The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

 Wii U
User Score
8.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2573 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,021 out of 2573
  2. Mixed: 222 out of 2573
  3. Negative: 330 out of 2573
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  1. Wooble
    Mar 3, 2017
    5
    If you want to play this game, get a switch. The Wii U version is not only inferior in terms of resolution, but also suffers from massive frame rate issues. I do not need my games to run at 60 fps (most triple A titles dont), but a stable 30 fps is a must in this day and age. BotW however (at least the Wii U version) does not manage to achieve this in the slightest. The frames jump allIf you want to play this game, get a switch. The Wii U version is not only inferior in terms of resolution, but also suffers from massive frame rate issues. I do not need my games to run at 60 fps (most triple A titles dont), but a stable 30 fps is a must in this day and age. BotW however (at least the Wii U version) does not manage to achieve this in the slightest. The frames jump all over place, mostly hovering somewhere between 20 to 30. Sometimes dropping even lower in especially demanding action scenes or towns, yes towns lag the living *** out of this game. Save your money on this one.… Expand
  2. Youb
    Mar 10, 2017
    5
    Let us get the most pressing matter out of the way first. Zelda: Breath of the Wild is not a good game. There are several perfect scores in the critic page, and even more in the user submitted page, but those of us who are NOT paid to promote the game have a vastly different opinion of it.

    Namely, that this game is incredibly underwhelming, in pretty much every way imaginable. Combat is    Let us get the most pressing matter out of the way first. Zelda: Breath of the Wild is not a good game. There are several perfect scores in the critic page, and even more in the user submitted page, but those of us who are NOT paid to promote the game have a vastly different opinion of it.

    Namely, that this game is incredibly underwhelming, in pretty much every way imaginable. Combat is uninspired, the crafting mechanics feel tacked on, the AI is easily exploited especially when objects are in the way, and the story is.... well... laughably bad. The game features repetitive puzzles and embarrassing use of reskinned enemies. The framerate issues and objects in the distance popping in and out is horrible to experience. This game is simply not worth your time in any sense of the word. It is, in essence, an Assassin's Creed type game. It is promoting itself on this promise of delivering a game with a really cool idea, but the reality of the experience is more than simply lackluster. It is downright pathetic..    … Expand
  3. Purkkot
    Mar 12, 2017
    10
    Espetacular, aaaaaaaaaaaaaa, melhor jogo, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, muito melhor que horizon hahaha, na moral, maravilha cara, aaaaaa, muitos aaaaaaaaaa
  4. YurBoyG
    Mar 18, 2017
    10
    I have played through 40 hours of this Zelda and I can say that this may in fact be my favorite game of all time.

    If you are a fan of the Zelda series, then you will love this game. Period. It feels fresh and new and exciting, while still retaining its Zelda-ness. Never before have I felt more free to explore the kingdom of Hyrule with virtually no limitation; that by itself is an    I have played through 40 hours of this Zelda and I can say that this may in fact be my favorite game of all time.

    If you are a fan of the Zelda series, then you will love this game. Period. It feels fresh and new and exciting, while still retaining its Zelda-ness. Never before have I felt more free to explore the kingdom of Hyrule with virtually no limitation; that by itself is an absolutely amazing thing.

    My personal experience with the game has been amazing. I haven't wanted to put it down and it just keeps getting better and better. I have no idea why there are so many negative reviews on this game. Many from people who either never played it or are leaving 0's because they are mad about the amazing critic reviews it got. Do yourself a favor: If you like Nintendo or like Zelda or are at all open minded about the game, give it a chance. You will be so happy that you did.    … Expand
  5. Nightscape
    Mar 10, 2017
    9
    Breath of the Wild is a great game and may even be the best Zelda game, though it is not without its faults. I would say it is the best open world game Nintendo has ever made and it is great to be able to traverse the world easily, though the mount system could have been a lot better. You will find that the horses limited motion and the inability to call them from long distances makes itBreath of the Wild is a great game and may even be the best Zelda game, though it is not without its faults. I would say it is the best open world game Nintendo has ever made and it is great to be able to traverse the world easily, though the mount system could have been a lot better. You will find that the horses limited motion and the inability to call them from long distances makes it more of a novelty than for practical use. It would have also been nice if Link could actually dive under water. But being able to climb most anything in the game and paraglide off of stuff is a great feeling that should be in more games of this type. I had to cut off a point for the WiiU’s technical problems with the game. First, Almost every time you are in a town you will experience slowdown - it is not bad but is notable. What is the most frustrating is the lack of options for the WiiU controller like in previous Zelda games on the system. It is frustrating to see you ask to put a name in for your horse but can’t use the huge tablet to write it with. Why cant I manage my items from the controller? Why is there no world map on the controller? Why can’t I write down food recipes that I make? The only thing you can do is play the game from the controller like a glorified Gameboy. I also wish there was more variation within what you do in the world. There are many different regions to explore, but you tend to do the same tasks in all of them. Find the large tower to expose the region on the map, look for shines, take out some bandit camps, rinse and repeat. It is all very fun but when you step back you do notice a lack of depth in variation. There are 100 shrines with puzzles and each are quite different and rewarding to solve. However, there is so little in the way of tutorials or guides in the game you will inevitably have go online to learn game mechanics to solves some puzzles. A small school or dojo for you to learn advance mechanics in the game would have been invaluable. Rather than dungeons, they have you solve larger puzzles with a boss at the end. Honestly, this felt weak and there should have been more difference between the shines and the dungeon replacements. However, all the complaints I have listed are pretty small. I do think they add up and take away from the experience a bit, but it is not much. I am not going to call this game perfect like most other reviewers as there are many places they can improve, but what is there is great. If you own a WiiU and enjoy Zleda and/or open-world games, do yourself a favor and pick this up, it really is a fun despite its few flaws and shortcomings.… Expand
  6. J1G5aW
    Mar 10, 2017
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game is great. THE Best Zelda game-play and mechanic wise.

