The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Wii U box art
Developer(s) Nintendo EPD
Publisher(s) Nintendo
Director(s) Hidemaro Fujibayashi
Producer(s) Eiji Aonuma
Artist(s) Satoru Takizawa[1]
Series The Legend of Zelda
Platform(s) Wii U, Nintendo Switch
Release date(s) 2017
Genre(s) Action-adventure
Mode(s) Single-player

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Japanese: ゼルダの伝説 ブレス オブ ザ ワイルド Hepburn: Zeruda no Densetsu: Buresu obu za Wairudo) is an upcoming open world action-adventure video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii U and Nintendo Switch. It is the 19th main installment in the The Legend of Zelda series and the first original Zelda game developed with an HD resolution. The story is set in Hyrule and follows amnesiac protagonist Link, who awakens from a 100-year slumber to a mysterious voice that guides him to defeat Calamity Ganon.

The title's gameplay and mechanics constitute a departure from the series' conventions, with an open-world environment and an advanced physics engine,[2] as well as the ability to play through the game's dungeons in any order.[3] Announced in 2013, the game was initially planned for release as a Wii U exclusive in 2015. After being delayed twice, it is currently set for release in 2017.

Gameplay

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild departs from most games in the The Legend of Zelda series, as the title will have an open-world environment approximately twelve times larger than the overworld in Twilight Princess, with less emphasis on defined entrances and exits to areas. Similar to the original The Legend of Zelda, the player is placed into the game's overworld with very little instruction, and is allowed to explore freely at his or her own pace.[4]

Players control Link, who can now jump and climb almost any surface, and can find various items, including weapons and shields, as well as clothing and food that can be eaten or cooked to restore health. Weapons break after excessive use, but many have multiple uses; for example, tree branches can be used to light fires, and shields can be used as makeshift snowboards.[5][6][7][8] Throughout the game, Link possesses a piece of technology known as the Sheikah Slate, which provides players with a map and allows Link to create waypoints and investigate enemy stats. By discovering various runes, the Slate can be upgraded with various powers, including creating bombs, controlling magnetic objects and stopping time around objects and enemies.[9]

The game supports multiple Amiibo figurines that can alter gameplay. For example, the Wolf Link Amiibo summons Wolf Link as a partner that helps Link battle foes and carries over the existing hearts saved onto the Amiibo after playing through the Cave of Shadows in Twilight Princess HD.[10] All 30th Anniversary Amiibo summon a treasure chest. In addition to that, Ocarina of Time Link summons a random amount of meat, 8-bit Link summons a random amount of barrels, Toon Link summons a random amount of fish, and Wind Waker Zelda summons a random assortment of plants.[11]

Plot

Link awakens from a deep sleep, and a mysterious voice guides him to the now-ruined Kingdom of Hyrule. He meets an old man and learns that a century prior, Calamity Ganon appeared and laid waste to Hyrule. Unable to be defeated, it was sealed within Hyrule Castle while the ruins were ravaged by nature over time. Although trapped, the Calamity Ganon has continued to grow in power, and Link must defeat it before it breaks free and destroys the world.[12][13]

Development and release

In-game screenshot taken from the Nintendo Digital Event at E3 2014

During the January 2013 Nintendo Direct stream, Eiji Aonuma stated that a new The Legend of Zelda game was in development for the Wii U, and that it would challenge some of the series' conventions, such as the requirement that players complete dungeons in a set order.[4] In Nintendo's Digital Event presented at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2014, Aonuma revealed the first in-game footage, featuring high-definition visuals that incorporate cel shading, and said the title was scheduled for release in 2015.[14][15]

On 27 March 2015, Aonuma announced in a video that the game would be delayed, stating "... our priority is to make it the ultimate and most complete Zelda game", the team was no longer targeting a 2015 release window, and the title would likely not be shown at E3 2015.[16] At the convention in June of that year, Reggie Fils-Aimé, the president and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America, said in an interview that the game would be released in 2016.[17] During E3 2015, Senior Managing Director and Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto reaffirmed that the title was still set for release on the Wii U, despite the development of the Nintendo Switch, then known as the NX.[18]

On 27 April 2016, Nintendo announced that the release was delayed into 2017, due to issues with the game's physics engine,[19] and that the title would be released for the Wii U and Switch simultaneously.[20] At the company's Treehouse presentation at E3 2016 in June, the game's subtitle was revealed to be Breath of the Wild.[21] The Wii U version of Breath of the Wild was the only playable game Nintendo displayed at the convention.[22] Monolith Soft, the developer of the Xenoblade Chronicles series, will assist with the game's development.[23]

Aonuma has reiterated on numerous occasions the development team's focus on "rethinking the conventions of Zelda",[24][25] an idea that first prompted the change in the series' gameplay style to nonlinear, open world, and objective-based gameplay in 2013's A Link Between Worlds, reminiscent of the original The Legend of Zelda.[26] In an interview with Kotaku the week of E3 2014, Aonuma said one of the ways he wanted to alter the norms of Zelda was by reforming dungeons and puzzle solving, two major gameplay elements in the series.[27] Aonuma also stated that the story of the game is entirely optional, and that it is possible for players to reach the end of the game without progressing through it.[28]

