THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD
Breath Of The Wild is the crown jewel in the Nintendo Switch’s launch line-up on 3 March 2017. Wondering what all the excitement is about? Here’s the quickest of primers: the game strips Zelda back to its barest essentials, then builds a new kind of adventure on top of those solid old bones. No more strict dungeon-item order – now you can explore the world as you wish, by running, climbing, swimming and even hang-gliding. And no more Master Sword worship – now you can wield any (roughly humansized) weapon you find in the game.
The story? Link awakens in a mysterious Sheikah resurrection chamber after a 100-year nap (or death), grabs some musty clothes from some old chests, and heads out into the world to explore. That’s the intro. Rather than direct players to the next temple, important NPCs or significant items with a nagging fairy partner and a linear path, those types of directions are now more like gentle nudges. Right away, you can jump off that cliff to the right (not recommended), scale a far-off mountain, climb a tree to collect apples, or rush a Bokoblin camp in search of treasure. Before you talk to anyone, you already have plenty to do.
Don’t worry, you won’t have to explore the whole world on foot. At some point, a trusty horse whose name probably rhymes with Shamona will come into the picture, and you’ll even be able to find a hang glider. But if you choose to, you can skip all the dungeons and items in the game and head right to the final boss of the game – if you can figure out how to get to him. Producer Eiji Aonuma said at E3 this year that you can beat the game without completing the story. Now, that’s an open world.