    BUT...

    I don't understand how everybody gives this game a 10 right of the bat when the STORY is a series of flashback, a non existent/present villain and gives you no sense of urgency to save Zelda. ( I understand that the open world and liberty to complete this game in any order you want makes it difficult story wise )

    I recommend this game to anyone, even non-Zelda fans cause this one changes almost every aspects of what I've grown to know as a Zelda fan. It even made me think of Dark souls a bit in a sense that the environment can be your friend and your enemy,

    With this said, I'm a bit disappointed because I was actually hoping for a lot of dungeons (No, I don't think Shrines count haha), and a bit more Zelda Lore ( Triforce, goddesses, a more human-like omnipotent Ganon )

    Still, a great game and THE Best WiiU game available ( Come on, the Switch is not a great deal ATM. )    … Expand
  7. Tacosonmondays
    Mar 13, 2017
    10
    This game is absolutely amazing. The actual amount of dungeon in this game might as well be a metric **** Some of these reviews here are just insane with people giving it scores of barely functioning games. Let me break it down for you. The story and soundtrack are good, but not amazing by any means when compared to the other parts of this game. The combat is fluid and exciting, but canThis game is absolutely amazing. The actual amount of dungeon in this game might as well be a metric **** Some of these reviews here are just insane with people giving it scores of barely functioning games. Let me break it down for you. The story and soundtrack are good, but not amazing by any means when compared to the other parts of this game. The combat is fluid and exciting, but can get difficult at times which is truly a change for the Zelda series. Weapon degradation adds to this difficulty. It may be annoying at first, but is barely a problem later on. I can compare the combat mostly to games like The Witcher 3, but it is still in a class of it's own. The game doesn't hold your hand either, so you have to figure out the combat mechanics for yourself, which is another really nice change for the Zelda series, as for Nintendo games in general. When I started the game up, I expected a long, boring tutorial that would lessen my first impression of the game as in other game, but was very releaved that I got a Dark Souls-esque tutorial instead which is how more games should be in my opinion. Another really nice change to this game is how you can go about the game in any order you want, rather than being forced on a linear path like all the other Zelda games. With this freedom comes a large amount of exploration to be done which is completely optional, but also beneficial to you. Anyway, this is very open-ended game with advanced mechanics, and even though I didn't cover everything in this review, I still thoroughly suggest you get this game.… Expand
  8. RyanJones4268
    Mar 14, 2017
    10
    Been playing this since day one and I can't stop playing, nothing but video game gold. Best game I've played in a very long time, I recommend it to anyone with a wii u or Nintendo switch
  9. AutomaticTaco
    Mar 28, 2017
    2
    Why the low score? Several reasons. The first are completely hotfix-able if Nintendo wishes to resolve them.

    The Yiga Clan Hideout. You will be forced to play stealthy or die to one-hit enemies. Okay, fine. Spend 20 minutes or so learning how to get to the final boss the first time. Then spend 5-10 minutes doing it again. And that is only if you were lucky enough to save once manually    Why the low score? Several reasons. The first are completely hotfix-able if Nintendo wishes to resolve them.

    The Yiga Clan Hideout. You will be forced to play stealthy or die to one-hit enemies. Okay, fine. Spend 20 minutes or so learning how to get to the final boss the first time. Then spend 5-10 minutes doing it again. And that is only if you were lucky enough to save once manually as I did. Why? Oh, yeah. Master Kohga has a tendency to despawn if he is hit at the right moment with an arrow. The Yiga Clan Hideout is ridiculous to begin with and we are forced to suffer this insult to injury. Forced stealth with one-hit capable enemies who somehow prevent Fairy or Zora revival is just ridiculous in-and-of itself. Add this mess with the boss to the mix and we have this intolerable circumstance.

    Tip for Nintendo: Please fix the boss. And fix the entire encounter while you are at it please. It is beyond maddening.

    Weapon durability is horrendous. Weapons rarely last a single fight. Yet somehow your armor is completely unbreakable. I guess we should just swing our armor at the enemies in the game. And if only we could craft weapons from the same materials our amazing unbreakable armor is made from to make weapons.

    Tip for Nintendo: Increase weapon durability. Give us a durability status bar. And, give us more options for later weapons what are unbreakable made from the material of our armor which is apparently immune to breaking.

    Your horse. Somehow in a land of magic and miracles, your horse must strictly obey the laws of in-game physics. You cannot summon your horse. If your horse is not in range when you whistle it will not come when called. Okay, so, get back to your horse or get to a stable and board and then take your horse. Fine. The annoyance? The annoyance comes with how often you must leave your horse behind. And then, either getting back to the poor beast becomes a chore or starting back, once again, from the nearest stable.

    Tip for Nintendo: How about, you just whistle and the horse enters stage left; or behind? It would work just fine.

