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. geodeath
    Mar 9, 2017
    6
    Blows my mind, how many people give this a 10/10. It has serious flaws. I never read reviews or watch trailers because i prefer to play a game myself but in this case, if i knew what it is about, i would never have bought a switch and zelda on day 1, but would rather wait for mario first.

    First of all, the game has a few serious flaws: 1. ALL EQUIPMENT BREAKS. Yes, you heard that    Blows my mind, how many people give this a 10/10. It has serious flaws. I never read reviews or watch trailers because i prefer to play a game myself but in this case, if i knew what it is about, i would never have bought a switch and zelda on day 1, but would rather wait for mario first.

    First of all, the game has a few serious flaws:

    1. ALL EQUIPMENT BREAKS. Yes, you heard that right. EVERY SINGLE thing you will ever equip, weapon, shield or arrow WILL BREAK REALLY REALLY quickly. To give you a quick example a NEW just picked up weapon of any kind, let's say a sword (metal), WILL BREAK and will be discarded and not able to be repaired at most after killing 2 enemies. Read that again: to beat a mob of let's say 5-6 enemies (and it is quite common for them to mob like that, usually 3-6) you WILL HAVE to equip 2-3 weapons. You think i am crazy? Try to find youtube videos about it. BEFORE YOU BUY IT.

    This issue alone is so infuriating that makes me want to sell my copy and not play it altogether until they fix it with a patch. I understand the idea here is to introduce weapon degradation but you cannot repair anything and the degradation happens IMMEDIATELY. I like the degradation as it happens e.g. on Dying Light! Here it is a real nightmare and makes the game a hoarding exercise.

    2. Believe it or not, if you want to restore energy (your heart meter) you have to COOK. You have to actually remember recipes and find pots scattered around the open world to cook elixirs and foods to carry around. If you simply eat the raw materials you only get half a heart to a heart. They turned an adventure game into a SURVIVALIST game. Dear lord!!

    3. They really wanted to one-up the open world games by showing they can do it. The bad thing is they WAY overdid it. The world is exceptionally large, to the point where it is uselessly so. I can easily run for 5-10 minutes without encountering a SINGLE THING AT ALL. Yes, the environment is nice and all, but it is also repetitive. At the end of the day, is the size that matters or if the locations stuck to your mind because they were important and nice? They just wanted to boast about the size of the world. Good Nintendo, good. We knew you can make the world large. Now, make it interesting please?

    4. All of the classic Zelda stuff are missing: hookshot, boomerang, etc etc etc. Somehow, all weapons are not breakable really easily, arrows run out like farts, yet bombs are not a rune, so infinite? lol

    5. NO DUNGEONS! The one thing this series was known for, the clever dungeons, some of which were real mind crackers to solve, are not there anymore. In their place, are **** 2 minute "shrines" that give you some orbs that you can exchange for heart containers or stamina boosters. NO DUNGEONS!!!!!!

    By all means, this is not a bad game at all. It is just an OK game. If you have a WiiU, get it. If you have to buy a switch to play this DO NOT DO IT unless you read all the non 10/10 opinions here and check videos and the faqs. I did the same and am supremely disappointed by this.

    This is not Nintendo. This is not Zelda at all. It feels like a mix of Far cry/Witcher/Dying Light that tries to do everything but fails to do well in all aspects. Nintendo simply over-reached and did not manage to get to the level of quality we expected.

    Now, for the good parts:

    1. It is nice that the environment plays a big role. For example, when it is raining, you cannot climb some walls or you can be struck by lightning. The environment is very nicely thought out.

    2. Although the graphics are nowhere near other current gen titles, you cannot blame how good they are for the hardware they run on. The world is beautiful and vast, if bland.

    3. You get a nice sense of being out, it is quite beautiful in that way if you like exploration.

    4. You can play this on the go!

    Please, take this review seriously. This is coming from a 35 year old gamer, having played all consoles and games from the Atari 2600 to the Switch & Ps4 Pro. I have no bias towards Nintendo, actually it is my favourite company, but they do seem to tend to get all the wrong decisions lately.

    I am afraid to say that i am much more inspired by Horizon than Zelda and it is a crying shame. If only they took care to address the few things i am mentioning (or even provide them as options!) then we would be talking about GOTY. In it's current state, GOTY will only be because of bias or because Nintendo needs a kick and everybody is hyped.

    Sorry Nintendo.

    You blew it!    … Expand
  2. SpideyWebs
    Mar 12, 2017
    6
    I found the game to be more frustrating than fun and more monotonous than interesting. It was just a generic open world game with The Legend of Zelda slapped on the cover. Not much in this felt like a LoZ game and in my opinion that was a negative not a positive. Definitely the worst Zelda game I have ever played.
  3. douglasgomes1
    Mar 13, 2017
    6
    o jogo não esta em portugues, os graficos não são la muitos bons, ate pq o console é bem fraco em si, só tem para o console da nintendo alem de que o console da nintendo é inferior é esta custando mais do que um ps4
  4. ThaDudeMan
    Apr 25, 2017
    6
    Has anyone who gave this game a 10/10 ever played inquisition? if not, go play that and edit your score, because i believe most zelda fans never played an open world game before, this game is cryptic, boring, looks dull after the first couple hours, is tedious, and progression is slow, leading most people ive talked to to have stopped playing the game half way through due to lack ofHas anyone who gave this game a 10/10 ever played inquisition? if not, go play that and edit your score, because i believe most zelda fans never played an open world game before, this game is cryptic, boring, looks dull after the first couple hours, is tedious, and progression is slow, leading most people ive talked to to have stopped playing the game half way through due to lack of progression, all in all where a game like inquisition kept my attention the whole way through with good progression, this game gets boring fast and farming gets annoying as progression is slowed to a crawl at some points… Expand
  5. pghdave420
    Mar 21, 2017
    6
    well i was dissapointed.been gaming since 85 have all nintendo consoles.this game is very boring.you climb a hill glide down fight a grp of mobs climb another hill fight the same mobs.to much land to little mobs.even the 4 beast are so boring when i think of zelda games i think dungeons and enemies which this had none.all it is,is puzzles and climbing.sorry nintendo to much hype for awell i was dissapointed.been gaming since 85 have all nintendo consoles.this game is very boring.you climb a hill glide down fight a grp of mobs climb another hill fight the same mobs.to much land to little mobs.even the 4 beast are so boring when i think of zelda games i think dungeons and enemies which this had none.all it is,is puzzles and climbing.sorry nintendo to much hype for a boring game.if this game is 10 out of 10 the plenty other games that are 20 out of 10… Expand
  6. chad_pattan
    Mar 27, 2017
    6
    I already know I'll be attacked because I'm not going along with "the flow" of reviews. So let's start out by quantifying that 6. For the record, the last Zelda I played was Twilight Princess. Last Zelda I beat completely was A Link To The Past. Last Zelda I enjoyed was Adventure of Link (the only real "RPG" of the bunch, IMO.)

