Link Inhales the Breath of the Wild for the Next Legend of Zelda

When I posted about Sony’s E3 conference yesterday, I mentioned how they had a tough ordeal ahead of them in impressing people. I really should have reserved that for Nintendo.

That’s because the company didn’t bring much to E3 this year, a fact they admittedly made us aware of beforehand. The upcoming Legend of Zelda Wii U and NX game is easily the biggest and most anticipated title in Nintendo’s lineup, and in their E3 plans, they confirmed it would be the only game they were showcasing for the first day of E3. (Note: They actually did showcase Pokémon Sun & Moon at the start of the day, to the chagrin of those expecting nothing but Zelda, funnily enough.) This happened in lieu of the special “Digital Event” Nintendo Direct they’ve held for the last three years, in favor of Treehouse demonstrations. They wouldn’t have much to show this year, but had to make what they showed spectacular.

It certainly lived up to those expectations at the start of their presentation. Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aimé’s introduction wasn’t long, and quickly ventured into the first trailer for the newest Zelda, now officially called The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It showed how the game would live up to the intentions and promises producer Eiji Aonuma laid out during the E3 2014 presentation two years ago and Direct from January 2013, in how this iteration of Hyrule would be an open world rife with gameplay possibilities. Just the same, it’s not abandoning all the franchise’s traditional conventions, as anyone who’s played through multiple installments of the franchise can see.

In fact, you could say it’s going back to the basics. Similar to the original Legend of Zelda, Link is thrown into a world the player is free to explore at their leisure, with plenty of big quests and side diversions to participate in. While it won’t inherit its penchant for not giving the player any guidance whatsoever, it also won’t hold the player’s hand as much as some recent 3D installments. We saw how Nintendo first addressed complaints of faux-openness and stagnation after Skyward Sword went overboard with tutorials and hand-holding. A Link Between Worlds for 3DS was their first attempt at creating a more non-linear experience, and BotW represents an extreme extension of those ideas — in a good way.

Many of the Treehouse demonstrations focused on the sheer volume of its world, and the variety of ways in which Link can travel, discover landmarks and secrets, and fight a variety of enemies. Link can glide from high places, use his shield to slide down mountaintops, and climb specific landscapes to reach others — though the stamina meter will keep him from reaching anything too high, at least early on. And for the first time in a while, Link can jump with a dedicated button. While Reggie mentioned that no one will be able to explore the piece of land allocated for the demo in its entirety, Aonuma one-upped that by saying it only amounts to around 2% of the game’s world. Basically, you’ll want to quit your job and priorities if you want to come close to finishing this game in a reasonable timeframe, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim style.

It’s worth nothing that its world is twelve times larger than Twilight Princess’, but slightly smaller than Xenoblade Chronicles X’s. But it’s big enough that I’m sure few will complain.

BotW is also a game where players will have to be resourceful to survive, with the amount of items and equipment Link can discover, scavenge, and create. But not too many, since Link has a very limited inventory this time. Since people were reaching the limit in just this demo, it could be a little too restrictive. I can’t imagine them not including options to expand this in the final game, but I’d say the inventory should be larger by default — despite how all equipment can degrade. Perhaps this was done just for the E3 demo.

Enemy encounters haven’t changed much from Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, though noticeable enhancements have been made. For one, Link is capable of using a larger variety of melee and long-range weapons right from the start, like enemies’ clubs and axes he’ll find — in addition to traditional swords, of course. He also ostensibly has access to all the bow essentials he needs, like the ability to shoot fire arrows. This will give the player more opportunities to experiment, especially as they venture to areas with tougher enemies — largely not seen in the E3 demo, sadly.

The demos also emphasized the sense of solitude Link and the players will have. The story begins when Link awakens after a 100-year slumber, during which disaster befell Hyrule at the hands of Ganon. No one has been able to defeat him, but — you know where this is going — Link could hold the key to vanquishing him from his stronghold in Hyrule Castle. Outside of Link, normal inhabitants remain scattered about the land, some of whom reside in villages. I wouldn’t expect any large, bustling towns given the nature of its world, so that’s one trademark that will be absent here. This also means you can say goodbye to those annoying partners you were saddled with in previous installments, which I’m sure is music to the ears of everyone who became fed up with, say, Skyward Sword’s Fi.

But if you’d like help, you can summon characters using Amiibo. While BotW will have its own intricately detailed figures, whose mass production versions will hopefully be as pretty as those shown in product pictures and on the stream, it was confirmed that other Zelda variants can be used. For instance, the Wolf Link Amiibo from TP can summon a wolf that partners up with you, whose health depends on how much it was extended through Twilight Princess HD’s Cavern of Shadows. If he falls in battle, though, you’ll have to wait 24 real-world hours before it can be used again. While it’s a nifty feature, it’s clearly also there to get even more dedicated Nintendo fans to purchase Amiibo, and that won’t sit well with some people for good reason. Not to say some of them will be able to resist purchasing them, however.

For as seemingly well as it’s shaping up, I hope it’s not deviating too far from what made previous Zelda games great. The game will have over 100 puzzle-laden Shrines to explore, but they don’t appear to be robust enough to replace the series trademark dungeons. It’s possible those are still in, so I’m not worrying about this much just yet. Considering this is Nintendo’s first real attempt at an open world, I hope they’ve studied from the best and have made sure it won’t suffer from bloat or emptiness. I like exploring large in-game worlds, but it’s no good when venturing through them starts becoming work. Hopefully they’ve made sure to populate its world with plenty of people to meet and activities to participate in, in addition to multiple places to explore.

If they have, it could end up being one of the best games in the franchise, and a great example of how to construct an open world right. Breath of the Wild will release sometime next year simultaneously on Wii U and NX. We should get a more definitive date when NX is unveiled by the end of the year, especially given how this game already looks polished.

If you want to see more of the game in action, check out the archived gameplay from Nintendo’s Treehouse streams on their YouTube channel.