The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

 Switch
User Score
8.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 20981 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17,830 out of 20981
  2. Mixed: 1,176 out of 20981
  3. Negative: 1,975 out of 20981
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  1. Delmale
    Mar 13, 2017
    3
    A lot of what needs to be said has already been said but wanted to reinforce some of the faults (mainly so that we don't see a game like this again in Zelda series).

    Pros: • Combat, for those that enjoy twitchy dodge and parry soulsborne mechanics (like me) you can basically dominate this game and it feels very rewarding. • Graphics are beautiful. Normally don't like this sort of art    A lot of what needs to be said has already been said but wanted to reinforce some of the faults (mainly so that we don't see a game like this again in Zelda series).

    Pros:
    • Combat, for those that enjoy twitchy dodge and parry soulsborne mechanics (like me) you can basically dominate this game and it feels very rewarding.
    • Graphics are beautiful. Normally don't like this sort of art style but its very suiting to the game.
    • Exploration. You can climb/traverse practically anything in the game. Perilous path on your way to that tower? Stock up on stam pots and climb the mountain up instead.

    Cons:
    • Story and characters feel very shallow. Main story characters are very underdeveloped which leaves you wanting for more. How can you expect players to like any of the characters when you give them only 10 lines.
    • Music is very underwhelming for a Zelda game
    • Waiting times are ridiculous. Upgrading a piece of armor? watch cutscene. Discover shrine? Cutscene. Cooking food? cutscene. Korok seed? Cutscene. Wouldn't be complaining except you have to do it so many times it gets obnoxious.
    • Everything just seem so repetitive. The 4 main dungeons are basically giant puzzles. The bosses are practically the same, shoot the eye, get in for damage, repeat with 1 or 2 minor new gimmicks. The champion stories are practically identical, there's an king and an underling, somehow related to the champions of old. It just seems lazy. Majority of side quests are your run of the mill "fetch my sister a baked apple" or help us kill these boars. Monsters are basically copy pasta with new skins.
    • Performance. Not that we didn't already expect this given the specs on both the Switch and Wii U. It's frequent enough to actually ruin immersion (straight up freezes at certain parts).    … Expand
  2. Algoros
    Mar 3, 2017
    0
    Everywhere new things to discover, amazing story and "wunderschöne" graphic
    thx nintendo
    This can be the best game ever if the DLC are the last 2 Prozent
  3. QueenBrahne
    Apr 16, 2017
    3
    Combat: Shallower than other 3D Zeldas like Twilight Princess which introduced some fancier attacks, or Skyward Sword that let you have full 1:1 control of the sword. This plays like a dumbed down version of Dark Souls. Very few combo or attack strings per weapon, very little enemy variety, mostly recolors. All the weapons breaking is a pain in the ass and means you constantly have toCombat: Shallower than other 3D Zeldas like Twilight Princess which introduced some fancier attacks, or Skyward Sword that let you have full 1:1 control of the sword. This plays like a dumbed down version of Dark Souls. Very few combo or attack strings per weapon, very little enemy variety, mostly recolors. All the weapons breaking is a pain in the ass and means you constantly have to switch weapons, as all loot in the game is rewarded for side quests you're essentially doing these quests only to get consumable items that make no long term impact on the game.

    Story: Non-existent, you get cutscenes of Zelda giving expository dialogue and everything else is indirect and/or unexplained because it's too deep for you I guess. The Zelda game could not boast to have the best of storylines, but they at least tried, this game is well below the mark for the series. It's very disappointing how they handled Ganon in this game. The ancient evil has awakened! For what is meant to be a "modernizing" game in the series, they reduce the story back to the basic level it was in Zelda 1.

    World: It's very big yes, but in terms of what there is to do, this game has essentially 3 or 4 dungeons depending on how you count them, compared to 7-8 at bare minimum for all the other 3D Zelda games. Besides these disappointing dungeons, the game spams shrines. Shrines are very very short versions of a dungeon that all look the same but have different physics puzzles where you throw balls into cups or make balls go around a bend or maze suspended in the air. You also can go open world "seed" side quests where you have to run up a hill really fast, throw boulders/balls into cups in the ground/ocean, the kind of thing you'd do in Assassin's Creed.

    Music: Indefensibly bad compared to previous 3D Zeldas. There is mostly no music for the majority of the game, and what music there is just isn't very good. While not as bad as the New LA theme in Xenoblade X, this is not outright bad music, it's not going to be anything that people listen to for years like the themes from previous Zelda games. I can't say it's too surprising given the general design of the game when there's very little to really get inspiration from for a theme, there's barely any character or boss themes.

    Of special note is the terrible voice acting in this game that may as well fall under the music banner. The voice acting is horrendously bad and this is the first time they have tried to do voice acting in a Zelda game. Zelda herself sounds like a stereotypical British woman and her delivery is extremely wooden. Most characters/NPCs still don't talk anyway, and a Zelda game with random, bad voice acting frankly breaks the immersion, if everything else not feeling like Zelda didn't do that already.

    Graphics: It looks nice but does it really compare to other recent open world games that it is obviously heavily inspired by? Compare it to FFXV or MGS5, two other recent Japanese attempts at doing an open world Elder Scrolls type game, they look much better. This may be because Nintendo is working on Wii U development at the same time and the Switch hardware is new, but do not expect to be blown away by the graphics in this game. The art style is different but can't help but feel it looks a lot more bloom-y and oversaturated than even Skyward Sword, I have a personal preference for the N64/TP's art style but this style honestly doesn't even do the style as many favors as Wind Waker or Skyward Sword. The frame rate drops constantly to the point of being unplayable.