    Graphics: 3 points. Yes, half the score is the graphics.    I already know I'll be attacked because I'm not going along with "the flow" of reviews. So let's start out by quantifying that 6. For the record, the last Zelda I played was Twilight Princess. Last Zelda I beat completely was A Link To The Past. Last Zelda I enjoyed was Adventure of Link (the only real "RPG" of the bunch, IMO.)

    Graphics: 3 points. Yes, half the score is the graphics. They're beautiful. But they're limited, especially on the handheld. World of Final Fantasy on Vita is a great example of how it can be done.

    Story: 2 points. I feel that the story is compelling and interesting. You feel like you want to help the world. You connect with most of the characters. Nicely done.

    Sound: 1 point. Ambient sounds, voices, music, are all done decently. I didn't hear anything that bothered me, put it that way.

    But that's all the game has really. I get it - it's Zelda. It's a throwback to the first game. But quite a few things annoy me, and most of them have to do with UI (User Interface) decisions.

    You can't tell when weapons are degrading. I'm generally not a fan of the weapon break mechanic, but I can live with it so long as I can tell the life of my weapon, and I can repair weapons, ala Dark Cloud 2, or that I can easily create new ones, ala Dragon Quest Builders. Neither is the case here and it's annoying.

    Weapon strengths are illogical. Why it takes 9 swings to kill an enemy with an axe yet only three with a club makes no sense whatsoever. A fan leaf one-shots flying enemies yet a stick takes two, sometimes three hits. Why?

    Link will happily plummet to his death when you try to tell him to gently drop down from a climb to a ledge, and instead he jumps off the wall. I'd just as soon not have a jump from a climb at all.

    The button configs are a nightmare. Two different ways of using the Sheikah Slate rather than just one map with functions. Forced to move your thumb down to a touchpad that's not in a comfortable place just so you can switch weapons. Forced to press a tiny "minus sign" on the pad just to view the map and a tiny "plus sign" to view inventory. One trigger does something, one bumper does something else, another trigger does something else...It's too much! I thought FFXV's was bad, it's a work of art compared to this.

    The stamina bugs me only because it's so short. No human is that out of shape. At least let him sprint after a fast run.

    For all the criticism laid at the feet of Dragon Quest Builders I frankly felt that its battle "engine" was much more logical, as petty and simplistic as that was, for a very similar experience (legendary hero wakes up in a cave with no recollection of why they're there and now have to rebuild the world. Same. Exact. Story.)

    The world is massive, and while I do enjoy massive worlds (Dragon Quest VIII is an all-time great for me), the world has to interest me. Navigation is a pain in this game, and I assume they wanted you to feel the "realism" of it. But when you're playing a fantasy game, too much reality is not a good thing. (DQ8 and riding on a tiger to get around certainly isn't realistic.)

    Game directions are also lacking. You'll get instructions to go to a place, and in some situation it's a breeze, where in another situation they don't even bother trying to at least point you in the right direction. Again, too much realism.

    Yes, I know. "Explore". That's fine. But clear directions are a hallmark of roleplaying games, and it saddens me to see modern RPGs forget this.

    I discovered that the game feels much more "comfortable" in docked mode. The framerate drops don't bother me.

    It's a beautiful, well storied, average game. I'll keep the Switch in the hope the Seiken Densetsu Collection comes stateside *eeek*, and hopefully Octopath Traveler will be a much better experience. As for this, those that think this is a perfect game certainly must not have played Dragon Quest VIII on PS2 - thus far the only RPG to check off all of the boxes.    … Expand
  7. Greenbob
    Jul 22, 2017
    6
    I really tried to like this game as a sort of returner to the series #linktothepast. Alas, I found the game to be tedious and boring like many of other open world games these days. BOTW has the same rinse and repeat pitfalls of farming materials endlessly for little to no reward, Vapid fetch quests and an almost empty landscape of a sandbox that gives me no immersion. Due to the weaponsI really tried to like this game as a sort of returner to the series #linktothepast. Alas, I found the game to be tedious and boring like many of other open world games these days. BOTW has the same rinse and repeat pitfalls of farming materials endlessly for little to no reward, Vapid fetch quests and an almost empty landscape of a sandbox that gives me no immersion. Due to the weapons being fragile I found myself skipping any fight I could in a bid to just get the game over with. the game felt like a chore most of the time and I'm just not having fun.… Expand
  8. SuperRockman
    Mar 29, 2017
    6
    I have played about 12 hours of this of Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild for the Nintendo Wii U.
    I will weight my review in 3 areas. Overall impression, Gameplay, and Graphics. I will not dock points for performance as mentioned above i played this game for Wii U. This is also 100% my opinion of the game based on my experience so far. i have not read a single review yet as i want to    I have played about 12 hours of this of Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild for the Nintendo Wii U.
    I will weight my review in 3 areas. Overall impression, Gameplay, and Graphics. I will not dock points for performance as mentioned above i played this game for Wii U. This is also 100% my opinion of the game based on my experience so far. i have not read a single review yet as i want to have the least biased review possible.

