Okay before we get further into the article, let’s clear some things up. If you want an in-depth analysis of the gameplay, story, or mechanics of this game, this article won’t provide that, and you can look for them on other gaming publication sources out there. Instead, if you want to hear a story about how a randomly borrowed game can wake up the inner curious child within a mentally exhausted 20-year-old man, allow me to share some of my thoughts about Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild – one of the best games of all time over the world and in my heart.

I must admit, I have never been super into gaming. The best I could do was games with simple mechanics and rich stories like some gacha games, visual novels, or well, Pokémon. Most of the time I find the gameplay aspect of those I play insignificant (sometimes even a pain) as I focus more on the storyline behind those characters and events. Therefore, I never really looked into popular fighting or action games out there and if I heard a game having a good storyline, I would just pull up YouTube and binge-watch an entire let’s play of it, like watching a movie.

Things been like that in most of my life, until one day my brother brought home Breath of The Wild, a 5-year-old game that I heard a lot about in the past, but never really looked into. Well, this time I decided to give it a go. What could go wrong? I wouldn’t spend more than 300 hours into an action-adventure game just to find some funny wood guys hidden under the rocks on a 5-year-old game, right? Having such thoughts, I sat down on the couch and turn on the game for the first time.

And I ended up exactly like that (still 600 to be found, it will be a long trip) …

For the first time in a while, I was immersed in the world of a game, not its main story. To be honest, I prefer those smaller pieces of stories and lore around the world and way more than the main story the game offers; however, the contrast and harmonies between them as a whole leave me in awe. The characters have been created insanely well too, and I am not only talking about the main cast. Even the random strangers you meet along on your journey to save the princess are memorable. The small tasks they give you are also unforgettable (sometimes not in a good way, yes I am talking about that sucker old man sitting at the edge of Tarrey Town >:| ). The enemies also feel real, not just those punching bags that drop experience points and loot after you kill them, especially the bokoblins. When you are not around, they just chill together cooking their meats, chatting with each other, or even argue around about something that we players cannot comprehend. They do not feel like mindless monsters, but more like barbaric creatures who will smash you if you go into their territories.

Another aspect that I enjoyed in the game is the exploration aspect of it. The games only give us some basic tools to move around at the beginning, mostly the runes, the paraglider (and the shield if you like shield surfing), and your own stamina to go through the huge map of Hyrule. However, the method of moving around the map is entirely up to you and the game does not restrict it. You want to explode a wooden box to send yourself flying away from the edge of a cliff? You can do it. You want to build up a lot of energy into a rock and hug it while the energy gets released to get across the map? You can do it. Even one of the most popular methods of travelling long distances is putting two bombs together in the air and exploding one for the other to push you far forward… This one is not even included those methods expending the glitches in the game, and new ways of expanding the resources to serve player general purposes can still be found to this day, 5 years after the game got released.

Putting the transportation stuffs aside, the world of Breath of The Wild itself is bright, beautiful, and full of stories yearning to be told to the ones who take their time and efforts to explore it. There are giant bones of the mysterious leviathans, hidden shrines that give players powers and items, enormous mazes testing players’ skills and patience, as well as countless easter eggs and tributes to persons and places within and outside the Zelda series. Are you still feeling unmotivated to explore all of them? Don’t worry because the game even gives you a reason to do so. Across the entire map of Hyrule, there are 900 small hidden woodmen called Korok for you to find to expand your inventory and get a special gift. Finding all of them will take you hundreds of hours and on the way, you will come upon breath-taking nature and civilizational scenery the game has to offer. What you find on your journey is entirely up to you, and I assure you it will satisfy you in the end. This really brought me back to the early days of me playing Minecraft, or even further when I was still a small child who can freely explore nature with my bare feet and collect funny-looking stones to show my friends when life is still simple.

Well, that is the end of my thoughts, this game is truly a blessing to me and changes my entire perspective on the action and adventuring games with more complex fighting mechanics than Minecraft (yes that is the threshold of my action gaming capacity :P). Nonetheless, I had a great time playing the game despite being a casual player and look forward to what they have to offer on the sequel coming at the end of this year.