    In conclusion I am not a hater of this game and I do not care about whatever console wars are going on with the user score here, this game is offensively bad to me as a fan of the series since for decades. This is no longer Zelda, it's just Nintendo trying to cash in on the latest trends of open world Western games. Didn't work for Final Fantasy or Metal Gear Solid either and this game will lose its shiny critical acclaim soon enough when people look beyond the shallow "big open world" that clearly got all the focus in development.    … Expand
  4. MyceIium
    Mar 12, 2017
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I'm honestly very disappointed in this game, and the Zelda community in general. First let's start with the community. I have never seen such "fanboyism" over a title before. I understand that people have their own personal opinions on the game, and that is totally fine by me. If you think this game is a 10/10 masterpiece, then by all means, enjoy the hell out of it! What bothers me is the communities need to belittle or trivialize the negative reviews as just being the symptom of "switch jealousy" or having some vendetta against Nintendo. I can assure you that this is not the case with me, and that I sincerely hoped that BOTW would be an amazing title in the Zelda franchise.

    Unfortunately, I have been severely disappointed in this hope, and here's why:

    -The World: While extremely vast the world has an empty and repetitive feel to it. Many of the areas feel barren and void of character, like they were simply added make the game feel bigger, without adding any actual enjoyment or discovery value to the game. There is a shockingly small amount of enemies scattered throughout the game as well, and you will often run into the same enemies over and over again, with out a slight change to their coloring or weapon they are armed with.

    -Dungeons: The dungeons in this game are a joke, plain and simple. First you have the shrines, which technically aren't "dungeons" but serve a similar purpose in the game. They are meant to be challenging puzzle rooms much like you would find in previous installments of the series. Key word here is "meant; because they are so brain numbingly easy that they quickly become stale. On top of that, they are almost all identical (outside of their puzzle content). They all share the same music, aesthetic look, dialogue, and end goal of receiving a spirit orb from the shrine guardian. I found myself bored after the first 10 or so shrines, and was dejected that I had to go through the same experience another 100 times in order to complete them all.

    The main dungeons- Vah Medoh, Vah Naboris, Vah Rudania, Vah Ruta, and Hyrule Castle play like a larger version of the shrines. While they do have their own art styles to set them apart, the puzzles contained within are very uninspired and easy to solve. I felt no challenge what so ever finding my way through these. On top of that, all of the dungeon bosses feel the same. Shoot a weak spot with arrows, then attack when they are weak.

    The Music: The music in this game is terrible. Whoever had the idea to go with "minimalist jazzy" type of music for the game should be fired. It totally ruins the game in many areas. The Hyrule field and combat music were especially annoying to me, and became part of the game I hated after having to listen to them enough. Some of the village music, Kakariko Village especially, were good,but this was not enough for me to forgive the otherwise terrible choice of music for most of the other locations.

    Questing- All I can say is boring.. Whether is was collecting korok seeds or doing the mainline quests, the entire system seemed uninspired and boring to me. Much like the shrines; quest just felt like a tedious grind after awhile.

    Performance- The game could be quite beautiful and striking sometimes, but often times it looked like a past generation title. On top of this, the performance is often abysmal, with fps dropping to below 20 for extended periods of time. This is simply unexceptionable for a AAA title like this, made by a company like Nintendo! On top of that, the game only supports 900p resolution, which is just insane for any game made in 2016-2017.

    Final Verdict: If all you care about is exploring a vast world set in the Zelda universe, then you may enjoy this title.; but if you are like me and are hoping for depth and innovation, I don't believe you will find it in BOTW.

    Sincerely,

    A dejected Zelda Fan    … Expand
  5. Goo4you
    Sep 16, 2017
    3
    There is far too much "rose-tinted glasses" syndrome going on with this game, professional reviewer and user alike. Let me be clear upfront; I don't ever think any game is either a "10" or a "0" there is no such thing as perfection in the medium (good or bad). Yet, after spending time with this game It came very apparent to me what this was:

    The biggest amalgamation of game tropes the    There is far too much "rose-tinted glasses" syndrome going on with this game, professional reviewer and user alike. Let me be clear upfront; I don't ever think any game is either a "10" or a "0" there is no such thing as perfection in the medium (good or bad). Yet, after spending time with this game It came very apparent to me what this was:

    The biggest amalgamation of game tropes the world has ever seen.

    There are so many mechanics in this game found in other titles it is astonishing. Skyrim, The Witcher, Fallout, Farcry, Dead Island, Assassin's Creed just to name a few. I've played this game before that's all I kept saying. Are these things found in these titles bad? No, of course not, but i've done it already. The magic those titles brought is wiped away in BoTW. They were handed better in those games, whereas Nintendo took the root element of those mechanics and slowed down progression to neigh-on a crawl.

    Breaking weapons, small stamina gauge, lack of armor, lack of health, lack of mobility. The amount of labor this title demands to be at least comfortable in content is beyond strained. It feels like a F2P game without the ability to actually pay for SOME things. It is tedious, everything about this game is tedious.

    The soundtrack (or lack there off) was a bad choice. Why they thought just the sound of nature alone for the majority of the game was a good idea is beyond me. It became jarring, making me uncomfortable. We've been conditioned for so long to have some kind of music in the background at all times made the constant silence make my skin itch. At least they should have given the option to have a traditional score playing tastefully in the background.

    I've also heard the comparison to the original title and how it left the player to fend for themselves and figure things out. This, is nominally accurate. The problem with this line of reasoning is flawed in a few ways:

    1) The map of the original Zelda was of a manageable size
    2) There was near Zero collecting of side mission items
    3) There were no day/night cycles where certain things appeared in game
    4) Control was fully in the hands of the player and all base abilities were there with zero hindrances. Items and equipment made the player stronger.

    There are also issues with optimization, because my lord does this title chug a ton in tv mode. Framerate issues are a plenty. Also the art style falls between muddy wind waker and sharper Ocarina of time. The lack of ANY REAL button mapping is a shame. Item management is infuriating (the damn cooking! Why do it this way!) The lack of a auto load a weapon when one breaks is silly (or shield or bow).