    Overall Impressions:
    The game starts off with a voice speaking to link. I was surprised that a Zelda game could finally have some sort of voice acting. It was also nice that the game doesnt force you into pointless tutorials, the game teaches as you play and become immersed in the world around you. after you leave the starting room, the title appears and introduces you to the massive world you will soon explore. Overall a decent start to the game. The starting section of the massive world however is linear at first with little to do except power through.

    Overall 2/3

    Graphics:
    The look and atmosphere of BOTW is stunning, even on Wii U. The world seems to be alive. plants regrow, the textures look well designed and the sound track is incredible. Not much else to say here

    3/3

    Gameplay:
    While it is refreshing to depart from the old Zelda formula, this does have its clear flaws. Alot of element of gameplay are simply borrowed from other games ex: Elder Scrolls, Far Cry, Assassins Creed. But what the game does barrow makes sense for an open world game. The Combat leaves much to be desired. I enjoy learning my enemies and figuring out how to use my weapons to win a combat, this quickly becomes tedious when constantly switching to different weapons when they break. Crafting is bare bones with little customization and some enemies can attack from what seems to be outside of the render distance. What first impressions i had and the appearance of the game makes up for lacks heavily in overall game play. i found looking for new weapons to be more of a chore. Perhaps the biggest drawback to the combat is the lack of rolling. Im not against changing the zelda formula, i welcome it, but removing such a useful game play mechanic made my experience suffer greatly. Just try to play any Dark Souls game without rolling at all. you cant. Links powers on the other hand are creative original and fun to experiment with. On a final note, WHERE DID THE DUNGEONS GO?????? its just simple and easy challenges like, 1 puzzle or 2 despite being hundreds of these locations in the game. this just seems like lazy game design to me.

    1/4

    Final Score 6/10

    I enjoy this game, but it still leaves much to be desired. i have been a Zelda fan for years, and i praise all additions to the series. But i think there is a long way to go, i hope Nintendo can at the very least going forward(for a new zelda game), bring back the roll, fix the weapon degrade system and include ACTUAL DUNGEONS.    … Expand
  9. rsid
    Apr 1, 2017
    6
    I am a fan of Zelda games, but in my opinion, Breath of the Wild (BotW) is not the best Zelda game, and as a Zelda game it has to stack against its siblings in the franchise. As a stand alone game, I think it is a great open world game, but it is not as good as the other games in the series. That being said, my gripes with the game are:

    1) Tiny dungeons: Majora's Mask (MM) had only 4    I am a fan of Zelda games, but in my opinion, Breath of the Wild (BotW) is not the best Zelda game, and as a Zelda game it has to stack against its siblings in the franchise. As a stand alone game, I think it is a great open world game, but it is not as good as the other games in the series. That being said, my gripes with the game are:

    1) Tiny dungeons: Majora's Mask (MM) had only 4 dungeons as well, but they were huge in comparison (even to other Zelda games), full of creative puzzles, and quite hard for a first timer. In this regard, BotW dungeons were a complete let down. This is a main sore spot for series fans.

    2) Quiet ambiance music that cannot compare to the classic overworld epic themes of games like A Link to the Pass, Ocarina of Time (OoT), Wind Waker (WW), etc. with a few exceptions on old theme remakes such as the Rito village (I admit that Gannon's castle theme was pretty good, but it doesn't redeem the rest of the huge world having so poor music). I understand that open worlds should not have intrusive music, but WW had a pretty open sea and the Great Sea epic theme was amazing and fueled a sense of adventure and exploration hard to match, so, this is a bland excuse for the lack of memorable themes in BotW.

    3) Breaking weapons: I was already a little upset that my shields kept breaking in Skyward Sword (until I got the hang of it and eventually went for the Hylian shield), and then this game makes everything breakable. Even the Master Sword gets spent and has to recharge before it can be used again. I prefer the progression method where either your weapon gets stronger by some leveling means, or you collect stronger weapons throughout your journey until you find the ultimate weapon(s). But I don't like the idea of breaking equipment.

    4) Low enemy variety: Basically, Bokoblins, Moblins and Lizalfos made the bulk of the enemies found in the game (with different colors to signal difficulty). I found it boring and even started to avoid their camps at some points because I was bored with them.

    I am fine with Link being given all his tools at the start of the game, and I also enjoyed having to obtain them somehow like renting in ALBW. I always found moronic that the item needed to beat a dungeon was kept inside of it. But I would prefer some variant where players have to work for it, such as having to find important items somewhere first, like a mini-dungeon before being able to beat a dungeon with them (read iron boots in OoT). I like the feeling of accomplishment when I find an epic item such as the double claw shoots or the lens of truth or the mirror shield from previous entries in the series.

    Oh, and I would have loved indicators of how many shrines and Koroks were left to find in each area, a la OoT Golden Skulltulas or Poes in Twilight Princess HD, but that's just me.

    Everything else in the game is great and makes it a great open world title full of exploring (except maybe fixing cooking to make it less tedious and have a recipe book).

    I believe that if Nintendo had put these ideas in the game, this would have been a perfect Zelda. But, as it is, this game didn't manage to climb into my top 5 favorite Zelda games.    … Expand
  10. alesx7817
    Apr 2, 2017
    6
    O jogo é horrivel mesmo, eu nem liguei muito para os frames, o pior é o excesso de neblina presente em quase todos os cenarios, falta dos efeitos sonoros característico da serie, durabilidade das armas, nem parece zelda esse jogo
  11. funkjaw
    Apr 26, 2017
    6
    Straight to the point: for a Zelda game, this deserves a 5. For an open world action RPG, it deserves an 7 - which is why I settled on a 6. There are a lot of fun, addicting aspects of the game no doubt, which is why many, including myself played from start to finish. However, the lack of Zelda charm, how repetitive it is, the dull story, and the very annoying breakable weapons system, allStraight to the point: for a Zelda game, this deserves a 5. For an open world action RPG, it deserves an 7 - which is why I settled on a 6. There are a lot of fun, addicting aspects of the game no doubt, which is why many, including myself played from start to finish. However, the lack of Zelda charm, how repetitive it is, the dull story, and the very annoying breakable weapons system, all keep this from being as good as it could be.… Expand
  12. Manc_Prophecy
    Nov 25, 2017
    6
    Breath of the wild is as pleasant to listen to as it is to look at, with its visually stunning scenery Zelda:BOTW is almost like a fine painting! I use the key word almost as what the game lacks is character. Breath of the wild's open world is often empty and pedestrian, I almost felt the map could have been downsized by 40% at the very least.

