The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a 2017 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch and Wii U consoles. Breath of the Wild is part of the Legend of Zelda franchise and is set at the end of the Zelda timeline; the player controls Link, who awakens from a hundred-year slumber to defeat Calamity Ganon and save the kingdom of Hyrule.
Similar to the original Legend of Zelda (1986), players are given little instruction and can explore the open world freely. Tasks include collecting multipurpose items to aid in objectives or solving puzzles and side quests for rewards. The world is unstructured and designed to reward experimentation, and the story can be completed in a nonlinear fashion.
Development of Breath of the Wild lasted five years. Wanting to reinvent the series, Nintendo introduced elements such as a detailed physics engine, high-definition visuals, and voice acting. Monolith Soft, known for their work in the open-world Xenoblade Chronicles series, assisted in designing landscapes and topography. The game was planned for release in 2015 as a Wii U exclusive but was delayed twice. Released on March 3, 2017, Breath of the Wild was a launch game for the Switch and the final Nintendo-published game for the Wii U. Two downloadable content expansions were released later in 2017.
Breath of the Wild received acclaim for its open-ended gameplay and attention to detail and has been cited as one of the greatest video games of all time. Critics called it a landmark in open-world design, despite minor criticism for its technical performance at launch. It won numerous awards, including several game of the year honors. The game had sold over 20 million copies by 2020, making it the best-selling Zelda game and one of the best-selling games of all time. A sequel was announced at E3 2019.
Gameplay –
Breath of the Wild is an action-adventure game set in an open world where players are tasked with exploring the kingdom of Hyrule while controlling Link. In terms of structure, Breath of the Wild encourages nonlinear gameplay, which is illustrated by the game’s lack of defined entrances or exits to areas, scant instruction given to the player, and encouragement to explore freely. Breath of the Wild introduces a consistent physics engine to the Zelda series, letting players approach problems in different ways rather than trying to find a single solution.
The game also integrates a “chemistry engine” that defines the physical properties of most objects and governs how they interact with the player and one another. For example, players may take advantage of the game’s dynamic weather by throwing metal objects at enemies during thunderstorms to attract a lightning strike.
However, the level of realism offered in the “chemistry engine” also means that players will equally attract an unavoidable fatal lightning strike if wearing any metal during thunderstorms. These design approaches result in a generally unstructured and interactive world that rewards experimentation and allows for nonlinear completion of the story.
As Link, players can perform actions such as running, climbing, swimming, and gliding with a paraglider, although Link is limited by his stamina. Link can procure items from the environment, including weapons, food, and other resources. Unlike previous Zelda games, weapons and shields will degrade over time. Many items have multiple uses; for example, wooden weapons and armor can be set to light fires or collect incoming enemy arrows, and shields can be used as makeshift snowboards.
Players can obtain food from hunting animals, gathering wild fruit, or collecting parts of defeated enemies. By cooking combinations of food or materials, the player can create meals and elixirs that can replenish Link’s health and stamina, or provide temporary status bonuses such as increased strength or weather resistance. An important tool in Link’s arsenal is the “Sheikah Slate”, which can be used to mark waypoints on a map and as an in-game camera.
Over the course of the game, Link can collect powers to add to the Slate, including the abilities to create remote bombs, manipulate metal objects, form ice blocks on watery surfaces, and temporarily stop objects in time.In combat, players can lock onto targets for more precise attacks, while certain button combinations allow for advanced offensive and defensive moves. Players may also defeat enemies without weapons, such as by rolling boulders off cliffs into enemy camps.
Plot –
Breath of the Wild takes place at the end of the Zelda timeline in the kingdom of Hyrule.10,000 years before the beginning of the game, the evil Calamity Ganon threatens Hyrule, but he is defeated by a princess with the blood of the goddess and with the help of her appointed knight.
Hyrule matured into an advanced civilization, protected by four enormous animalistic machines called the Divine Beasts and an army of autonomous weapons called Guardians. Upon Ganon’s return, four great warriors were given the title of Champion, and each piloted one of the Divine Beasts to weaken Ganon while the princess and knight fought him so she could seal him away.
9,900 years later, the kingdom of Hyrule had devolved to a medieval state. Reading their ancestors’ prophecies, the Hylians recognized the signs of Ganon’s return and excavated the Divine Beasts and Guardians. During this time, Zelda trained vigorously to awaken the sealing magic needed to defeat Ganon.
The champions of Hyrule’s races—Daruk, warrior of the mountainous Goron; Mipha, princess of the aquatic Zora; Revali, archer of the birdlike Rito; and Urbosa, chief of the desert-dwelling Gerudo—assembled to pilot the Divine Beasts (Vah Rudania, Vah Ruta, Vah Medoh, and Vah Naboris respectively,) while the current Zelda and Link battled Ganon. However, Ganon possessed the Guardians and Divine Beasts, turning them against Hyrule. King Rhoam and the Champions were killed, the castle town was destroyed, and Link was gravely wounded. Zelda took Link to safety, hid the Master Sword, and used her magic to trap Ganon in Hyrule Castle.