    I've played Zelda since the original, and while brunt of this review is negative, at the end of the day, it's a Zelda game so the heart of the adventure is still the same. Does this game deserve a 10? God no, or a 9 or an 8. It's nice to see Nintendo as a company do something fresh and out of their comfort zone, but if copying things from titles in years gone past as fresh, they need to go back to the well; especially when titles like Horizon: Zero Dawn took the same approach BoTW did and did it so much better (and cleaner).

    It is worth buying BotW, but don't accept the lauded hype: it's fine, it's fun, it's not a game changer.    … Expand
  6. Spakiness
    Mar 13, 2017
    4
    In response to Boogie2988, I should have been more clear in my definition of open world. I consider this game to be a good start into the modern genre of open world games. I also find that your reviews are just as bad as mine. Thanks for cutting out a majority of my review.

    Pros • Unique hot and cold mechanic • Interesting flow of motion between paraglider, shield surfing, and    In response to Boogie2988, I should have been more clear in my definition of open world. I consider this game to be a good start into the modern genre of open world games. I also find that your reviews are just as bad as mine. Thanks for cutting out a majority of my review.

    Pros
    • Unique hot and cold mechanic
    • Interesting flow of motion between paraglider, shield surfing, and climbing.
    • Voice acting but only sparingly.
    • Fun photo documenting mechanic

    Cons
    • Long loading screens and wait times. Numerous long animations that should be skippable. Such as the drop on the Sheikah Slate and others. A quarter of my time with the game is just waiting.
    • Consistent frame dips and even freezes at times.
    • The world is boring. Each region is exactly the same with a color swap and monsters sprinkled throughout. The Sheikah architecture looks ugly and all the dungeons feel the same.
    • weapons are made of paper that break after a few hits. Resulting in annoying weapon management process
    • Locking on monsters is a pain
    • There is no way to gauge how much damage a monster is going to do. You can expect large monsters to hurt, but then sometimes random lower tier monsters can delete your health bar.
    • Tedious cooking process.
    • insanely high monster tracking. Attacks are very difficult to dodge resulting in an experience that feels unfair.
    • The entire experience feels tedious. Climb tower (which takes forever), go through repetitive dungeons, run around in the barren landscape, and repeat until you beat the game. It just feels like they are trying to make the experience longer for the sake of making it longer.
    • The combat is mindless hack and slashing.
    • The Sheikah power ups just feel gimmicky.

    You would be far better off playing a game with real combat like Dark Souls or an interesting open world like Witcher or an interesting story like Bioshock. This game would never reach such high ratings if it didn't have the Zelda brand.    … Expand
  7. Mooglemagoogle
    Mar 4, 2017
    1
    THIS GAME IS NOT PERFECT

    It is insanity to me that people can play this game and give it a perfect 10/10 score when the most important element a video game should have is missing: FUN Simply put, this game is not fun. It is beautiful, it is breathtaking, it is large. Beyond large. So large it is breathtaking. But it is not fun. As a die hard Zelda fan since birth it baffles me that    THIS GAME IS NOT PERFECT

    It is insanity to me that people can play this game and give it a perfect 10/10 score when the most important element a video game should have is missing: FUN
    Simply put, this game is not fun. It is beautiful, it is breathtaking, it is large. Beyond large. So large it is breathtaking. But it is not fun.
    As a die hard Zelda fan since birth it baffles me that people are too blindsided by the massiveness of the world in this game to see how bland and obnoxiously tedious every second of the game is. Let me explain why this game broke my heart into a million different pieces which I won't be able to pick up off the floor because this game no longer features heart pieces.

    - Initial reaction:
    Breath of the Wild was made for the Wii U. The concept of having the wii motion plus as a swinging sword in Skyward Sword was swapped for the concept of having a gamepad in front of you to act as your menu, your map, and to feature inventive ways of using items throughout the game. All of this was utilized when Nintendo designed Wind Waker HD for the Wii U. And all of this was scrapped for Breath of the Wild when Nintendo decided to have it released alongside the Nintendo Switch which doesn't offer a touch screen gamepad. So we were forced to wait an extra year and a half for a game to be dumbed down from it's original design. Within the first 5 minutes of playing this struck me as a huge let down but I knew the game would be so epic this major set back wouldn't matter. I was wrong.

    - Gameplay:
    Nearly every tried and true mechanic from the Zelda genre has been swapped out to fit what Nintendo clearly thinks of as "Mature" gaming mechanics. Instead of having a sword and shield you can upgrade you now have a plethora of weapons to loot off enemies which break after a very short usage... It's like being punished for playing the game. Even the Master Sword breaks.
    Link runs along with a stamina bar like he did in Skyward Sword. In fact he plays much like the Link in Skyward Sword except he's now in a world 800x the size meaning he is unbearably slow. Like snail dragging in quick sand kind of slow. The world is massive and you want to be able to scale every mountain, which you are forced to do at an unbelievably slow pace. The world also is not fun to explore. It's pretty to explore, but there is nothing to do that is actually fun because fighting, traveling, and item usage are all boring.

    + Graphics:
    Amazing. It's beautiful and there are no load times for anything. However there is a constant stutter and frame rate whenever you're around moving objects... Like grass. Grass is everywhere, by the way. So the game almost feels like a Sega Saturn game and the disc is skipping. Again, HOW can you give a game a perfect score when it just IS NOT PERFECT!?

    - Sound:
    The absolute worst feature of the game. Did they even make a score to this game? There seems to be a slight patter of piano in the distance behind you which plays softly among the never ending clatter of your weapon hitting your shield. The painful sound of Link walking is only comparable to water boarding. They added voice actors which is cool except the American actors sound extremely cheesy and amateur and there is no switching to Japanese voice acting, which if you've seen the Japanese trailer you know is amazing. And if you thought the sound effect of having one heart remaining in previous Zeldas was bad it's nothing compared to the sound effect of when you're near a shrine. Which is all the time.