    The main quest objectives were fun and    Breath of the wild is as pleasant to listen to as it is to look at, with its visually stunning scenery Zelda:BOTW is almost like a fine painting! I use the key word almost as what the game lacks is character. Breath of the wild's open world is often empty and pedestrian, I almost felt the map could have been downsized by 40% at the very least.

    The main quest objectives were fun and enjoyable, but I felt forced into doing the tedious side quests in order to gain some advantage at the end game. So like the map I reckon the playtime could have been cut down by about 50 hours also! At the end completing the game didn't feel like an accomplishment, as by the midway point i had already lost interest, but didn't want to add the game to the list of games I've played yet not completed.    … Expand
  13. Grimmke
    Apr 23, 2017
    6
    My feelings on this game are terribly mixed.
    Good: a truly excellent open world, beautifully designed, artistically gorgeous, endlessly explorable. It brings fresh life to the now-standard idea of an open world. The new Link is full of personality for a guy who never really talks. NPCs are charming, quirky, and often funny, and exhausting their dialogue options is always worthwhile. The    My feelings on this game are terribly mixed.
    Good: a truly excellent open world, beautifully designed, artistically gorgeous, endlessly explorable. It brings fresh life to the now-standard idea of an open world. The new Link is full of personality for a guy who never really talks. NPCs are charming, quirky, and often funny, and exhausting their dialogue options is always worthwhile. The physics engine was incredible! One thing they really did right was in all the little details. There are plenty of joyous surprises for those who want to experiment and explore. So let me repeat--this is an excellent game, and it's worth you time. A superlative game, compared to others on the market. It is not, however, without flaws, even quite serious flaws.

    Bad: The enemy variety is uninspired. A handful of enemies that are repeated endlessly, with different skins and colors. Unlike previous Zelda games, you won't find any redeads, wallmasters, poes, or any unexpectedly terrifying monsters like Dead Hand from OOT. No scary enemies or creepy dungeons where you might hear the telltale shriek of a redead paralyzing you.
    Hand in hand with that is the boss variety. Unlike previous Zelda games, there aren't new and exciting, visually impressive bosses that challenge you to use the skills and tools at your disposal. You fight the same boss 4 times, and then again as the end-game boss. Over and over, with slightly different elemental powers. The final boss looks like it's trying to pass for a monster in Yharnam--but if I wanted to fight Yharnam monsters, I'd be playing Bloodborne, not Zelda. It's nothing like Ganon. It doesn't have the crushing difficulty to match a Bloodborne enemy anyway.

    Combat quickly becomes lackluster with the frustrating weapon durability mechanic. Rather than encouraging variety, it encourages you to use your worst weapons the whole time for fear of losing your good ones, or the ones with elemental powers that you need for special enemies. The master sword's "energy limit" is some serious garbage too. A breakable master sword? Really? In the end, the durability mechanics turned the MS from the Blade of Evil's Bane to the Blade of Chopping Down Trees Because I Don't Want to Waste My Other Blades.

    The story is often charming and could have been great, if they had put more focus on developing a compelling story. But, like the music, it's so downplayed it's barely noticeable, so that when the occasional familiar Zelda element slides in, it feels weirdly out of place. The music is not very memorable, and nothing like the sweeping epics of its predecessors. Once in a while, a familiar tune will play, and in the final castle, it finally comes in full-force. But it feels like a fun musical Zelda reference in a non-Zelda game. Jarring.

    Dungeon variety is woefully nonexistent. Arguably the most impactful element of the franchise's incredible legacy, sprawling, complex, rich, and sometimes nerve-wracking dungeons are part of what made the series so famous. They're iconic. But they're totally excised this time. You have shrines, 120 samey mini-dungeons with repetitive puzzles. And you have divine beasts, 4 samey, slightly larger mini-dungeons. There's no variety to them at all, nothing to make them even visually distinct and interesting. Even exploring the beautiful open world begins to lose its appeal when you realize that the only rewards you will find are shrines and korok seeds.