    Dungeons? Trials. Okay 120 trials. 4 divine beast encounters. Sadly all lack the proper dungeon look and feel. I am fine with them. I just wish they had included a handful of solid dungeon content worthy of previous Zelda titles.

    Tip for Nintendo: Please do not forget the dungeon content.

    Music is atmospheric but overall lacking.

    Tip for Nintendo: Bring back more sections with catchy Zelda-themed music.

    Finally, the story. Yes, I know, it is Zelda. The excuse is harder to make in 2017 than it would have been in 2002 or 1995 or even 1985. The story is okay. Not bad. Not great. Just okay. This last one has no easy fix so I will simply accept that this is Zelda and that Nintendo is stuck on that front.

    Tip for Nintendo: While I am not expecting the Witcher 3 in terms of content or subject matter, try taking the Zelda approach for a more expansive story and not just an expansive game world.

    In short, if they fix these issues I will reconsider. Until that point, too many bugs or just plain poorly chosen game design sections to recommend.    … Expand
  10. CaptainMatt
    Mar 19, 2017
    10
    Amazing graphics, amazing story, and Amazing AI. What else is there to say.
    Breath of the Wild manages to create the most expansive and dense game, I've ever played. It manages to make the gameplay feel progressively more challenging, without ever creating a sense of you being overpowered. NPCs are fun to talk to, and are even pretty adaptive.
    Probably the best feature of this game is    Amazing graphics, amazing story, and Amazing AI. What else is there to say.
    Breath of the Wild manages to create the most expansive and dense game, I've ever played. It manages to make the gameplay feel progressively more challenging, without ever creating a sense of you being overpowered. NPCs are fun to talk to, and are even pretty adaptive.
    Probably the best feature of this game is how well balanced it is. Everything in the game, even things that can severely hurt the player can be used to the player's advantage, if they are clever enough. For this reason BoTW feels incredibly rewarding and enjoyable.    … Expand
  11. ThoughtsinChaos
    Mar 22, 2017
    9
    Particularly refreshing experience so far. I have experienced about 10 hours of gameplay and probably just as much or more time watching others stream and all having different experiences. It's not perfect in the technical department but it's just the type of Zelda I was ready for.
  12. RainbowStaple
    Mar 15, 2017
    8
    I've played the game and it does not feel like Zelda in itself , but it is a good game and I am glad they are taking a new direction but I feel like this isn't for me, but if you prefer more freestyle games then pick this game up!
  13. Baklavah
    Mar 15, 2017
    9
    LoZ has come a LONG way from the old NES version. I've awaited this title since it was first announced. Now that it's here, and even though I have yet to finish it, I wish to review it and give you my opinion.

    (Also apparently at least 170 millennials want the game to cater to them and make them gods. Screw your negative reviews/scores. Go play Hello Kitty Island Adventure. More your    LoZ has come a LONG way from the old NES version. I've awaited this title since it was first announced. Now that it's here, and even though I have yet to finish it, I wish to review it and give you my opinion.

    (Also apparently at least 170 millennials want the game to cater to them and make them gods. Screw your negative reviews/scores. Go play Hello Kitty Island Adventure. More your speed I think)

    Right out of the gate, Breath of the Wild wows you with its graphical fidelity and lack of knowing what the heck is going on. After some trial by fire and figuring out the basic idea of what's happened in the land of Hyrule, you get a sense of "Where do I start...?" from the world. Vast landscapes, and the ability to go literally ANYWHERE you can possibly see, are quite daunting at first. However, the thrills of adventure, discovery and the chance to test your mettle loom FAR above that overwhelming feeling of "just how big is this world?"

    From combat to exploration, Breath of the Wild has given me all kinds of fuzzies. Sure, the brittle as hell weapons are a nuisance... at first. Once you figure out where to find some decent goodies, you find yourself hoarding rusty weapons to feed to Octoroks, hunting down overworld mini-bosses and making note of enemies that drop some NICE pieces of equipment (shields, weapons, bows, arrows). Thankfully, the use of a "blood moon" respawn mechanic allows you to make good use of these. Another thing that let's you keep track of them all is the "tablet map PIN" mechanic. You can put pins to depict all kinds of things on the map! I have locations of mini-bosses pinned ALL over the place! And I still have yet to unlock the whole map!

    Once you've found yourself a direction to head in, some useful equipment and a general thirst for adventure, you find that hunting down the shrines (of which there are 120), finding all of the landmarks for your memories, conquering all of the dungeons and defeating all of the bosses rather attractive. Every conquest is more enjoyable than the last. Figuring out something's weakness and then exploiting it is a blast. Hell, even finding new ways to approach a situation are just as fun! There are MANY ways to play through the massive world. Stealth tactics and assassination of most enemies, melee (sword n board, 2-handed heavies, mid-ranged spears), ranged (many kinds of bows, tons of different types of arrows, magic rods), dodge-triggered counter-attacks, special weapon abilities, etc. You can tune your playstyle to the game's massive open world. Some things work better than others in certain situations, but for the most part you can play the way you want!

    From wrangling horses to mountain climbing to paragliding, you have MANY options for exploration. Don't wanna do the dungeons right away? No problem! Explore the WHOLE world first! Your inner completionist is twitching? BotW has you covered! Find and snapshot EVERY single creature, weapon, item in the game to add them to your compendium for more detailed information! Don't want to lose the cool new weapon you picked up? Make note of where you found it (if it wasn't from a chest) and come back to get more when everything respawns! Found some new fashion that you REALLY want but is kind of expensive? Go farm precious gems from the big stone mini-bosses and sell em to get precious rupees! You do you, when you want!