    - Overall
    Speaking of shrines, there are no longer dungeons. There are shrines. 100's of them and they all have the same skin and are kind of like one puzzle you would find in a typical Zelda dungeon. You have to solve 4 of them, and then go to a goddess statue to have her give you more stamina or a heart container. YEP, there are NO heart pieces in this game! However there is an endless supply of food, materials, bugs, animals to kill, and a bunch of other things that the Zelda world did not need. There are 4 bigger shrines which are all very similar and probably the best part of the game.
    In general this game is just a giant middle finger to anyone who loves Nintendo and specifically the Zelda franchise. I'm convinced these perfect score reviews are all hired interns with Nintendo to ensure their stock doesn't plummet farther than it already has. And I hate saying this about Nintendo, I honestly LOVE NINTENDO. Sadly, these reviews mean the Zelda franchise will keep these horrendous changes, so thanks to all of you who made it impossible for us to ever have another Ocarina of Time or Wind Waker!!!    … Expand
  8. TheWinner
    Mar 3, 2017
    3
    Be wary of people giving this game a high score. They just might be trying to sell you on something.

    Things it did right: + Huge world with lots of little details, probably where Nintendo spent most of their time in development + The go-anywhere-and-possibly-be-undergeared motif of LoZ1 was translated to a 3D game alright enough + Made the mastersword rely on heart containers to    Be wary of people giving this game a high score. They just might be trying to sell you on something.

    Things it did right:
    + Huge world with lots of little details, probably where Nintendo spent most of their time in development
    + The go-anywhere-and-possibly-be-undergeared motif of LoZ1 was translated to a 3D game alright enough
    + Made the mastersword rely on heart containers to acquire it, much like the White Sword or Magical Sword from LoZ1. Probably the only specific callback to LoZ1 that translated "perfectly".

    Things it tried:
    • Redesigned many characters, going as far as never giving Link a hat in promotional art and changing his iconic color from green to blue, or Ganon who is now a demon spider instead of a pig, only a pig in spirit. Moblins were turned into weird long snouted lanky unicorn pigmonsters, Hinox were turned into somewhat-more-generic Giants losing their iconic(?) Bomb-throwing attacks.
    • Tried voice acting but traded player-freedom of naming their character so spoken lines could needlessly refer to you as "Link".
    • The go-anywhere-model of LoZ1 lost almost all likeness to most other Zelda games because of the way it was implemented. In order to go anywhere and do anything from the start of the game, the player unfortunately gets all their tools at the start of the game so no proper dungeons with proper treasures or item equipment that would otherwise lock one player from accessing things another player could gated via game progress- which also isn't necessarily even "true" to how LoZ1 accomplished it.

    Things it did wrong:
    - Traded the sweeping and catchy good music of traditional Zelda design even going as far back as the original LoZ1 for lighter, emptier, less-frequent ambient sounds to adapt to the world's environment of "musical" cues and reliance on things like stealth. As an original game this might have worked, but the tradeoff meaning no great "Zelda music" as many expect from the franchise doesn't work to a benefit. The weaker audio design fits their game design, but the weaker audio design of their game design doesn't fit "Zelda".
    - From a series known for streamlined access to health replenishment via bottles full of potions and frequent floating hearts, placing all healing behind food collection and menu access gets in the way of player intention within the world and only serves to distract the player or otherwise pad the adventure with unnecessary filler. Trivial for a series that virtually invented the concept behind the Estus Flask from the Souls games. Such an estus-flask-like method of healing would have more accurately emulated the streamlined healing of past Zelda games while still allowing them to get away from hearts in bushes and pots.
    - Related to food collection, the game design around killing simple non-zelda scenery animals unrelated to the variety of Zelda enemies for various Raw Meat items is woefully unnecessary and out-of-place for any Zelda game much less any Nintendo game. This concept was so poorly implemented to even include killing foxes and wolves for meat, in our modern society where both have been domesticated as pets or otherwise crossbred with domestic dogs to produce canines that look identical to their wild counterparts. Whether the player has the intent or not to harm them, they can be killed by enemies anyway. "Eating dog meat" is a gut-wrenching phrase I never imagined would describe an action in any videogame much less one from Nintendo, and has forever irreparably damaged my otherwise flawless opinion of the franchise and its creators.
    - No actual sprawling dungeons from a series known for it's sprawling dungeons is a weakpoint. The shrines, although numerous and fairly uniquely designed in terms of their puzzles, unfortunately still manage to all look identical and don't offer the same expected gameplay layout or scenic/regional design as cohesive interconnected hallways and rooms from traditional dungeons in other Zelda games. Even the four Divine Beasts operate more like "slightly larger shrines" than something remotely close to being considered a true "dungeon", with Hyrule Castle being the only "true" dungeon.
    - Enemy variety compared to past Zelda games and even many modern games is staggeringly low. All enemies and bosses counted, there are only 23 different monsters that are copied-pasted-and-recolored or given a slightly different weapon or elemental attribute to create the majority of Breath of the Wild's "variety". Even going back to Ocarina of Time, there were 46 unique enemies and bosses counted together, not including recolored or reskinned variations; and of course each mainline Zelda game since Ocarina and before Breath of the Wild has had virtually the same variety if not more. There are actually more background scenery animal species in this game than unique enemies, meaning the only true visual variety that exists is in the scenery itself - a negative only because enemy combat is a necessity.    … Expand
  9. Merahoraeus
    Mar 5, 2017
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Not the worst Zelda game I've ever played, but undeniably the most disappointing one to date. This game was severely overhyped, and for all the praising of the "boundless world" (as someone who grew up playing classic MMORPG's like WoW, I'm not impressed by this world size), the game suffers from serious crippling flaws. From the very moment they announced that weapons would break within the game, I knew this game was going to be overly convoluted with the survival mechanics, and lo and behold! -- these are the most convoluted survival mechanics I've ever experienced in any game, and I am beyond disappointed that it had to be in a Zelda game.

