a sparkle on the top-right corner of the icon.

Rune Abilities

Completing the initial four Ancient Shrines on the Great Plateau bestows Link with four Rune abilities: Magnesis, Stasis, Cryonis and Remote Bombs. These abilities allow Link to manipulate the environment by lifting magnetic objects, freezing objects (and later enemies) in time, creating blocks of ice on water surfaces, and summoning bombs. Together with climbing and paragliding, these abilities are used throughout the rest of the game and (for the very most part) sufficient to solve puzzles and access most of Hyrule. As a consequence, the game does not feature traditional dungeon items that grant abilities to Link.