    The one thing I WILL say is that the unique weapons you get from each race can be replaced... for a rather expensive venture. I will refrain from using these weapons until I get to Hyrule Castle, so that I can use them on the way to the final boss! They have good durability and excellent attack power, but having to replace them when I'm a metric ton of hours away from the end of the game just feels silly. Them, plus the Master Sword... they only take up 5 slots total, and I currently only have 3 (MS, Zora and Goron weapons). The rest are taken up by various weapons for various situations.

    One of these days I will get to finish this game, and every step Link takes will be more exciting than the last.

    My hat goes off to you, Nintendo. You've outdone yourselves this time. I wish that the earlier weapons in the game weren't as fragile as crystal wine glasses, but whatever. That is my only gripe. As such, 9/10! Bravo!    … Expand
  14. tremault
    May 21, 2019
    5
    This game is badly badly flawed, in so many ways. It just falls apart the more I play it and makes me feel worse and worse.

    I have given this game a number of chances. I think this is the third time I have stopped playing and I can't see any hope for it. First time I came upon some of the surface flaws. Weapons breaking. This is the number 1 flaw in this game. I really don't care what    This game is badly badly flawed, in so many ways. It just falls apart the more I play it and makes me feel worse and worse.

    I have given this game a number of chances. I think this is the third time I have stopped playing and I can't see any hope for it. First time I came upon some of the surface flaws. Weapons breaking. This is the number 1 flaw in this game. I really don't care what their theory was for why this was a good idea, it plainly was not. It discouraged me from going anywhere or doing anything. every time I saw a monster or a tree or anything that required a weapon, I avoided it. what is the point in using your weapons when the trade-off is just not worth it. it's not a sensible risk. you would have to be an idiot to attack a group of enemies in this game, because you come out worse than you went in. for the most part when playing this first time, I avoided most encounters, I avoided exploring and I only ever used the worst weapon I had in my inventory at any time. because why would i want to break the best weapon I have? I might need it later. The whole system is just ridiculous. If I could repair them , then it might have made it better, but as it happens, it just discourages you from actually playing the game. I played this until I had defeated the first beast, in zora domain. at this point I felt like the story, the quests, everything was too disjointed to make it worthwhile playing with this weapon breaking dynamic. I was in Akkala and I realised the only way to get any fun out of the game was to be free to explore. so I quit.

    Second time I played it, was after getting latest CEMU and the unbreakable weapon mod. This made a big difference. I finally felt free to actually play the game. I knew there was a carpenter in Akkala somewhere do I decided to explore with that as my basis. it felt like the only interesting thing that I had in my mind from my previous playthrough. So I spent a long time exploring that place. found some korok seeds, completed some shrines, smashed some rocks, picked up some plants, etc. I was just enjoying the game for 'what it is'. I played this way for about a week. I found the carpenter, and found the workshop. Carpenter just gave me some fetch quests, and the workshop was a tiny bit of story but nothing really major. It was at this point I realised that there wasn't really much in this game other than collecting things. the shrines are boring and dull. just a bunch of mini puzzles. I can get that from any indie game on steam. I don't do that because I don't like dull repetitive puzzles. I don't see any point in just collecting stuff. I certainly don't feel any kind of reward from the damn koroks. So it was here that I realised I was wasting my time. I was going to quit, but I noticed there was DLC available.

    Third chance I gave this game. the DLC. I learnt I could get a thing for my horse so that I could teleport and actually bring my horse with me. that makes a big difference. so I went on that quest to do that. not a great quest to be honest. it involved looking for a bunch of places with very vague and obscure clues. for something that is supposed to help you to actually explore, the designers thought it made sense for you to have already explored everywhere. so it's an actual pointless item, that is only really available to the players who no longer need it. I heard about other things in this game that do the same thing. oh well, I went on the quest. what was it. a couple of treasure chests stuck in the ground. not flair at all. so that was disappointing. There is so much more wrong at this point I started to get angry. if it's raining, you can't see, so you have to wait, but you can't 'wait' because you can't make a fire in the rain. even under a shelter. There is so much more bad stuff, and no good stuff. no reward, no story development. The game is just terrible. This is like skyrim without the quest lines or interesting stories.    … Expand
  15. xfury_goat
    Apr 21, 2017
    9
    Does pretty much everything perfect the only the problem i had with it was getting bored of the quests one of my most favorite games ever it lived it to the hype
  16. Meta1234
    Mar 17, 2018
    4
    From an until recently lifelong Nintendo fan:

    This is a Zelda game but it has got its flaws. They should be mentioned and the eternal Nintendo nostalgia should be put aside because it has metaphorically become a source of sickness. Starting with the hardware and the frame drop is a source of frustration. A company the size and economic power of Nintendo should be doing better than    From an until recently lifelong Nintendo fan:

    This is a Zelda game but it has got its flaws. They should be mentioned and the eternal Nintendo nostalgia should be put aside because it has metaphorically become a source of sickness.

    Starting with the hardware and the frame drop is a source of frustration. A company the size and economic power of Nintendo should be doing better than this. It should be avoiding the eternal excuse it is the game experience that matters. Lower quality graphics can be ok but frame drop is unacceptable, anti-game experience and repeat frustrating.