If players fulfill certain conditions (freeing all four Divine Beasts, retrieving the Master Sword, and finding all memories), they unlock a secret ending in which Zelda realizes that Hyrule must be rebuilt and that she and Link must begin the process themselves. As Link and Zelda survey Hyrule and embark to rebuild their world, the princess confides that she may no longer possess any supernatural power, yet still she is happy.
Development –
Nintendo EPD, an internal division of Nintendo, developed Breath of the Wild for the Nintendo Switch and Wii U. According to series producer Eiji Aonuma, the development team aimed to “rethink the conventions of Zelda”. Following the release of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword in 2011, Aonuma received comments from players who wished to see a more interconnected map to explore the locales between the gameplay areas.
In 2013, Nintendo experimented with nonlinear, open-world gameplay in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. At E3 2014, Aonuma said he planned to reform dungeons and puzzles, two of the series’ major gameplay elements, and redesign the game to allow players to reach the end without progressing through the story. As Nintendo had never worked on a modern open-world game before, they took influence from the development of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
Before full development, the developers designed a playable 2D prototype similar to the original Zelda to experiment with physics-based puzzles. The final game uses a modified version of the Havok physics engine. At the 2017 Game Developers Conference, Director Hidemaro Fujibayashi, technical director Takuhiro Dohta, and art director Satoru Takizawa held a presentation titled “Change and Constant – Breaking Conventions with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild”, during which they demoed the prototype.
Aonuma called the physics engine in Breath of the Wild a major development for the Zelda series, saying that it “underpins everything in the world” and makes things operate in a “logical and realistic way”, allowing players to approach puzzles and problems in different ways. He expanded on the difficulty in developing this system, recalling how one day during development he entered an area in the game and found that all the objects had been blown away by the wind.
Release –
Aonuma originally teased the game for the Wii U in January 2013 during the company’s Nintendo Direct presentation. The game, he continued, would challenge the series’ conventions, such as the requirement that players complete dungeons in a set order. The next year, Nintendo introduced the game’s high-definition, cel-shaded visual style with in-game footage at its E3 2014 press event. Once planned for release in 2015, the game was delayed early in the year and did not show at that year’s E3.
Zelda series creator Shigeru Miyamoto reaffirmed that the game was still set for release on the Wii U, despite the development of Nintendo’s next console, the Nintendo Switch. The game was delayed again in April 2016 due to problems with its physics engine. Nintendo let attendees play the game’s Wii U version at E3 2016, where they also announced its subtitle, Breath of the Wild.
CNET said that the showing would “take your breath away”, and Breath of the Wild was the most talked-about E3 2016 game on social media according to Brandwatch, a social media monitoring platform. It was also listed among the best games at E3 by Eurogamer, GameSpot, and GamesRadar+. At a Nintendo presentation in January 2017, a trailer was shown announcing that the game would be released as a launch game for the Switch.
Breath of the Wild launched for both the Wii U and Switch on March 3, 2017. It was the last Nintendo game released for the Wii U. The Switch version was available in limited “Special Edition” and “Master Edition” bundles, which both included a Sheikah Eye coin, a Calamity Ganon tapestry with world map, a soundtrack CD, and a themed carrying case for the Switch. The Master Edition also included a figurine based on the Master Sword. An “Explorer’s Edition” was released for the Switch on November 23, 2017, containing a two-sided map and a 100-page book of story information. In Europe, the game used unique packing artwork. A five-disc, 211-track soundtrack was released in Japan on April 25, 2018.
Downloadable content –
On June 30, 2017, Nintendo released a “season pass” for two bundled downloadable content (DLC): The Master Trials and The Champions’ Ballad. The Master Trials adds gameplay modes, features, and items. In the Trial of the Sword challenge, Link fights through 45 rooms of enemies and must finish each room before proceeding. Link begins with no equipment but is rewarded with a glowing Master Sword that has greater durability and possesses a doubled damage stat if the player completes the challenge.
The pack also adds an option to play the game at a higher difficulty level, called “Master Mode”, which adds ranks and raises the ranks of enemies. The enemies are more perceptive when Link sneaks near them and slowly regenerates health in battle. New floating platforms throughout the land offer enemies to battle and treasure as a reward. The Hero’s Path feature draws the player’s path on the game’s map, designed to help players determine places they have not visited.
The player can also find the hidden Travel Medallion to save Link’s current position as a single way point to which the player can transport Link at any time. New items include the Korok Mask, which helps the player find Korok locations, and other themed cosmetics related to previous Zelda games.
Sales –
Breath of the Wild broke sales records for a Nintendo launch game in multiple regions. In Japan, the Switch and Wii U versions sold a combined 230,000 copies in the first week of release, with the Switch version becoming the top-selling game released that week. In the UK, Breath of the Wild was the second-best selling retail game it’s week of release behind Horizon Zero Dawn, and became the third-best selling Zelda game behind Wind Waker and Twilight Princess.
In the United States, Breath of the Wild was the second-best selling video game during its month of release behind Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands. Nintendo reported that Breath of the Wild sold more than one million copies in the US that month, 925,000 of which were for Switch – a 100% attach rate.
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