    I thought I hated Skyward Sword because of the breakable shields and the stamina gauge, but Breath of the Wild plunges it to a whole new level of absolute loathing. Oh, and apparently the Hylian Shield can break according to some players, but it's still the best shield and easier to get than in Skyward Sword. That, however, is no consolation for all of the other excruciating survival mechanics, like the stamina wheel. Link can't swim. Okay, he can swim until his stamina wheel runs out, and then he drowns. I can tread water and float for over an hour before getting tired, and Link is considerably more fit than I am, and he can't even swim for more than a minute before just drowning. Here I thought the point of immersion was to be, well, immersive, but that couldn't be farther from immersive (it's more of submersion, really).

    Then there's lighting... Eiji Aonuma evidently assumed that because metal conducts electricity, that lightning would be attracted to random metal objects -- I think he needs to consult a middle school physics teacher. The ELECTRONS in the clouds and the ground are attracted to each other via an electrical field, and the resulting attraction between these electrons is lightning, and lightning will channel through the tallest object within the electrical field to make that connection -- whether it conducts electricity or not. This is why lightning strikes trees and skyscrapers need lightning rods.

    However, the biggest and most infuriating disappointment is the cooldown on the Master Sword. Yes, the Master Sword has a cooldown. You can use it for so long before it needs to "recharge" for 10 minutes. That was my one hope, that the Master Sword would be a permanent, unbreakable, no-conditions-attached, weapon, and it isn't. The Master Sword isn't even the strongest weapon, it only has a base damage of 30 and gets boosted to 60 only in Hyrule Castle. Also, what was with that bit about it being rusted? Never explained, and the narrative only serves to leave more questions.

    The story... Instead of having a good story, driven by compelling characters and a sequential plot, like Skyward Sword, the players must take Link to random places in Hyrule to flashback memories from his time with Zelda, and that's the narrative. Very, very underwhelming. You don't get to interact with these characters. You just get to watch them do things in the past very briefly, and accessing these memories is incredibly hard, and it's very difficult to try and do them in sequential order. The narrative would have been far better if the player had actually interacted in these scenarios -- not flashbacks.

    As I said, this isn't the worst Zelda game, but it is the most disappointing, and I can only pray that Eiji Aonuma learns from his serious mistakes. After this, I'm not sure I want him working on another Zelda title, ever again.    … Expand
  10. Thruck197
    Mar 6, 2017
    3
    90% of people will never replay breath of the wild.
    The game is designed around dumping all your time into a single play file thanks to how slow the accumulation of anything works. Theres no second quest, the enemy variety is **** like the only thing you have going for it is "the world is big and i wanna see every inch of it" which is absolutely no different than any other open world game    90% of people will never replay breath of the wild.
    The game is designed around dumping all your time into a single play file thanks to how slow the accumulation of anything works. Theres no second quest, the enemy variety is **** like the only thing you have going for it is "the world is big and i wanna see every inch of it" which is absolutely no different than any other open world game ever. Unfortunately the gameplay options and variety isn't there to carry you all the way.

    Its Minecraft survival without crafting, world building, world destruction, or a random world and fresh world every time you play. And I don't even like Minecraft, i'm just sayin this Hyrule is going to get old fast because the world itself is the only thing that got a lot of attention in development. There are re-used assets everywhere, from multiple recolored/reskinned variations of enemies to even there functionally being 6 or 7 different kinds of weapons in the game that were negligently forced into strict attack sets of shortsword, longsword or spear. Reused animations, reused monsters, reused assets everywhere. Even the mastersword explodes into blue dust like every other destructable weapon despite its plot mechanic of "running out of energy" to be returned to your inventory rendered useless for 20 minutes.

    The game is as wide as an ocean and deep as a puddle.    … Expand
  11. Salamirammy
    Mar 4, 2017
    3
    Overhyped. No feature or mechanic in this game isn't a rip from the myriad of open world action RPGs that most Nintendo fanboys would mock years ago. Now the same outdated mechanics are given a Zelda skin and it's a new chapter in video games? Much like the newest Metal Gear, or FFXV, this will get great reviews at first, and when people really play it the truth will be known. EveryoneOverhyped. No feature or mechanic in this game isn't a rip from the myriad of open world action RPGs that most Nintendo fanboys would mock years ago. Now the same outdated mechanics are given a Zelda skin and it's a new chapter in video games? Much like the newest Metal Gear, or FFXV, this will get great reviews at first, and when people really play it the truth will be known. Everyone loved the Star Wars Prequels, until they didn't. Terrible voice acting as well, shouldn't have even bothered for the cutscenes. i was bored of this after only a few hours.… Expand
  12. Swamrz
    Apr 7, 2017
    0
    After finishing the new Zelda, a game that I've been waiting for so long, my feelings about it are mixed.
    I guess one could call it: "Bittersweet symphony".
    It's undoubtedly extremely artistic and beautiful, with very nice new additions and a great looking vast world, hidden with all types of wonders. The weather effects are extremely atmospheric and voice additions are great. However,    After finishing the new Zelda, a game that I've been waiting for so long, my feelings about it are mixed.
    I guess one could call it: "Bittersweet symphony".
    It's undoubtedly extremely artistic and beautiful, with very nice new additions and a great looking vast world, hidden with all types of wonders. The weather effects are extremely atmospheric and voice additions are great.
    However, I found its main scenario short and flat. Many of the old mechanics (temples, farming, mystery items and classic small details) are missing and the silence of their absence to an old school hardcore Zelda fan like me is deafening.
    I am generally very light and forgiving with technical details and graphics, but either the game or the console itself has serious technical issues at some points, which leaves me wondering: "how on earth did those 'game bricks' went through the quality assurance process?". I will not talk about areas where the framerate drops to 10-15 per sec, because I forgive it, with a light heart. Were they in such a big rush to push the game out? We waited 3 more years for it, a few more months wouldn't have made any difference.
    The music is generally not noticeable. With the exceptions of some big moments. But nothing to be carved in your memory like the old Zelda game
    I'm sorry but, if I have to compare it with its own predecessors, like the ocarina of time, wind waker, twilight princess, this new installment will not do. It has been measured... and found wanting.
    Sadly, even though insanely artistic and pretty, it's my personal belief that "Breath of the wild" is a lesser son of greater sires.    … Expand
  13. Dead-Pixel
    Mar 7, 2017
    0
    This game runs like trash on both Wii U and Switch. It's 2017 and having a 30fps game is bad enough, but when the frames routinely drop below 20 you have a serious problem. This is all despite the fact that the visuals are already incredibly simplistic and look like they could easily be from a game released in 2006. It's pretty amazing that Nintendo refuses to join up with modernThis game runs like trash on both Wii U and Switch. It's 2017 and having a 30fps game is bad enough, but when the frames routinely drop below 20 you have a serious problem. This is all despite the fact that the visuals are already incredibly simplistic and look like they could easily be from a game released in 2006. It's pretty amazing that Nintendo refuses to join up with modern technology.