    Continuing with the gameplay, the one-shot game overs and the constant breaking of the weapons is another source of frustration. It even goes beyond frustration and generates anger in the player. Travelling long distances for exploring and suddenly getting one-shot is not nice. This is a first open world for Zelda and the flaws are more than visible. The balance in the open-world playing experience is not there.

    Moving on to cinematics and voice-acting. Once again the experience lacks completeness. There is voice acting in some scenes but once the cinematic is over it goes back to the text boxes. Compared to a game like AC where there is voice acting even during gameplay e.g. when following an ally, Nintendo is lagging far behind in this sector.

    Lastly, there is a robotic style of developing a game from the side of Nintendo. What models have we got in our inventory? this and that ok how to combine them together? ok then now use them. First make the models, then robotically dress it up with some reused storyline. Does it fit? Who cares? After creating a story timeline in Hyrule Historia probably for selling a few copies of a book, now it is scrapped just like that. The story is meshed up again.

    And my final thoughts: It does not mean that a pioneer in the pixel-era of gaming should continue getting praise even for underperforming open-world modern games, just because they pioneered back in the 80s. If a game like Far Cry gets 8 points on average, when it is much more advanced in gameplay balance and cinematics and overall feeling, then Breath of the Wild is half that and can only get a 4 from my side.    … Expand
  17. Fetch11
    Mar 12, 2017
    4
    I hate to score this so low, given its astounding attention to detail, its many great features and (when it works) its incredibly engrossing gameplay. However, the frame rate issues present (on the Wii U version I've got at least) are utterly unacceptable. I don't overly care about technical issues in and of themselves, and when the art style of a game is fantastic (such as in the WindI hate to score this so low, given its astounding attention to detail, its many great features and (when it works) its incredibly engrossing gameplay. However, the frame rate issues present (on the Wii U version I've got at least) are utterly unacceptable. I don't overly care about technical issues in and of themselves, and when the art style of a game is fantastic (such as in the Wind Waker) the numbers being crunched are irrelevant. However, as I went on in the Wii U version, I found the frame rate drops in all villages, most stables and some other areas totally devastating to the experience of immersion. I don't know how this has got past the reviewers - perhaps they all played the Switch version (I don't know; I haven't played it.) Whatever the case, Nintendo need to fix this. And I'm not the only one experiencing these issues - anyone who has got in far enough to see the locations will be able to confirm what I am saying is true. A very sad missed opportunity. Let's hope Nintendo fix the issue - but I have a feeling they sadly won't for the Wii U version...… Expand
  18. MetaAccount
    Mar 12, 2017
    1
    A massive downgrade from the initial showings of the game, yet the performance of the game has not gone up in the slightest.
    This game is capped at 30 frames per second, rather than Nintendo's standard of 60, yet it is unable to maintain even 30, especially during boss battles where it is most important to have a steady framerate. The framerate goes even further down when the switch is    A massive downgrade from the initial showings of the game, yet the performance of the game has not gone up in the slightest.
    This game is capped at 30 frames per second, rather than Nintendo's standard of 60, yet it is unable to maintain even 30, especially during boss battles where it is most important to have a steady framerate. The framerate goes even further down when the switch is docked, since the resolution is higher when docked than in portable mode.
    A 10 out of 10 means perfection, but nothing that does not run well can be considered perfect.
    It is a good game ruined by bad performance.    … Expand
  19. Stopdumbingdown
    Jan 7, 2020
    5
    wow
    unbelievable
    this game is without doubt my new most OVERRATED game of all-time no progression too easy with manufactured early “difficulty” that isnt hard at all meaningless story worthless npc’s horribly boring “open world” poorly implemented degradation system laughably short enemy type list its a game that epitomizes mediocrity, yet, is praised due to it being a    wow
    unbelievable

    this game is without doubt my new most OVERRATED game of all-time

    no progression
    too easy with manufactured early “difficulty” that isnt hard at all
    meaningless story
    worthless npc’s
    horribly boring “open world”
    poorly implemented degradation system
    laughably short enemy type list

    its a game that epitomizes mediocrity, yet, is praised due to it being a zelda game

    it can easily be proven to be a perfectly mediocre game from a factual standpoint as video games have easily identifiable characteristics that can be objectively critiqued

    subjectivity is certainly an aspect of SPECIFIC conclusions of a review, but, reviews can easily be separated from such subjective components

    for example: “fun” is completely subjective (lol, some review sites actually think thats the most important)

    this game can be proven to not even be a top5 zelda game

    breath of the wild now holds the trophy for “mile wide, inch deep”

    fwiw: my initial review got censored    … Expand
  20. DevilBlackDeath
    Mar 22, 2017
    10
    Was skeptical with trailers and gameplay, still got the game because I'm a fan of Zelda and good open world (you know, not that generalized **** we're getting everyday now, for example in MGS5) and I as thus I was still hoping for the game to be good.

    Well it's not good. It's stellar. It's undoubtedly the best open world to date. The game gives a degree of freedom that no game, retro,    Was skeptical with trailers and gameplay, still got the game because I'm a fan of Zelda and good open world (you know, not that generalized **** we're getting everyday now, for example in MGS5) and I as thus I was still hoping for the game to be good.

