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Will Breath of the Wild Be Zelda Enough For Fans?

Will Breath of the Wild Be Zelda Enough For Fans?

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild looks like it could be an amazing game. It’s gorgeous. When I tried it at E3 2016, it was easy to control. There seemed to be a lot to do in the demo’s initial area. Nintendo’s trickle feeding us information that makes all of the survival elements sound incredibly engrossing. It seems great. But, does it really seem like a The Legend of Zelda game?

Let’s think about what we’ve learned and seen from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild so far. There are some elements that make its Zelda-ness shine through. We’ve been introduced to the Paraglider, an incidental piece of equipment that will let Link get from the starting area to the next one. The enemies we’ve seen tend to be Bokoblins, monsters we’ve seen in The Wind Waker , Twilight Princess , and Skyward Sword . And naturally, Link is the hero. But, is the rest of the game trying too hard to be like open-world and survival-focused games?

I don’t know about you, but I come to The Legend of Zelda for its puzzles. I love coming across places on the world map, in towns, or in dungeons that reek of mystery. You see a spot, know something needs to happen, and have to suss it out to learn a secret or progress. Breath of the Wilds hasn’t really shown us any challenges of this sort. Sure, there’ve been the standard “beat all enemies to make this treasure appear” incidents in trailers and demos, but nothing has really made us think just yet.

We’ve also yet to see any major dungeon footage from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild . I mean, they’re going to be there. Nintendo has confirmed about 100 Shrines of Trials, which will supposedly have the puzzles that the early footage seems to lack, and four main dungeons. However, the initial Shrine of Trials E3 footage only shows Link traversing a dungeon. We don’t see any challenges popping up in his path. Now, this isn’t exactly a bad thing. Majora’s Mask only had four dungeons. But, we’ve come to expect certain things. When you play a Zelda game, you explore all sorts of dungeons with memorable puzzles keeping you from those boss fights. It’s quite possibly the most important part of the game, and we still haven’t seen any examples of them.

Will Breath of the Wild Be Zelda Enough For Fans?

Finally, there’s a distinct lack of civilization. While much of our time in the The Legend of Zelda series is spent exploring forests, deserts, mountains, ruins, and dungeons, a significant part is also spent interacting with people in towns. The incidental NPCs can be a lot of fun, what with their sidequests, minigames, and general ambiance. This is something else we’ve yet to see in Breath of the Wild . The only person we’ve really interacted with is a mystery man who happens to be in the area when Link wakes up. Hyrule Castle certainly doesn’t seem like it’s open for business. Everything so far seems too focused on Link foraging and surviving in the wilderness.

Again, let me stress that all this doesn’t mean The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild won’t be great. It looks like an amazing game. And change is good. The Wind Waker and Majora’s Mask are unconventional The Legend of Zelda games that managed to become classics. It just seems like this entry could be one of the most unconventional in the series, and people should prepare for that.

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