    I could go on. But it boils down to this one sad, strange feeling. There's a difference between shaking up convention and straightforward iconoclasm. And this game falls too hard toward the latter. Utterly gutting the series icons gave us a breathlessly beautiful product, with nothing under the surface, least of all a Zelda game. Maybe it sounds trivial, but I find that Link's redesign is not only one of the worst offenses, but emblematic of the underlying problem. They took Link's iconic green outfit with his pointy hat away, reportedly because it doesn't "look cool." Sure, in isolation, there's nothing especially cool-looking about the green tunic. But it DOES look cool--because it looks like Link, from the Legend of Zelda, and Link is cool. He makes it look heroic. There are lots of cool-looking video game characters out there, but there's only one who looks like Link. The attitude among the devs that said Link isn't cool-looking enough is the same attitude that said Ganon needed to look like a Soulsborne villain. It's the same attitude that took away deep dungeons, exciting bosses, creative enemy designs, and cool weapon variety. It never felt like I was playing Zelda. As an open-world RPG with a barely passable Zelda skin, it was neat. But it soured so fast I was feeling heartbroken by halfway through the game. It's sad to see the devs disregarding the legacy of such an important series. In the end, what makes Zelda so special was gone, and that, for me, outweighed the joys.    … Expand
  14. ZaniceDG
    Jun 21, 2017
    6
    I have very conflicting feelings about the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Let me start with the game play. First off the dealer ability system I really didn't like it I think durability can work in some games if you do it correctly and I don't think it was done well on this. The fact that every single weapon breaks overtime made me not care about finding new weapons. It's nice thatI have very conflicting feelings about the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Let me start with the game play. First off the dealer ability system I really didn't like it I think durability can work in some games if you do it correctly and I don't think it was done well on this. The fact that every single weapon breaks overtime made me not care about finding new weapons. It's nice that there is such a wide variety of weapons this game but I just can't care about them because they all break. Another reason why this hurt the game is because it made me not want to fight enemies. I also want to point out how completely ridiculous it is that the master sword can break even temporarily. It also doesn't help that you have such a limited amount of weapons that you could carry at one time. Another thing is the combat. It wasn't terrible, it worked, but I really don't think it was that good. Most every fight with normal enemies boiled down to me just mashing the Y button. The only fun I had with the combat was with bosses and extremely tough enemies. And even then the AI for most enemies with so bad and they rarely put up a challenge. The exploration in this game is great and I loved it but I think many other games did it better. I loved exploring and seeing all the different parts of the world but there wasn't a lot to do in it that I thought was fun. There's a big beautiful world in this game but what is there to do in it. Fight monsters? Find korok seeds? Do side quests? Sure I could do all those things, but I honestly didn't have a lot of fun doing it. I'm not really a big fan of puzzles so finding the korok seeds and completing the shrines really didn't do a lot for me. I did find everything collectible and did complete every side quest but that's mostly because I'm a completionist and not because I enjoyed doing it. Really nothing about the gameplay is TERRIBLE. But I don't think anything about the gameplay is particularly great. The weather mechanic in this game however was absolutely horrible to me. I can't tell you how many times I groaned and annoyance every time it started raining. This game requires you to do a lot of climbing and I don't mind that. The fact that it rains almost every in-game day and makes it impossible to climb and that is incredibly obnoxious. The rain is probably one of the most hated things about this game for me. Whenever it rained I would literally have to put down my game and just wait for it to stop raining. And that is not fun. How the hell am I supposed to explore when the game is constantly putting impossible barriers in my way. Also, this game's dungeons sucked. Overall I would say that the gameplay was just disappointing. That's enough about the game play for now. For now I want to talk about the writing in the story because that's what really made me dislike the game. I know Zelda isn't about writing or story. That's not the point. It's all about the gameplay. It's 2017 and I expect better writing out of this game. First I'll talk about what I like. I think Princess Zelda and a few of the Champions had very interesting and likeable characters. There was also a few very interesting Side characters you see throughout your adventure. However there were a couple of things that really annoyed me and kept me from being immersed in the story. One of which is being Link. Link has traditionally never had a character, personality or a voice. This was fine back when Zelda was 8 Bits. But it's 2017. And the fact that link constantly stands there in the cutscenes with no emotions and no personality like a plank of wood completely takes me out of the story. I actually couldn't take a lot of the cutscenes and seriously because of how funny I thought it was that link just stood there with absolutely no emotion to everything he was seeing. I don't think there is any reason why link shouldn't have a voice and personality in these games. Zelda has a personality, why can't he? But now I want to move on to the thing that angered me more than anything else. More than the rain. More than the most confusing puzzles. And that would be Ganon. This game has the worst villain I have ever seen in anything ever. Has to be one of the lamest final boss fights I had ever seen. He had no motivation, explanation or character. He never says a word in the entire game. The game defines him as being just a big evil demon who wants to destroy the world because reasons. It's probably the most lazy writing I have ever seen in any game I've heard of. As the credits were rolling the only thing going through my mind were the words "f*** you Nintendo". I thought that because I know that Nintendo is better than this. They could have made a better game. A better story. I did have fun playing it but there are just too many inexcusable problems and I don't think it's worth playing a second time. I don't believe I can justify a score any higher than 6. I had to chop this review severely to fit it in 5000 characters.… Expand
  15. njasa10
    Apr 25, 2017
    6
    With time, perhaps I'll look back on Breath of the Wild more fondly than now. It has some major pitfalls and really falls short in a lot of the areas that it is trying to mimic from Western games, namely voice acting, gameplay, lack of enemy diversity, and story (although it was good for a Zelda story but compared to many of the modern games it is similar too such as Far Cry or Horizon, itWith time, perhaps I'll look back on Breath of the Wild more fondly than now. It has some major pitfalls and really falls short in a lot of the areas that it is trying to mimic from Western games, namely voice acting, gameplay, lack of enemy diversity, and story (although it was good for a Zelda story but compared to many of the modern games it is similar too such as Far Cry or Horizon, it is much weaker). Unfortunately, the addition of voice acting is actually a detriment to the game and at times was borderline unacceptable. The gameplay was much less fluid than Far Cry or Horizon or even Assassin's Creed, a series which has been riddled with bugs and frustrating moments. By introducing these open world elements that have become a staple in modern western games, it forced comparisons to those games. However; if Nintendo would have made a more traditional Zelda game then perhaps it would have left me with a more positive impression of the game. As much as I tried to separate my expectations, to be honest, my opinion of the game was hurt by the overwhelmingly positive reviews it received from critics. I try not to let expectations affect me, but unfortunately that's a reality of gaming. The game isn't without it's merits though. The primary positives are the ability to go/climb anywhere and it's choice to not hold your hand (although even here, Dark Souls did it better). I appreciate both of these things immensely and my first few hours and last few hours of the game were very enjoyable. But somewhere around 30 hours in, I became fatigued and was ready to sprint to the finish. In the end I spent nearly 50 hours on my playthrough and had some wonderful moments in the open world and some unfortunately burdensome moments. Overall, it's an experienced that was very mixed for me, with very high highs and some extremely disappointing lows.… Expand
  16. Nightbreedgamin
    Apr 27, 2017
    6
    While no doubt beautiful the legend of zelda breath of the wild is receiving to much credit for what it actually is. Overrated. It brings nothing new we haven't already scene from superior games like Skyrim and The Witcher 3. Weapons break all the time making them borderline useless. Also the open world of Hyrule is surprisingly empty for a open world of it's size. Games like Watch Dog'sWhile no doubt beautiful the legend of zelda breath of the wild is receiving to much credit for what it actually is. Overrated. It brings nothing new we haven't already scene from superior games like Skyrim and The Witcher 3. Weapons break all the time making them borderline useless. Also the open world of Hyrule is surprisingly empty for a open world of it's size. Games like Watch Dog's 2 were not as large but still had more content and several stories at once. Also in this new Zelda game we have no iconic music and terrible voice acting. Also when can we get a villain that actually claims a victory or two? Ganon is getting pitiful. This game does not deserve a perfect score due to it's flaws but anyone who gives it under an average score is obviously a hater.… Expand
  17. Cdom
    Oct 1, 2017
    6
    The game itself may be fun at first but the more you play it the more dull it feels the combat isn't very interesting and the types of weapons that aren't just different because of their higher damage, is low and the enemies aren't much of a threat if you think that the "Master" mode will be more difficult you are wrong, what is actually does is make gameplay MORE dull and boring as theThe game itself may be fun at first but the more you play it the more dull it feels the combat isn't very interesting and the types of weapons that aren't just different because of their higher damage, is low and the enemies aren't much of a threat if you think that the "Master" mode will be more difficult you are wrong, what is actually does is make gameplay MORE dull and boring as the enemies have more health and regenerate said health making any strategy that doesn't involve damaging the enemy every 2.5 seconds invalid. The map design although is pretty enjoyable and by far the best part of the game is just exploring and doing puzzles but even then the puzzles can be pretty dull sometimes. There is also very little true adventure in the game it never feels as though you really are at risk, making you just get bored and listen to a podcast or something while walking through the open plains of hyrule.… Expand
  18. SomeGamerGuy123
    Oct 17, 2017
    6
    Very fun game. However it's 6/10 because