    This game is basically Skyrim-lite. There are very few outfits/armor to collect, leading you to running around a world and visiting shrines fruitlessly. It's fun at first but fatigue and repetition set in quickly once you realize the only reason to continue grinding shrines is to get an upgrade to health or stamina. That's it, there's no skills to level, or other perks. Just those two. Character customization depth goes out the window.

    What's worse is Nintendo decided to lock several iconic armor sets behind Amiibo microtransaction paywalls. Even though they are in the game you can't unlock them unless you go out and buy several $10-$30 toys, assuming you can even find them. Companies like Capcom get torn apart for egregious locked-out content like this, yet Nintendo once again gets a free pass, because Zelda apparently.

    Your horse Epona and Wolf link are also locked behind Amiibo figures. Good luck getting those without spending money on toys.

    These 10/10 reviews are laughable and truly show just how much credibility all these "journalists" have. They should be critiquing a game without bias. There's no way this game is close to being perfect, and if it wasn't a Zelda game it would have a MUCH lower score. Journalists should be reliable for an objective review and critique of a game and instead they let their own fandom get in the way of being honest with their readers.

    I wonder how many more years Nintendo can survive based on this incredible blind loyalty. Guess we'll have to wait and see.    … Expand
  14. outerCritic
    Mar 12, 2017
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The game has several major flaws. The final boss is too easy to defeat and can be reached without defeating the 4 main bosses. The number of bosses is half of the amount in previous Zelda games-- 4 beast bosses in the current game compared to 7-8 bosses of older Zelda games. The frame rate drops to staggering levels very often. The overall color of the game and environment is pale and there is lots of glare.

    The final boss and ending were disappointing. There was no dialogue-- both Link and Gannon were mute. The final form of Gannon, when defeated, did not explode after an animation build up . Symbolic to an anticlimactic ending, the defeated Gannon merely vanished and faded. This felt conflicting and inadequate.    … Expand
  15. zeroex_15
    Mar 3, 2017
    0
    Not worthy of the Zelda franchise.

    Despite offering a huge world to explore its largely empty and devoid of interest. The shrines are mini puzzles and become incredibly boring early with journeying between them even more so. Its also one of the only ways to increase your hearts/stamina so your essentially forced to do these side quests. Dungeons are gone. You have shrines that are    Not worthy of the Zelda franchise.

    Despite offering a huge world to explore its largely empty and devoid of interest. The shrines are mini puzzles and become incredibly boring early with journeying between them even more so. Its also one of the only ways to increase your hearts/stamina so your essentially forced to do these side quests.

    Dungeons are gone. You have shrines that are very short puzzles rewarding an item you can trade for hearts or stamina. Probably is they all look the same with bland interiors. There are 4 mechanical creatures that are slightly longer versions of shrines but the only real dungeon is hyrule castle.

    Its also annoying that the inventory is micro management heavy, item break often so your constantly swapping. You can expand your inventory but again it involves finding seeds and trading them in. If the world was more interesting this might have been fun.

    The climbing mechanic isn't fun. Its tedious and repetitive. The towers you have to climb are essentially less interesting versions of the towers from far cry 4.

    So disappointed. I've put it down and don't think I'll bother finishing it. There's just nothing to keep my interest.    … Expand
  16. Omegason
    Mar 23, 2017
    0
    Worst zelda game ever, 15 fps 720p garbage. Boring combat system, no dungeons, stamina meter and durability on weapons...ugh. Graphics are like 10 years out of date, half the characters have no voice acting? Nintendo still stuck in 2001 I guess...
  17. LMM913
    Mar 14, 2017
    0
    Not a fan of the weapon durability mechanic. Didn't like how the pace of the game was brought to a halt by the puzzle dungeons. I put the game in the same category as the letdowns that were Skyward Sword, the Wind Waker series games, and the DREADFUL Majora's Mask.
  18. Sanstheskeleton
    Mar 4, 2017
    1
    This game is very flawed!

    To quote a famous metacritic user. "Zelda has been died for years it was almost died when I was 6 and right now I am 10"(BryanM.) In recent years people have been hyping the return of the dying Zelda franchise. with recent release of this game many calling this best game of all time. i am here to give my opinion. if this game released maybe 10 years ago    This game is very flawed!

