Breath of the Wild: First Impressions

Breath of the Wild is out, and we are busy sinking our teeth into it. However, we wanted to share our first impressions of the game with you guys before attempting to do a full review. Let us know what you think in the comments below.

I’m over fifteen hours into the newest entry of The Legend of Zelda, and I’m loving it. I’m starting this review in the middle of a rainstorm which has halted my progress up a mountain that I need to climb. It’s the shortest way to the Sheikah Tower, which will grant me a map of the area. Completing the map will make it easier to go around, find shrines and more. While Link may be the main character, it’s actually the world that is the star of this game. Beautifully crafted and expansive, the five year wait has been well worth it.

I’ve spent nearly my whole Saturday playing Breath of the Wild, and I haven’t finished my primary goal for today — get all of the Sheikah Towers. I think I’m only three or four away. If I hadn’t gotten distracted from everything then I may have been able to to activate all of the towers. But that’s Breath of the Wild’s charm — there’s a lot to do. Often, you will think: okay, I just need to climb this mountain in order to reach this place. Well, you might run into a group of monsters, or you may find a hidden Korok. The landscape is littered with things to do, and secrets to find.

One thing that stuck with me is being able to fly above Zora’s Domain. Then, on top of that being able to explore underneath it. Towns aren’t separately loaded — they are part of the main world. In addition, there’s places I’ve marked on my map that I haven’t been to yet. Players can see tall structures on the other side of the map. It’s really impressive how much can be displayed on the screen at one time, and definitely creates a new standard for gaming.

Personally, I’m obsessed with documenting everything in the game. I’ve collected over ⅓ of the Hyrule Compendium. The fact that you fill it in with your own photos is an amazing way to document your own journey,

The game is nearly perfect. Nearly.The game does suffer from framerate issues here and there, and I wish there was proper button remapping. However, Breath of the Wild is too much fun to let go.

This game was definitely worth the wait. From when I first started the game, I felt a lot of immersion right away. What I’ve heard of the story so far is amazing and the voice acting is pretty good (although the dubbing could use a tiny bit of work.) I’ve probably nearly 10 Hours of the game and I’m definitely not done with this game yet. The amount of free roaming you can do is extensive and being able to catch your own horse makes it a lot more fun. Overall, what I’ve played has been solid and I’m definitely not going to quit this game anytime soon.

I’ve spent practically all weekend on Breath of the Wild, and I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface. Especially where the story is concerned. There’s just so much you can do in this game. I can barely convey just how mind-blowingly brilliant it is. I want to add just some of my thoughts, and I’ll break them down into bullet points for brevity’s sake.

The addition of jumping initially felt utterly bizarre, but I soon got used to it, and can see it as a necessity.
The majority of my time with the game so far has been exploring, foraging, fighting and riding.
The gameplay mechanics are sublime.
The exterior world is SO immersive and visually stunning. Swimming, climbing, flying, riding have never felt more intuitive. You never know what’s around the corner.
There’s so much depth. For example, the rain will make mountain climbing difficult as the slick surface makes it harder to grasp, there has been so much love and care poured into this game and it oozes from every orifice.
The rag doll effect upon death, or injury makes for some hilarious scenarios.
A criticism: the weapons break far too quickly for how many you can carry at any one time.
Another criticism: I don’t like things being locked away exclusively behind Amiibo. Especially Epona.

My opinion so far, based on my experiences with this game is that it’s nothing short of a masterpiece. I have but one fear moving forward. As much as I love this game, I also still love the traditional Zelda games. I don’t want Nintendo to be abstain from returning to the classic formula for future entries.

I started playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild shortly after receiving it and setting up my Switch after attending a midnight release. I’ve put what I estimate to be about 7 to 10 hours into it already. I’m still not that far into it in the grand scheme of things, but I’ve loved every moment I ahve spent with it thus far.

Way back at E3 2016, I was concerned that, despite how awesome the game looked, that it would not truly feel like a Zelda game…Now, though, I can confidently say that my concern is gone, and I adore this game, even as a Zelda game. Two of my favorite things to do in the game are to successfully perform sneakstrikes on enemies, as it is REALLY satisfying to land, and experiment cooking with the various materials.

The exploration and sense of adventure have always been present for me. For the first hour of the game or so, I fumbled with the controls a bit, as there was a lot to remember, and a lot of combinations. Luckily, after that first hour, I was checking the controls less and less, and I was able to quickly adapt. I even, accidentally, found the perfect way to practice landing flurry rushes and counters with the shield: find a Lynel, and just hope for the best. (Seriously, those may just be the hardest enemies that aren’t considered bosses or mini-bosses.)

Admittedly, I’ve probably been putting more time into this than I really should be these last few days, but it is really hard to put down this amazing game.

What are your thoughts of Breath of the Wild? Let us know in the comments.