    - Yiga Clan Hideout Stupidity

    - Regular Monsters are stronger then Divine Beast Bosses / Ganon Blights

    - Stupidic one hit attacks from Lizards etc even at 10 hearts with 7/7/7 armor and armor bonus.

    and finally

    - Unrealistic stamina system.
  19. ReiAyanami
    Nov 16, 2018
    6
    To Accurately review such a disappointing & overrated game a lengthy analysis is Requiered. Part 1:

    First let's talk about the hero. In a good story, being an amnesiac means having something interesting in your past. Something that would change you and the world around you upon recollection. That is unless your name is Link. Recovering your lost memories changes absolutely nothing.    To Accurately review such a disappointing & overrated game a lengthy analysis is Requiered. Part 1:

    First let's talk about the hero. In a good story, being an amnesiac means having something interesting in your past. Something that would change you and the world around you upon recollection. That is unless your name is Link.

    Recovering your lost memories changes absolutely nothing. Link remains the same empty shell that he was before. You never know what is going through his head. How can there be no character development for the protagonist? You can end the game without getting any of the memories back and nothing would be different. It goes to show just how shallow the story is, because it only matters that you slay Ganon. You can even skip straight to the castle, dismissing everything else be it the people in need or your lost love. You don't care about them, because you're the legendary hero of legend.

    And if you can beat the final boss so early in the game, it makes it look like Ganondorf was no big deal after all, and your defeat 100 years ago was a mere fluke. You didn't even need to activate any of the ancient machines to stop him.

    The Champions had little screentime, and to think Nintendo actually gave them voices and then had them say things like "Three terminals left. Good luck." What a waste. They should've given Link, the protagonist, a voice instead if they had to be selective like that. Mipha is baring her soul before him, and he's just sitting there, saying nothing. It was so awkward I was expecting her to ask what was wrong with him. They had a close relationship, right? So why is it that you never see Link as much as change his expression when they're together? He's treating her the same way he does any other Champion--the silent treatment. Did he love her? What about his opinion on the princess and her troubles? What does he think of his own position in all that is happening? He's so emotionless, so indifferent, it's just awful.

    With the inclusion of the voice acting, the issue of his silence is elevated in BotW more than in any other Zelda game, and now Link stands out a lot. In a bad way. Nintendo won't consider giving him a voice and personality, because they're stubborn like that and cling to their traditions, but this tradition exists for its own sake, not because it's anything good. The same can be said about the size of this game's world. It's pointless.

    You've heard this one before, how the game world is empty. It's not far from the truth. At one point the game is telling you that you should let the horse run on its own so you can enjoy the scenery. That's this game in a nutshell. You're not supposed to engage in any sort of meaningful activity--just climb someplace high and take in the sights. Appreciate it like you would a beautiful painting. There's not much to play here.

    "But what about the NPCs? The Korok Seeds? There're, like, 900 of them! Isn't that enough to keep you busy, you preachy bastard?"

    It matters not what dungeon it is, because it's always the same design. The first thing you notice is the lack of magical atmosphere. It's very ugly and unsettling somehow. There's a big heart-shaped thing in the middle of the room, which you don't have access to yet. There's nothing to get excited about, however, since it's just a switch™, the last one in a long sequence of switch activating. Your interest is fading with each passing minute, but the real tedium is only about to begin. As you look around, a number of odd objects catch your attention, their purpose unknown. Seems like you can manipulate them with one of your powers, but doing so yields no visible results, so you decide to leave them be and explore the Beast. The layout here can get pretty confusing, and it's changing as well--the design of the dungeon is over-complicated, and it doesn't feel like you're making any progress at all. Gotta love that feeling of being **** stuck. New places bring more of the same + occasional enemies. Let's have a look at them:

    Flying Cow Skull (special ability: bore you out of your mind)

    Tentacle Garbaggio (SA: will touch you)

    Octorobot (SA: irritation booster)

    It's the same trio whichever Beast you choose to enter, and that's pretty bad to say the least.

