re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

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But it’s a deep game. Deep. It’s literally overflowing with content—and while that’s obvious from the outset, after spending a few hours with it, it’s even more so. One of the biggest concerns that I (and many others) had voiced about the game is that the open-world (er, “open-air”… sorry Nintendo) would feel either artificial or sparse in its attempts to achieve the scale which Nintendo has been championing.

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However, after just a few hours with the game, it’s clear that this isn’t the case at all. For starters, the distribution of landscape features and attractions seems—so far—to be very well-managed. The density of attractions you encounter during exploration—such as monster camp sites, curious eye candy, and NPCs—varies, as it should, between heavy and light depending on the environment. For example, in the grassy plains environments or forested areas where the landscape is relatively tame, you’ll run across quite a few interruptions if you choose to embrace them. But in the desert or mountainous regions, you’re far more likely to spend long stretches of your trips alone, with not much to stop and explore along the way (though you will be attacked). Rather than dilute the experience, however, this approach to varying levels of density actually enriches the sense of exploration with a greater sense of realism and natural pacing.

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Pacing and direction is just as I would wish it to be. The game presents very clear destinations as you progress, and you can choose to either pursue those or carve your own schedule and path as you see fit. Although you can literally travel just about anywhere from the moment you depart the Great Plateau, the game does instinctively seek to mitigate your progress through later regions by way of much more powerful foes. Of course, you can still choose to defy this and progress through these areas if you think you can handle them, just as—as the game will directly inform you and as we’ve all heard already—you can head to the final boss apparently within the first hour or so of the game. Risky exploration does come with its own unique set of benefits, also, as you’ll absolutely encounter and collect more powerful weaponry (and, in the shrines, better apparel and accessories) in these “later” or “more advanced” areas.

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Yet another concern I had going into this experience was that the new weapon durability mechanic would frustrate me. After all, who would appreciate the tedium of having to constantly monitor your weaponry and switch to a new tool every dozen or so enemies? Well, surprisingly, this has actually become second-nature during my time with the game—and I actually have come to appreciate it. You see, the absence of a solid bedrock of tiered/progressively-stronger weaponry (and shields) simply opens up the diversity of gameplay experiences that much more. Because now, rather than defaulting to your newly-upgraded sword, you’re forced to plan and manage your usage of items to preserve the more powerful ones for tougher situations. In other words, it’s survival. And, against all odds, it’s fun.

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Much fuss was made also about the choice in musical style and the approach to integrating it into the gameplay. In a word, the overworld music is minimalist—in fact, it’s absent, as the music only plays at particular times, and it’s specific to the location and other factors. But it’s also unobtrusive, and moody. It configures the emotion of the particular scene so that it is as intended. And it’s really never repetitive—which is perhaps the most fortunate aspect of this approach. In the overworld, the music consists predominantly of piano with occasional accompaniment by other instruments. It’s slow and quiet, and it stays out of the way. As you approach a serene vista, it might offer a happy melodic statement for the player to subconsciously digest as they explore. By contrast, as danger approaches or night falls, dissonant notes begin to play, unpredictably, softly.

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