    Well it's not good. It's stellar. It's undoubtedly the best open world to date. The game gives a degree of freedom that no game, retro, modern, AAA or indie has ever given yet. You can do anything, in any order. Most signature possibilities of the serie (legendary items, important characters) live alongside more modern ARPG features (equipments and armor, choice when levelling up, "respec) but they're not given out to you in an easy to access menu or displayed obviously on the map and available in every city. No you get to explore a huge world that's living and get these features as you discover the world. The weapons you get are gradually better through probably a pretty smart system that's nearly invisible (honestly, it's mostly just you taking on more dangerous enemies with better drops.

    And it all works logically. Cooking is logical and often yields the results you expect once you understand how it works, enemies ALWAYS drop their equipment, it's not random, the physic system is absolutely wonderful.

    The story, while not overly present, is more than decent, decent enough for a Zelda game. And let's face it, it had to be quite absent and in the background. That's the only way so much freedom could work. You wouldn't be wandering the world for tens of hours without accomplishing a single quest line if you had any primary quest to follow with a single target to go to. Most completionists end up still doing the main quests before anything else in ARPGs. Doing this prevents this. You are greeted soon enough by the very main quest, but the game openly tells you "go in this place OR this place OR this place OR this place". And even if you don't plan on doing any wandering first, you will most probably end up doing some anyway.

    So yes, yes the game deserves a 10. For giving the biggest freedom a game ever has, one of the most actually lively world, and one that will not be equaled before probably the next mainline Zelda (I still hope "secondary" Zelda will keep the standard pattern with maybe some inspiration from BotW, and mainline go the BotW with enhancements, if that's even possible).

    Yeah the game is not the future super realistic PBR game, but seriously, if you play video games for the fun of it, who cares ? To be honest, realistic graphics are getting really dull by now. When I play games like this Zelda I almost have a hard time going back to realistic or pseudo realistic looking games because of how awfully bland that looks.    … Expand
  21. Hawkzro
    Mar 20, 2017
    10
    Alright, so I originally gave this game an 8, mainly due to the annoyances that were the major frame drops in many parts of the game... however, after putting another 20 or so hours into the game after my initial 20 hours in, I have to give this game a 10! I've ran into a couple of areas and just had some major WOW moments that just make it all worth it! This game may not be the Link toAlright, so I originally gave this game an 8, mainly due to the annoyances that were the major frame drops in many parts of the game... however, after putting another 20 or so hours into the game after my initial 20 hours in, I have to give this game a 10! I've ran into a couple of areas and just had some major WOW moments that just make it all worth it! This game may not be the Link to the Past or Ocarina of Time that some people want it to be, but this game is no doubt a masterpiece on it's own. It reminds me of when Ocarina of Time came out and then every adventure/puzzle game afterwards tried to take from those great ideas for their own use. I believe that the same is going to be said for Breath of the Wild, many open world games are going to take from this because it's just that damn good!!… Expand
  22. pokemon12
    Mar 23, 2017
    1
    Not worthy of the Zelda franchise.
    zelda is supposed to have great music but this game doesnt have music!
    i bet 90% of people will never replay breath of the wild!
  23. JFlag
    Jul 8, 2017
    3
    Interesting what the Metacritic user data shows. As of April 15 2017 and over 10,000 user votes on both platforms, an analysis of the number of people who rated the game positively (rather than mixed/negative) relative to other Zeldas showed some interesting findings Nintendo should take on board. 1 in 3 people, globally, didn’t rate it positively compared to 1 in 10 for major 3D ZeldaInteresting what the Metacritic user data shows. As of April 15 2017 and over 10,000 user votes on both platforms, an analysis of the number of people who rated the game positively (rather than mixed/negative) relative to other Zeldas showed some interesting findings Nintendo should take on board. 1 in 3 people, globally, didn’t rate it positively compared to 1 in 10 for major 3D Zelda games of the past (OoT, MM, WW, TP). Older titles like Link to the Past and its modern sequel, Link Between Worlds, are both also ranked at only 1 in 14 and 1 in 10, respectively, not rating it positively. This clearly shows that age or format of a Zelda game is less important than whether it employs a winning formula—a formula for enjoyment, satisfaction, and fun. Breath of the Wild along with Skyward Sword are the LEAST-LIKED major 3D Zelda games Nintendo have ever released by a substantial margin according to these figures, despite what the North American-centric internet media headlines claim, or what the numerically insignificant ‘critic’ reviews suggest. Good gaming formulas work; trying something new for the sake of it using the Zelda IP, just because a few loud mouths claim the ‘Zelda formula’ is ‘getting tired’, is a recipe for losing respect. After two poor major 3D Zeldas in a row now, I personally can’t buy another one until I’m convinced that it’s good from other sources. It’s a good job the astoundingly enjoyable Link Between Worlds was released recently, otherwise I’d have lost all hope for the series. LttP is an utterly marvellous experience; take note of why and please use that in future Zelda experiences. The game was legendary because of the stunning quality of the musical composition and scoring, the gameplay pace, and the rate at which fun things happened during uninterrupted gameplay. It was tight, original, had a very high ‘fun-density’, and oozed character—all completely absent in SS and BoTW…

    Really didn’t enjoy this game despite being very open-minded about it in the run up. It was a mediocre game in itself, and a very, very poor Zelda, relative to the best of past games, new and old. The Metacritic user data also shows this to be the case.