Despite Link being canonically left-handed for most of the Zelda series, Link is right-handed in-game. Aonuma explained that, "In terms of right-handedness of things, when we think about which hand Link is going to use, we think about the control scheme. With the gamepad, the buttons you'll be using to swing the sword are on the right side, and thus he's right-handed."[29]

Aonuma stated that the game's art style was inspired by gouache and en plein air art to help identify the vast, open world.[30]

Reception

Pre-release

Pre-release reception was positive after the game's reveal. Before the announcement of the first delay, GameTrailers ranked Breath of the Wild at number one in its countdown of most-anticipated upcoming video games, citing its freedom of exploration and "design philosophy that both reinvents what a Zelda game can be while simultaneously bringing it back to its roots."[31] In the website's community poll, released a week later, the game was the second most-anticipated game, beaten only by The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.[32] After Breath of the Wild's then-announced delay into 2016, GameTrailers ranked the game at number ten on the 2016 edition of the list.[33] However, the game was the third most-anticipated title of the year in the 2016 community poll, behind Persona 5 and Final Fantasy XV.[34]

After being showcased at E3 2016, Breath of the Wild received an overwhelmingly positive response from fans and critics alike.[35] CNET said that the showing of the game at the convention would "take your breath away".[36] IGN called the game "the open world Zelda we've always wanted",[12] and Engadget called it "Nintendo's next classic".[37] Sam Machkovech of Ars Technica praised the game's renewed emphasis on open-world exploration.[38] John Linneman of Eurogamer deemed it "Nintendo's most technologically ambitious project to date", but acknowledged that the Wii U's hardware sometimes had difficulty maintaining the targeted 30 frames per second (FPS) during the game's E3 demo.[39] According to Brandwatch, a social media monitoring platform, Breath of the Wild was the most talked-about E3 2016 game on social media.[40]

Following its E3 demonstration, the game received several accolades from the Game Critics Awards,[41] as well as from IGN and Destructoid.[42][43] It was also listed among the best games at E3 by Eurogamer,[44] GameSpot,[45] and GamesRadar.[46][47] In late 2016, Breath of the Wild received two awards at Gamescom,[48] and won the award for Most Anticipated Game at The Game Awards 2016.[49]

Pre-release accolades
Year Award Category Result Ref.
2016 IGN's Best of E3 Best Adventure Game Won [42]
Best Wii U Game Won
Game of the Show Won
Destructoid's Best of E3 Best Action/Adventure Game Won [43]
Best of Show Won
Best Wii U Game Won
Game Critics Awards Best Action/Adventure Game Won [41]
Best Console Game Won
Best of Show Won
Gamescom 2016 Best of Gamescom Won [48]
Best Wii U Game Won
The Game Awards 2016 Most Anticipated Game Won [49]

