Master Trials a solid addition to magnificent Zelda
BUYERS of the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Expansion Pass likely shelled out the extra dime with the express intent of enjoying a vast, story-focused installment to the already content-heavy title. Impatient gamers among us will be pleased that Nintendo have provided a stop-gap of sorts with the The Master Trials. While it may not be the most fully-fledged of DLCs, it certainly provides some much-needed respite from the seemingly endless wait for more story-centric content.
The biggest and most entertaining addition to Breath of the Wild comes in the form of the Trial of the Sword, a mode that builds on the merits of Breath of the Wild’s finest challenge – Eventide Island. Provided you have earned the right to wield the Master Sword, you can enter The Master Trials, where you will be stripped of all your armour, weapons and powers and thrown into a series of one-shot rooms, where you will be afforded no opportunity to save. Die before you hit one of three checkpoints and you will be forced to retrace your steps through a potential couple of hours of progress. Truly a welcome addition to Breath of the Wild’s endgame.
While it may seem odd to focus DLC around Breath of the Wild’s most simplistic facet – combat – you will quickly see that the real challenge in these gruelling trials comes from applying all of your gathered knowledge of the game as a whole. Sets of five stages work around similar themes, asking the player to engage with environmental conditions while killing off all of the stages’ occupants. While the upcoming story expansion is clearly the most exciting post-release addition to the game, there is a case to be made that it may have some trouble beating The Master Trials for sheer adrenaline-inducing fun.
Of the other minor additions to the game, The Heroes Path stands out as the most welcome. This feature takes the last 200 hours of your time in the game and presents it as a glowing track drawn accross the game’s map. Designed primarily to show you areas you may have missed while exploring, it’s usefullness was immediately apparent to me as it showed I had inadvertently missed an entire landmass. Maybe it may not be as useful to other players, but the nostalgia factor cannot be ignored. Another welcome addition is The Travel Medallion, a trinket that allows the player to drop a fast travel point anywhere on the map. While this item may seem innocent at first, its power is revealed when making return trips to areas with materials to grind for, cutting out travel time from Shrines.
While The Master Trials doesn’t make many hugely game-altering changes, it is certainly a solid addition to an already sprawling and magnificent game.