    My biggest complaints are:
    • No sense of designed adventure; felt more like a large complex technical demo than a well-crafted adventure experience. Like Skyward Sword and unlike any 3D Zelda game before it, I established no emotional attachment. This was principally due to the lack of a high quality, emotive, lyrical musical composition written by a master composer who understands the emotional language of music. I can’t stress this enough. Kondo was clearly inspired by the work of geniuses Goldsmith and Williams in the mid 70s-mid 80s in the movie world, and is himself a genius, with strengths in lyricism. This game was emotionally dead and I didn’t bond with it at all.

    • Didn’t feel like I accomplished anything meaningful while playing. Felt like a repetitive grind-fest or a slow, arduous, boring trudge through a mostly baron world. Climbing in particular was absolutely not fun; it was slow and often frustrating. Wandering around collecting stuff for the sake of it, to later grind blindly into materials for things which wear out in 2 minutes. Many gamers around the world don’t like farming—certainly not in a Zelda game! Of the 140 hours sank into this game to achieve 99% completion, about 120 were grinding and walking around/climbing in the empty world, not enjoying myself. I forced myself to get through it because I’d paid so much for it.

    • Cut scenes added very little and voice narration was disruptive to any emotional attachment. Due to the do-anything-without-restriction approach, I also saw them out of order; I saw key characters before I’d met them and lost any sense of story linearity—much like reading a book random chapter at a time.

    • Being one hit-killed, even when experienced, was deeply frustrating. Making a game challenging doesn’t mean the fun has to be taken out of it. This was just bad design.

    • The Wii U features being dropped (causing a delay in release) so they wouldn’t outshine the retrograde Switch console version was offensive and the game suffers for it—particularly when you contrast to how the beautifully done Wind Waker HD remake utilised the second screen.

    • The tedious weapon breaking every few hits made the combat a completely unsatisfying chore. There was no incentive to work for a nice weapon because it breaks in the same few hits as a plain old tree stick.

    I could go on and list several other major points… Many others have said similar things in the non-polarised mixed reviews. I just don’t understand why so many people thought this game was outstanding. Less would have been much, much more.    … Expand
  24. 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
  25. Merchant
    Mar 15, 2017
    1
    good looking game.
    Iconic franchise.
    Huge world. Lots to do. massive frame rate drops. Weapon durability isn't fun. Game encourages you to avoid fights to protect your gear. the puzzles are easy and the game tells you the answers. The game's difficulty decreases the longer you play. Lacks music. Story is flat. Ending is anticlimactic and the final boss is a free ride. Low    good looking game.
    Iconic franchise.
    Huge world.
    Lots to do.

    massive frame rate drops.
    Weapon durability isn't fun.
    Game encourages you to avoid fights to protect your gear.
    the puzzles are easy and the game tells you the answers.
    The game's difficulty decreases the longer you play.
    Lacks music.
    Story is flat.
    Ending is anticlimactic and the final boss is a free ride.
    Low replay value.    … Expand
  26. KaleidStone
    Mar 13, 2017
    10
    No hype: BoTW is a stellar game. It is a video game, thought out on such a level, most can't communicate or accept this Opus. It is a Swan Song to gaming.

    This sort of gaming, not based on OCD, list-checking performance goals and gambling theory, has become a relic, a blimp of what gaming was between the Arcade era and the now online era. This game reinvents gaming, by simply, being    No hype: BoTW is a stellar game. It is a video game, thought out on such a level, most can't communicate or accept this Opus. It is a Swan Song to gaming.

    This sort of gaming, not based on OCD, list-checking performance goals and gambling theory, has become a relic, a blimp of what gaming was between the Arcade era and the now online era. This game reinvents gaming, by simply, being a well crafted GAME.

    What makes BoTW such a GAME? It's breath of course, is considerably more than we've seen before. Not only is it a boggling game world, but the density and detail is by far and above any contemporaries. The amount of brush-stroke-to-canvas, hands-on detail found in this game rivals any triple A and any indie title to date.
    From physics, to incorporating existing Zelda combat-mechanics, unto the shear scope and newtonian reactions of the animations, this game is quality. It is not just another stretched and swathed over landscape with icons, narrativeless procedural game-scripts, and little interaction, but it is exactly what we thought last gen was going to promise.

    The best analogy is the wonderment we collectively felt for RDR, but even that game was shallow and thin, where Zelda is constantly surprising you with depth and consistency. For instance, I spent a considerable period trying to tame horses, when others were doing it in minutes at the stable near Hetano , I spent 7 collective hrs on a plateau above the region. I used stealth, endurance, and stamina potions and an extra bar of stamina, from horse to horse and the same horse over and over, but constantly met the fate of bucks to the ground. I came back the next day to the area, spent 10 min, and was able to tame that same very heard, some of whom looked identical to the ones the night before. Perhaps it was a glitch, or my tactics although unaltered the second time, were incorrectly applied, but the fact is, for all the tedium, I wanted those horses, and the game remembered the time and effort.

    Those horses all had great stats and one of them turned out to be one of the monster horses in the game, so the work was worth the reward. What I was doing, the tedium, was rewarded with better horses and actually never felt like tedium. It wasn't reminiscent of those procedural quest in DAI. It was a fluid mechanic and I felt compelled to do it because of desire for a horse and transportation, not to fill time on my game playing schedule. That's a microcosim of what and how this game operates, and a rather poor one, because much of the game is so memorable and novel so consistently. It's hard to hark back to ex, because of how organic and fantastical the elements of the game world fluently interact.

