I didn't love "Breath Of The Wild" at first. I remember seeing the big presentation of the game during E3 2016 and being more confused than anything else. It wasn't that the newest entry in the Zelda series looked bad, actually it looked really good, but it was just different. Where were the dungeons that I had come to love about the series? Where were the crazy items like the Hookshot and Gale Boomerang? Why were the weapons breaking?! It was so surreal, I just didn't know how to feel.
When Breath Of The Wild actually came out, my concerns only grew. The dungeons were practically non-existent, replaced by giant mechanical animals, all of the bosses were the same variation of Ganon, and the weapon breakage and myriad of new systems at place resulted in an incredibly steep difficulty curve at the start of the game. It wasn't all bad, I really liked the shrines and the physics system, and collecting random items scattered around the world was super addicting, but I eventually hit a roadblock at the Akkala Citadel Ruins that completely lost me. And eventually, games like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2, and Super Mario Odyssey came out, and I kinda just stopped playing Breath Of The Wild...
...and then 2020 came around. At that point, I had pretty much accepted that I preferred the more linear Zelda games and that Breath Of The Wild just wasn't for me. However, one day, I had this urge to pick up the game and try it again. I started a new file and enjoyed my time in the Great Plateau, which I've always thought was an amazing tutorial area. I got hit by the difficulty spike again, but this time, I powered through it, trying to unlock as many towers, find as many shrines, and pick up as much Korok Seeds and equipment as I could. Eventually, I passed that initial stopping block in Akkala and slowly started to fill out the map of Hyrule until I realized that I was hooked.
I couldn't stop playing Breath Of The Wild for an entire month. Even when I defeated Ganon, it wasn't enough for me. I wanted to beat every Shrine, find all the memories, explore every single secret this game had to offer. It feels so weird because I still have the same issues with BotW that I used to have, weak bosses and dungeons, weapon breakage, flimsy story, but I just didn't care anymore. Breath Of The Wild's sense of exploration easily manages to outclass all of its flaws. The world of Hyrule is so massive, so packed with landmarks and things to do that I was driven to keep exploring to learn more. The combat system is overwhelming at first, but eventually you start to learn these tricks and exploits and by the end of my playthrough, I was blowing through enemy and boss encounters like they were nothing! The soundtrack that I originally thought was sparse ended up being one of the most nuanced and beautiful in the series. And the core gameplay loop of just running around Hyrule is absolutely addicting.
I didn't give Breath Of The Wild a fair chance when it first came out in 2017, it was just too different and overwhelming for me at first, but I'm so glad I decided to give it another shot. The world is massive, the exploration is addicting, the combat is fun to master, the soundtrack is beautiful, and the art style is amazing. In spite of its massive size, I had never been this compelled to keep coming back time and time again to fully complete a game in quite a while. This still isn't my favorite Zelda game, but it's definitely up there, and I couldn't be more excited for the sequel.
5/5 Stars
Sidenote: I know this review is different from my usual ones, but I only thought it was necessary for me to outline how I truly came to love this game. I just don't think my review of Breath Of The Wild would be complete if I didn't bring up those first impressions, along with what made me change my tune. I hope I articulated this all well enough.
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