    So we're back in that same dungeon again, and things haven't changed much. The sight of all this technological **** is starting to make you feel sick. Tentacle Garbaggio is staring at you from the wall. It wants to tell you how it understands your suffering for it's been watching these walls for 100 years straight. You decide to kill it out of mercy, but now there's nobody left to spare YOU from this torture. It's almost as if a special care went into this to ensure you're slowly driven to insanity. The way you progress through the dungeon is one big mess: keep poking around until you bump into a solution. It makes you want to throw your controller through the **** Screen, i hate this game, 5/10    … Expand
  20. Hwl
    Feb 16, 2018
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Well, First of all, if youre a Zelda fan, go buy this game. You will love it, and it will suck all your nostalgy out in seconds. But if youre an demander costumer, youll see that BOTW is not what everybody says, this is not a game of the year. You have probably heard that this game is difficult and does not treat you like a child. FALSE. This game is NOT difficult, this game uses artificial difficulty. EVERYTHING KILLS YOU BY 1 HIT. Till you have a better armour and tons of health. When your stats are comparable to the mons stats EVERYTHING gets so easy. So, this way the game offers you a false sensation of getting better and a false evolution as a player. The game has just 4 type of relevant enemies, that are the same on all the map, on each zone you will bore of just finding bokoblins, moblins and things like that. The game still being childish, the bosses are ridicously easy and the game does not present a single real challengue all the way throught. I'ts true that you have total liberty of solving whichever kind of situation by your own way, but BOTW gets sickly repetitive till you go defeat ganon (who is a real dissappointing boss). The puzzles that you'll find on the sanctuaries will always be or stupidly easy or ridicously incomprehensible. Whenever you need to heal you up you'll have to pause the game and go to your inventory. This constantly gets you off from the expirience and reminds you that it is just a game, and youre almost always able to save your game so you never are on real danger, because if you die, you just have to load your last save and try again. This game rewards bad players instead of good players because if you fail, just try again, but this time you know what you gotta do. The legend of zelda still being a good game, but is truly disapponting if you were expecting all the ratings promised to you.… Expand
  21. LoganMic
    Mar 20, 2018
    6
    From what I have played, it decent. Is it a masterpiece? No, not even close. But it still can be a fun game to play from time to time. So why would I consider this game to be decent? Well the story isn't that interesting, the controls feel a bit too weird, and Link isn't really that of a interesting character at all.
  22. gckwolf
    Apr 23, 2018
    6
    It is a very good title but it lacks a linear history, if you want to know how it is that a whole kingdom ends, it is necessary to do the missions, the bad thing is that they do not give it to you in a linear way, and the environment is so big that even though it is a world Open and full of possibilities sometimes you feel very lonely. You can improve the armor get better weapons or ride aIt is a very good title but it lacks a linear history, if you want to know how it is that a whole kingdom ends, it is necessary to do the missions, the bad thing is that they do not give it to you in a linear way, and the environment is so big that even though it is a world Open and full of possibilities sometimes you feel very lonely. You can improve the armor get better weapons or ride a motorcycle but once you finish the game and all the missions you realize that you wasted more time in getting an item than in the game itself. Its strong point is the simple fact of exploring the whole landscape by breaking weapons and getting them back in the same dungeons… Expand
  23. SplitMind
    Mar 27, 2022
    6
    I missed out on BOTW when it first released, and I think that's where the real problem lies. It is not over 5 years later and the game has not aged well compared to what we have in 2022. I am hot off the heels of completing Elden Ring, so I should have expected this. Still, there are elements of BOTW that deserve criticism even in 2017.

    The graphics are a strange one. Simplistic and    I missed out on BOTW when it first released, and I think that's where the real problem lies. It is not over 5 years later and the game has not aged well compared to what we have in 2022. I am hot off the heels of completing Elden Ring, so I should have expected this. Still, there are elements of BOTW that deserve criticism even in 2017.

    The graphics are a strange one. Simplistic and charming, they are also challenged by performance issues and when confronted by a huge landscape, simplistic graphics can backfire, which it does here.

    The gameplay of BOTW is unfortunately aged and superseded by many other games. It seems Nintendo have tried to capitalise on the open-world trend, but the end result is BOTW playing like a hastily-patched together mixture of games like Skyrim, Witcher and Horizon.

    One of the earliest missions involved marking four shrines on my map, however it was not made clear that the goal of the mission was to travel and complete the shrines - there was no prompt to move the mission along organically. I looked this up online and many others faced the same dilemma, which tells me it is very bad game design to have such ambiguity.

    The most frustrating aspect of this game is just how slow everything is. It takes forever to travel. I see a horse is added eventually but this is really needed from the beginning and fatigued me quickly. The stamina bar is a ludicrous design choice also, making Link the most physically unfit protagonist I've seen.

    BOTW loves to tout itself as open-world, but this is more like an empty world than an open world. It would have been much more enjoyable for me had it been compressed so that there was less banal running and backtracking.

    The story of BOTW plays a minor role and at this point needs a serious shake up. It's as lazy as Mario with the whole princess and bad guy concepts.