    To quote a famous metacritic user. "Zelda has been died for years it was almost died when I was 6 and right now I am 10"(BryanM.) In recent years people have been hyping the return of the dying Zelda franchise. with recent release of this game many calling this best game of all time. i am here to give my opinion.

    if this game released maybe 10 years ago than possibly could be considered decent. but now with rising popularity of modern open world games this feels outdated. menus pathetically clunky and slow , frame rate drops at levels worse than sonic 06, gameplay the same as previous titles in series. the hole game is outdated. probably because of the multiyear delays that have effected this titles release.

    for example,, in modern openworld games like minecraft menus are quite easy to navegate around. in games like fallout 4 gameplay is deep and varied, and skyrim has very content filled world.

    positives-
    - feels like zelda.
    - the old guys beard looks cool.
    - overworld is big (can be considered a negative thing)
    Thats pretty much it....
    Cons-
    - overworld is empty
    - plot is barebones generic
    -graphics are ps2 quality.
    -puzzles are simple and bland
    - content locked behind paywalls.
    - interesting mechanics are instead tedius
    -HUGE framerates drops throughout the ENTIRE game.
    -music is forgettable unlike.

    overall this title is incompetent and overrated. just wait for the skyrim switch port.    … Expand
  19. resU
    Mar 6, 2017
    4
    Realy hard to take this score serious. Game looks boring and uninspired, framerate is ridiculous, those ps2 textures realy look ugly, history was maybe the worst I have memory in a Zelda game, cmon N, slaughtering wild innocent animals? Non-sense. I was expecting way more from this one, since all you did was making us waiting all this time... you really turn up to be as greedy as peopleRealy hard to take this score serious. Game looks boring and uninspired, framerate is ridiculous, those ps2 textures realy look ugly, history was maybe the worst I have memory in a Zelda game, cmon N, slaughtering wild innocent animals? Non-sense. I was expecting way more from this one, since all you did was making us waiting all this time... you really turn up to be as greedy as people are starting to realize. This was the most non-Zelda game from this franchise I ever played. You can´t fool all of us with the nostalgia factor guys, cmon.… Expand
  20. Ygolonac
    Mar 3, 2017
    0
    It feels like i'm playing some crappy version of minecraft. It's all mindless busywork with pointless collectibles. The bosses are uninteresting being the same AOE attacks, little enemy variety, music is terrible, shrines and dungeons are both too easy and short. It just feels really boring, Like they tried to do Zelda 1 without understanding that the game worked because every screen wasIt feels like i'm playing some crappy version of minecraft. It's all mindless busywork with pointless collectibles. The bosses are uninteresting being the same AOE attacks, little enemy variety, music is terrible, shrines and dungeons are both too easy and short. It just feels really boring, Like they tried to do Zelda 1 without understanding that the game worked because every screen was interesting and filled with stuff to do. I felt like I was exploring a vast open world more playing Wind waker. While wind waker had nothing to do at sea BOTW just feels like busywork. exploration isn't rewarding and the game in general isn't interesting. Its just so bland. Good for kids who don't buy many games and like to put lots of time into something to really get their monies worth, but for everyone else it's far from a must play. And the switch version is nearly identical to the WIIU so it's not a killer app. Here's hoping mario odyssey will be better… Expand
  21. hyhy19
    Mar 7, 2017
    0
    This game seriously has performance issues. It's the worst I've seen in a while. Don't know how those professional reviewers ignore and gave those absurd scores. If this game didn't have Zelda label in front of it. Expect to see full of 79-80 score.
  22. Nedkelly
    Mar 4, 2017
    0
    The game is really basic and underwhelming from what you would expect from 2017 game for 50 pounds.
    Sure there are some nice features, some interesting spells as well, but that is not really a game changing aspects of it. Sure you we could ride a horses, and the horses are really nice made, but eh you guess it, other games also have nice made horses...
    The world is huge, too bad its    The game is really basic and underwhelming from what you would expect from 2017 game for 50 pounds.
    Sure there are some nice features, some interesting spells as well, but that is not really a game changing aspects of it. Sure you we could ride a horses, and the horses are really nice made, but eh you guess it, other games also have nice made horses...
    The world is huge, too bad its empty, and stuff renders really close to us, fog is also annoying and almost taking all the joy from the open world. There are also really few dungeons to play in, and almost all of them have the same bosses.
    As that being said, there are really few enemies you fight against, most of them are just recolors, the AI of the enemies is non existent, sometimes they could kill themselves when fighting on a hills...
    The animations are really hard to describe, sometimes they are as smooth as a silk sheet on the other time are clunky as hell and characters teleport their limbs around, this feels really weird. The amount of fighting moves is not high either.
    Graphics are the graphics you would expect from the free MMORPG game, not from high price stuff like this. Even though the graphics arent really exclusive, the game could have significant fps drops, sometimes even stutter when fighting many enemies at once, this is unacceptable for the price of the game as high as 50 pounds. Is this game in alpha stage? Because i cant tell, the game feels unfinished for me.
    My score is 2, the game doesnt deserve more, simply because it is stuck in time somewhere between 2009 and 2010, for the price like this you would expect something much more. Why would you play underdog Wii u, when you could play something much more advanced for the same or similar price???
    Both console and the game are not worth their price, i regret all pennies i spend on this, would have buy some league of legends skins instead...    … Expand
  23. Fanat-23
    Mar 6, 2017
    0
    Absolutely boring open-world, bad graphics and textures frankly low resolution (I understand that this is nintendo, but now is a year 2017, not 2005), dialogs are only text, without voice acting, which completely ruins the immersion in the game. Very, very banal story. I bet zero because many people mold the game to the top ten, which it clearly does not deserve. A maximum of 6-6,5 ...
  24. jameswh
    Mar 5, 2017
    1