    In regards to review artist complaints, they are unfounded and should be ignored by the consumer. Sterling gave a less than precise indictment of BoTW. His review is a perfect example, like some users, that what is being critiqued isn't this game, but it is being made an example of for the industry as a whole. Due to the content of Sterling's critique, this leaning is toward a continual industry status quo.

    The procedural aspects of BoTW, the food cooking, resource collection, weapon deterioration, horse catching and retrieval, stamina during climbs and swims, all are inter-dependent of the other, and work in such an organic, streamlined fashion, the action is rather all ways organic, contextual, and engrossing. Figuring out how to rpg climb up mtn ranges, with the stamina bar acting as a diminishing ticker minigame (and actual mechnics to climb), makes for some highly satisfying traversal, sky-boxes, and topographical depth to exploration. Rather than slip slides, glitches between walls, and falls, you are in control of your able-bodied vehicle, Link, and not glitching your way to exploration. As well the amount of weapons and their incorporated styles, means for action packed survival escapade, where weapons are always in supply, but availability and usefulness, all readily based on the user's skill in the heat of action.

    Addressing Wiiu performance issues, the most I have seen is late pop-ins of npcs, never second long frame-rate or controller lags. The game is consistently beautiful throughout all environmental interactions and looks like the WiiU's swansong, just like it feels. In essence, scores demeaning this game based on performance are false critiques, and do not judge this game and it's ability but the anit-wiiu thesis. If these problems aren't consistent on my WiiU, then they are not consistent malfunctions in the actual software. My 60+ hours in, glitches and crashes are not apparent.

    Resource collection is useful, rewarding, and easy, and the combination mechanic is entertaining and deep. The smallest mechanics, are fun, glitch free, and rewarding, but mostly they are all conducive to gaming and being in a game, even though they readily interact like fluid nature. This is a GAME, not an imitation    … Expand
  27. BiFrost
    Mar 14, 2017
    1
    How can they release a game that looks like it was made pre-2010? It looks so bad and bland i felt sorry for my eyes. When i port my switch to the TV, it looks much worse. The open world aspect of the game is boring but the game killer for me is the frame-rates issue.
  28. NatDiamonds
    Apr 22, 2017
    0
    A very bad game in my opinion, which is only Zelda by the name, the mechanics give the impression of being very varied but after a while they become repetitive leaving you alone with that expectation of seeing what will happen with your seemingly realistic system Of physics, it is those kind of games that first you are attracted to have a great map and many objectives to discover, but thatA very bad game in my opinion, which is only Zelda by the name, the mechanics give the impression of being very varied but after a while they become repetitive leaving you alone with that expectation of seeing what will happen with your seemingly realistic system Of physics, it is those kind of games that first you are attracted to have a great map and many objectives to discover, but that ends up leaving just because it is too long and nothing linear, very bad adaptation of the bomb system and the little comfort that Is to finish a sanctuary compared to previous deliveries, without words, it is better to wait for Nintendo to publish a new delivery more faithful to what a Zelda really is.… Expand
  29. tsumasaki
    Mar 20, 2017
    1
    the new zelda is not zelda
    zelda is magic
    your music is horrible the music at game is very important ocarina of time , major mask, wind waker , twilight princess since skysward zelda have lost your magic my score is 1 the game is short, very expensive zelda is a game very popular and am fan of it i thought that the new zelda will to be better that ocarina of time or a remake    the new zelda is not zelda
    zelda is magic
    your music is horrible
    the music at game is very important
    ocarina of time , major mask, wind waker , twilight princess
    since skysward zelda have lost your magic
    my score is 1
    the game is short, very expensive
    zelda is a game very popular
    and am fan of it
    i thought that the new zelda
    will to be better that ocarina of time
    or a remake of ocarina of time
    the art is very bad.    … Expand
  30. ArtSth
    Mar 13, 2017
    4
    I do not understand how such games can be played in 2017. This game is straight from 2005. But fanatics do not understand this, they will blindly defend any game to the end. The game has absolutely nothing in what it can compete with AAA projects.
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Awards & Rankings

1
#1 Best Wii U Game of 2017
1
#1 Most Discussed Wii U Game of 2017
1
#1 Most Shared Wii U Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
96

Universal acclaim - based on 13 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 13
  3. Negative: 0 out of 13
  1. Video Chums
    Apr 10, 2017
    91
    The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is an absolute joy to play as it's an undeniably rewarding adventure set in a deeply immersive world. Although the experience is weighed down by a few minor problems, the overall journey is one that no gamer will soon forget.
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  2. AusGamers
    Mar 28, 2017
    92
    Breath of the Wild can’t be compared to the likes of The Witcher 3 or Skyrim because it’s not trying to be those games -- it’s a Nintendo game -- and series -- all grown up. It has a lot to offer and will keep you engaged for lengthy periods of time. If you’re playing on Switch as you absolutely should be, then you can also Zelda wherever you go. It’s arguably not the best Zelda game, but damn, it might be the most polished, and the most ambitious.
    Read full review
  3. DarkStation
    Mar 20, 2017
    100
    Does it have the best combat system in the world? No. Is it the best looking game out there? No. Does it have the best RPG soundtrack ever? No. Can the game make you feel like you are eight years old again? Hell yes. It certainly had that effect with me. It has been a long time since exploring, fighting, and adventuring has so consistently brought a smile to my face. Breath of the Wild is such a wonderful experience that once you play it, you will likely never look at open world games the same again.
    Read full review
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