References

  1. ↑ "Nintendo artists on making images for Zelda: Breath of the Wild, bow importance". Nintendo Everything. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  2. ↑ Otero, Jose. "E3 2016: Why Zelda: Breath of the Wild Is Coming to Wii U and NX". IGN. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  3. ↑ Lemon, Marshall. "Zelda: Breath of the Wild lets you skip ahead to later dungeons". VG24/7. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  4. 1 2 George, Richard (23 January 2013). "New HD Zelda Revealed for Wii U". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  5. ↑ Sliva, Marty (5 December 2014). "New Gameplay Shown From The Legend of Zelda Wii U". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 6 December 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  6. ↑ "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Official Game Trailer - Nintendo E3 2016". YouTube. Nintendo. 14 June 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  7. ↑ Pereira, Chris (17 February 2015). "Zelda Wii U's Open World Is as Big as the System Can Handle". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 21 June 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  8. ↑ Goldfarb, Andrew (14 June 2016). "E3 2016: Zelda: Breath of the Wild's Open World is 12 Times Bigger than Twilight Princess". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  9. ↑ Phillips, Tom (14 June 2016). "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the most ambitious Nintendo game in years". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  10. ↑ Crecente, Brian (14 June 2016). "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild gets three new Amiibo, here they are". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on 15 June 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  11. ↑ McWhertor, Michael (2 December 2016). "The new Legend of Zelda amiibo will airdrop meat for Link in Breath of the Wild". Polygon. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  12. 1 2 Otero, Jose (14 June 2016). "E3 2016: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Might Be The Open World Zelda We Always Wanted". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved 14 June 2016. A mysterious female voice over beckons Link to “open his eyes.” Our hero has been asleep for 100 years, a callback to Link’s previous adventures but he wakes up to some dire circumstances: the world has been ravaged in the time Link’s been asleep by Calamity Ganon, a fog-like beast that creates a dark mist around what looks like Hyrule Castle. The voice tells Link if this calamity gains enough power, he could bring the world to an end.
  13. ↑ Rosenberg, Adam (14 June 2016). "Freeform exploration in the new 'Zelda' game is an NES throwback". Mashable. Retrieved 14 June 2016. The looming threat to Hyrule is equally familiar. Not long after the game starts, you learn that a being called Calamity Ganon had been trapped in Hyrule Castle for 100 years. In seeming tie to Link's own awakening, Ganon has been gathering power over the years and is right on the cusp of breaking loose. Should that happen, Hyrule is doomed.
  14. ↑ Boxer, Steve (10 June 2014). "Nintendo at E3: Zelda and Star Fox for Wii U a much-need shot in the arm". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 10 June 2014. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  15. ↑ Farokhmanesh, Megan (10 June 2014). "New Legend of Zelda game for Wii U coming in 2015". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on 10 June 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  16. ↑ McWhertor, Michael (27 March 2015). "The Legend of Zelda Wii U delayed beyond 2015, skipping E3". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on 28 March 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  17. ↑ Otero, Jose (17 June 2015). "E3 2015: Why Nintendo Didn't Show Zelda Wii U". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 18 June 2015. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
  18. ↑ Otero, Jose (16 June 2015). "E3 2015: The Legend of Zelda Still Coming to Wii U". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 17 June 2015. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  19. ↑ Otero, Jose (17 June 2016). "E3 2016: Why Zelda: Breath of the Wild Is Coming To Wii U And NX". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  20. ↑ McIlroy, Shaun (27 April 2016). "The Legend of Zelda will release in 2017 for NX, Wii U". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on 28 April 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  21. ↑ Brown, Peter. "New Zelda Game Gets Official Title". GameSpot. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  22. ↑ Farokhmanesh, Megan (25 May 2016). "E3 2016 for Nintendo: Facts, rumors and speculation". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on 25 May 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  23. ↑ Reeves, Ben (20 June 2016). "Monolith Is Helping Work On The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild". Game Informer. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  24. ↑ Narcisse, Evan (14 October 2013). "The Man In Charge of Zelda Says He Wants to Keep Changing It". Kotaku. Gawker Media. Archived from the original on 15 October 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  25. ↑ East, Thomas (23 January 2013). "Zelda Wii U to rethink conventions of Zelda - will it be multiplayer?". Official Nintendo Magazine. Future. Archived from the original on 23 June 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  26. ↑ Smith, Carly (1 October 2013). "Zelda: A Link Between Worlds Will Depart From Conventions". The Escapist. Defy Media. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  27. ↑ Schreier, Jason (13 June 2014). "The New Zelda Might Not Have The Puzzles You Expect". Kotaku. Gawker Media. Archived from the original on 14 June 2014. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  28. ↑ Kollar, Philip. "You can beat The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild without finishing the story". Polygon. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  29. ↑ Haywald, Justin (14 June 2016). "Why Zelda: Breath of the Wild's Link is Right-Handed". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  30. ↑ Peckham, Matt. "Why Nintendo Had to Destroy Tradition to Create the New 'Zelda'". TIME.com. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  31. ↑ GT Countdown - Top Ten Most Anticipated Games of 2015. GameTrailers. Defy Media. 23 January 2015. Event occurs at 7:57. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  32. ↑ GT Countdown - Community's Top Ten Most Anticipated Games of 2015. GameTrailers. Defy Media. 31 January 2015. Event occurs at 7:51. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  33. ↑ GT Countdown - Top Ten Anticipated Games of 2016. GameTrailers. Defy Media. 22 January 2016. Event occurs at 0:41. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  34. ↑ GT Countdown - Community's Top Ten Anticipated Games of 2016. GameTrailers. Defy Media. 30 January 2016. Event occurs at 8:10. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  35. ↑ "7 Fans React to Playing Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild". IGN. 15 June 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  36. ↑ Kooser, Amanda (14 June 2016). "New Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild trailer will take your breath away". CNET. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  37. ↑ Smith, Mat (14 June 2016). "'The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild' is Nintendo's next classic". Engadget. AOL. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  38. ↑ Machkovech, Sam (17 June 2016). "The next Legend of Zelda is a Breath of fresh air". Ars Technica. Condé Nast. Archived from the original on 17 June 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  39. ↑ Linneman, John (22 June 2016). "Zelda: Breath of the Wild pushes Wii U hardware to the limit". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 23 June 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  40. ↑ Joyce, Gemma (15 June 2016). "Social Media Reacts to E3 2016". Brandwatch. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  41. 1 2 "2016 Winners". Game Critics Awards. July 2016. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
  42. 1 2 "Best of E3 2016 Awards". IGN. Ziff Davis. 17 June 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  43. 1 2 Devore, Jordan (22 June 2016). "And Destructoid's E3 2016 Game of the Show was...". Destructoid. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  44. ↑ Welsh, Oli (17 June 2016). "Eurogamer's best of E3 2016". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  45. ↑ Espineli, Matt (19 August 2016). "GameSpot Best of E3 2016 Awards". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  46. ↑ "Our best games of E3 2016". GamesRadar. Future. 17 June 2016. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  47. ↑ "The E3 2016 awards". GamesRadar. Future. 17 June 2016. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  48. 1 2 Paget, Mat (19 August 2016). "Zelda: Breath of the Wild Takes Top Award at Gamescom". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 20 August 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  49. 1 2 Makuch, Eddie (16 November 2016). "All the 2016 Game Awards Nominees". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 18 November 2016.

External links

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