    Overall, this is not the masterpiece it's made out to be. I don't even find it to be a quality open-world game of its time when it was released the same year as Horizon Zero Dawn and two years after The Witcher 3. Avoid.    … Expand
  24. FlipSideKiller
    Nov 25, 2018
    6
    I hate to be the opposition, but this game bored me about the time I got to my 3rd divine beast. It wasn’t linear for sure, but it felt... Boring. I felt the combat lacked depth, and was boring. The puzzles were great, but Power Creep is real. You could have a 45 Attack Royal Greatsword, and have it absolutely E X P L O D E D by a Lynel greatsword with 90+. Yeah, I 100%’ed it, so you can’tI hate to be the opposition, but this game bored me about the time I got to my 3rd divine beast. It wasn’t linear for sure, but it felt... Boring. I felt the combat lacked depth, and was boring. The puzzles were great, but Power Creep is real. You could have a 45 Attack Royal Greatsword, and have it absolutely E X P L O D E D by a Lynel greatsword with 90+. Yeah, I 100%’ed it, so you can’t say anything about me not playing it. I found myself playing Hollow Knight, or Stardew Valley more. Good game, but it’s no Masterpiece.… Expand
  25. Rezoman
    Jun 17, 2019
    6
    I see this game as the first step to something great. The game looks beautiful plus combat feels good and at times I really enjoyed it, but unfortunately there are quite a few things I disliked. There are so many empty parts of the world, dungeons are way too easy and repetitive, the weapon deterioration system gets annoying, and the sidequests feel like a chore to do. I think they missedI see this game as the first step to something great. The game looks beautiful plus combat feels good and at times I really enjoyed it, but unfortunately there are quite a few things I disliked. There are so many empty parts of the world, dungeons are way too easy and repetitive, the weapon deterioration system gets annoying, and the sidequests feel like a chore to do. I think they missed the mark with this one but if they were to make a sequel I know that they would get it right.… Expand
  26. Mindurbidniss
    Jan 31, 2022
    6
    The hype for this game is outrageous. Sure it's fun, but it's designed to discourage such paper mache' weapon durability, ultra thin stamina and health meters, quests that are structured to frustrate. This game will take more from you than it will give. Prepare for boredom, frustration, and the urge to just quit. After you can get past these initial feelings the game opens up and you beginThe hype for this game is outrageous. Sure it's fun, but it's designed to discourage such paper mache' weapon durability, ultra thin stamina and health meters, quests that are structured to frustrate. This game will take more from you than it will give. Prepare for boredom, frustration, and the urge to just quit. After you can get past these initial feelings the game opens up and you begin to understand its systems. After reaching this point countless hours will pass and you won't even realize you've been playing that long. A sense of accomplishment will come with each shrine puzzle completed or mini boss defeated. You'll become immersed. If only it were a more reciprocal relationship.… Expand
  27. slohobo
    Feb 4, 2019
    6
    I really did enjoy most of this game due to its puzzle design and combat mechanics. At best I would give the combat mechanics a 7 because it feels cheezy once you get a hang of it (simply switching to master mode won't fix this). The story is absolutely atrocious. I mean -1000 out of 10. If you can get past a terrible story then have fun. The puzzle design is a 8/10 for me. I've seenI really did enjoy most of this game due to its puzzle design and combat mechanics. At best I would give the combat mechanics a 7 because it feels cheezy once you get a hang of it (simply switching to master mode won't fix this). The story is absolutely atrocious. I mean -1000 out of 10. If you can get past a terrible story then have fun. The puzzle design is a 8/10 for me. I've seen better from indie titles.

    I really was expecting more from the story.    … Expand
  28. leguizamo182
    Oct 25, 2018
    6
    It's a good game, but not amazing, very ugly and repetitive for this generation of consoles, i don't like the characters narrative, is very large world but is empty, the repetition of enemies, trees, zones and charactes doest help.
  29. SpiderGuy
    Oct 25, 2018
    6
    A pathetic main story with copy and paste dungeons, with the same objective for each dungeon, copy and paste bosses, the weapon system is terrible due to weapons breaking, and Ubisoft like open world. This game is not worth getting unless you're a Legend of Zelda fan.
  30. CheeseKnight64
    Nov 11, 2018
    6
    Let me preface this review by stating that i thought this game had it's merits and can be a fun experience at times. I truly believe that the next game in the series will be groundbreaking and that BOTW has huge potential, that being said i find the gushing praise this game has received to be completely unfounded, as such i'm going to primarily be covering the issues i found with the gameLet me preface this review by stating that i thought this game had it's merits and can be a fun experience at times. I truly believe that the next game in the series will be groundbreaking and that BOTW has huge potential, that being said i find the gushing praise this game has received to be completely unfounded, as such i'm going to primarily be covering the issues i found with the game and how they deduct from the overall experience. I'm going to be breaking my grievances down into 4 categories: story, world, character progression and gameplay verity.
    Lets start then shall we, breath of the wilds story is incredibly linear, as a newcomer to the series i was surprised by how such a generic fantasy story of (save the girl, defeat the bady) could captivate so many, you follow link as he explores the world, meeting uninteresting characters, adventuring from area to area solving it's respective problem until moving onto the next zone. it doesn't go any deeper than this, with the main villain feeling removed with little to no story elements apart from residing in a menacing castle acting as a final destination. Main quests have poor moment to moment writing and lack an overall polish and scale, with side-quests being nothing but glorified fetch quests seen in many MMO's. Now to the world, it feels empty barren and repetitive, this may have been the intention, but it doesn't change the fact there is a distinct lack of settlements with most areas within a zone feeling similar to the next and devoid of life, not much to say on this topic but in general the game world is slightly bellow average, this is made worse by the game's primary focus being a sandbox. Character progression, again very lacking if not non-existent, link has no progression, he plays the part of the silent protagonist, iv'e seen people defend this as the player being supposed to project themselves on link, but to me it feels like a lack of work and writing, especially when in comparison to other game of the year winners, comparing geralt to link is a futile effort, the writing quality is just day and night. Now to undoubtedly the longest section of my review, gameplay verity. Lets start with shrines, you better like puzzles, because shrines are all but a requirement and with 120 of them using the same assets textures and music, those hours can certainly feel like a chore. Combat verity, this is also lacking, little enemy variation, with only a few types across the game, i'm surprised at the lack of overall criticism on this, the recent god of war was hammered for reusing a few mini bosses, Zelda is far worse with almost every enemy encounter feeling the same and very lacklustre, the weapon durability definitely plays a part in this, the gameplay loop especially at early levels includes a lot of pausing combat (not what you want to be doing to engage a player) to cycle through weapons after one breaks after a few swings, i'm not going to be going too in-depth on this because it's been covered enough, but in my opinion it's a real detriment to the gameplay. Movement verity, this is also lacking, climbing is immensely tedious, not helped by the fact it rains almost all the time inhibiting the player from actually getting anywhere, it involves staring at a blank wall for several minutes until reaching the stop of a cliff or mountain to only travel to the next vertical wall and repeat the process, needless to say this is not the most engaging task and can be completely mind-numbing. People have heralded this "clime anywhere" system as groundbreaking, but it seems no different to what we have seen in games like assassins creed, saints row and shadow of war, with this system being significantly slower and less graceful. And thats it, most of what you'll be doing in this "10/10 experience" ,climbing, running about fighting the same enemies, and doing shrines.

    My overall opinion is that this game will lay the foundation for many great future zelda games but by no means is a masterpiece or even a great game, it has many fundamental flaws that are often looked over by the community and reviewers. But i guess as a reviewer it's much easier to put down a 10/10 score than to face backlash and potentially lose your job. Objectively i think the fun factor can only make up for so much, i voiced my main issues but didn't even cover other problems like sound and music.    … Expand
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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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