    One thing we've all learned today. No matter how "respectible" a gaming website/magazine claims to be they all swoon and crumble over that unmerited, nostalgia-blighted, might of Nintendo. Zelda is a by-the-numbers RPG, nothing new, nothing special. Its quests are simple and dull, the story is average 90's kiddy Nintendo rubbish. Combat feels realy old. This is not modern, not new, its forOne thing we've all learned today. No matter how "respectible" a gaming website/magazine claims to be they all swoon and crumble over that unmerited, nostalgia-blighted, might of Nintendo. Zelda is a by-the-numbers RPG, nothing new, nothing special. Its quests are simple and dull, the story is average 90's kiddy Nintendo rubbish. Combat feels realy old. This is not modern, not new, its for people trapped in a 90's/2000's time-warp. This is 2017 ffs! I've been gaming since the micro computers of the 80's and I can tell you that this is definitely money for old rope. Now, did Nintendo buy good reviews? Probably not. But there are other ways to ensure great reviews than buying them (like Bathesda holding back future review copies to some websites?) Be nice or you'll miss out.... something's definitely amiss with all these "masterpiece" reviews. This game isn't a masterpiece. Its just another open world RPG... yes, yet another.… Expand
  25. Pesto
    Mar 3, 2017
    2
    I was really looking forward the next Zelda game, but after 15 hours i can't play anymore.
    The game is a boring average of every open world game released in the past five years (Far Cry, MGSV, ASC)
    I found no unique or especially fun features that would make me want to keep coming back, you have done everything in this game a hundred times before in other games and BOTW does not keep    I was really looking forward the next Zelda game, but after 15 hours i can't play anymore.
    The game is a boring average of every open world game released in the past five years (Far Cry, MGSV, ASC)
    I found no unique or especially fun features that would make me want to keep coming back, you have done everything in this game a hundred times before in other games and BOTW does not keep them exciting.
    The combat is very repetitive you can use these gimmicky ways to dispatch random groups of enemies but there is really no point and it gets old very fast. The story is ok, for a game that wants to take zelda in a new direction though it was very similar to every other game in the series. There is a little meat in the dungeons but they alone won't take you very long. The English voice acting sounds off and out of place, but the Japanese dub is supposed to sound tolerable, the music overall is decent but goes for mostly atmospheric music, there are no new themes that get stuck in your head. Graphically the game is poor, i can't be amazed at the "beauty" of the world if the world is only being rendered for 10 metres, there were many times where the game would freeze for a second or two in intense combat situations and i am not really a fan of the cell shaded style, but i suppose Nintendo really had no choice working off a hideously under-powered system as ever.
    So overall i would not recommend to Zelda fans, maybe to people who buy games just for open world but not me. after buying every other game in the Zelda series, i am upset that they have ruined my favorite game series, this game had real potential but just isn't fun.    … Expand
  26. datdude111
    Mar 3, 2017
    3
    Im playing the game and im simply not enjoying it so far. I also dont understand why people are giving either 10 score reviews or 1 score reviews just to troll or be a fanboy. I guess thats what happens when people hate/love nostalgia based games.
  27. TheTG
    Mar 7, 2017
    0
    Very overrated game. The gameplay is very basic and childish, the story is short and the game has performance issues at very low resolution and graphical quality. Very disappointed by this game, it was a waste of my money.
  28. GargoyleLucian
    Mar 4, 2017
    3
    I am totally disappointed. The Switch is a cool Console, but this Game is not - unfortunately there is only 2 more games for Switch around - mmmeehhhh.
    The pace of the game is suuuuper slow. It totally lacks all the great music and atmosphere of other Zelda Games (like my favorite: Ocarina of time).
    Graphics is a matter of liking, but too me it is Nintendo 64 on steroids, but sure    I am totally disappointed. The Switch is a cool Console, but this Game is not - unfortunately there is only 2 more games for Switch around - mmmeehhhh.
    The pace of the game is suuuuper slow. It totally lacks all the great music and atmosphere of other Zelda Games (like my favorite: Ocarina of time).
    Graphics is a matter of liking, but too me it is Nintendo 64 on steroids, but sure nothing i expect in 2017.
    All in all it is a game for those always living in the past and therefor like Retro Games. I live today and tomorrow and surely do not enjoy this Zelda at all.
    Just hope my Switch gets some great Games soon.
    This open world thing never helps to tel a good story in a decent pace. Wrong choice for this Game in my opinion. If you like it, good for you.
    I would love to see a new Luigis Mansion or F-Zero or Pikmin, but with the feel of 2017.    … Expand
  29. MrWonderful32
    Mar 4, 2017
    4
    Having put about 30 hours into the game I have to say this game is massively overrated, On my second run I found out you could skip all the way to the end in about 40 to 50 mns without any consequences, I find this to be a big flaw in the game, also at various points I found the game to be totally unplayable since frame-rates drop so bad the game stops to a halt, big open world for aHaving put about 30 hours into the game I have to say this game is massively overrated, On my second run I found out you could skip all the way to the end in about 40 to 50 mns without any consequences, I find this to be a big flaw in the game, also at various points I found the game to be totally unplayable since frame-rates drop so bad the game stops to a halt, big open world for a zelda game but once you get to area you saw from a distance the textures where plain and boring, most of the open world is empty or you find very little to do, I find it very hard to believe this game even got a 98 by critics in the first place.… Expand
  30. leo66
    Apr 22, 2017
    0
    Really bad game. Poor story. Many bug and glitches. They shoul work on this game at least one more year and then it would be good I supose. Waste potential.
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Awards & Rankings

1
#1 Best Switch Game of 2017
1
#1 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2017
1
#1 Most Shared Switch Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
97

Universal acclaim - based on 109 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 106 out of 109
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 109
  3. Negative: 0 out of 109
  1. GameGrin
    Dec 12, 2017
    100
    Where it takes mechanics from others in the industry, it improves upon them; where it introduces new ones, you slap your forehead in amazement that it hasn’t been done before. Breath of the Wild is development done right, and damn near the best game you’ll play all year.
    Read full review
  2. Wired UK
    Aug 30, 2017
    100
    Breath of the Wild is a masterpiece.
    Read full review
  3. Games Master UK
    May 19, 2017
    96
    Up there with the finest Zelda games, Breath of the Wild is bold, liberating, and utterly astonishing. [Apr 2017, p.60]
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