The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - My Game of the Decade

Nintendo have never been one to shy away from doing things differently.
Ever the innovators, Nintendo never push the boundaries of modern technology, instead opting to throw them away entirely and do something truly unique; often with mixed results.
In Q1 of 2017, the Japanese game company developed (in conjunction with Monolith) and published  The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild; the first home-console entry in the series since Link and co. took to the skies in 2011's Skyward Sword.

Skyward Sword was Nintendo at their most experimental. The game fully embraced motion controls with the inclusion of Wii Motion Plus, an add-on designed to give the Wii Remote a more responsive sensor, and included a far more cohesive story than previous instalments in the franchise. This came at the cost of freedom and exploration, which fans were quick to point out as commercial reception failed to mirror the immense critical reception the game received on launch.

It was back to the drawing board for Nintendo. The WiiU generation arrived with a hearty dose of 'what?' and quickly departed with a whimper and no new main-line Zelda title; so the next hardware release was vitally important to the future of the company.
Nintendo released the 'Switch' in March of 2017, which was revered by long-time fans of the company as well as new players. The Switch became the fastest selling console of all time in the US, shifting over 41 million units worldwide as of September 2019. The speed in which the Switch flew off shelves was helped massively by the game that released alongside the system: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

It's hard to put into words why Breath of the Wild is deserving of being called the 'Best Game of the Decade'. It's curious that the forward-thinking Nintendo took inspiration from a game released 31 years prior to create an experience that felt truly unique.

The very selling point of an open world game is freedom. Freedom to go anywhere, do anything and build an experience unique to you instead of being herded through linear and formulaic levels before arriving at a conclusion we all get to see. Such games have their advantages (see The Last of Us, Bioshock and Call of Duty), and are more inclined to tell a great story as opposed to give you the freedom to explore and create stories for yourself. Providing a player with an expansive open space to roam around in unlocks a rather different experience.
2018's Assassin's Creed Odyssey is a masterclass at giving the player a luscious playground to explore and tasks to complete, 2010's Just Cause 2 expertly allows the player to experiment with wacky weapons to let their imaginations run wild by creating epic moments and blissful mayhem and 2016's Watch Dogs 2 beautifully recreated modern-day San Francisco in such detail that a Bay Area native would be impressed.

Despite such games existing to give the player creative freedom and choice, they pale in comparison to the sense of liberty that is felt when Link glides off the Great Plateau for the first time in Breath of the Wild.  The feeling of being desperately vulnerable in a hostile world was genuinely fear-inducing. So many games present you as the impenetrable and mighty hero, so for a game to spit you out onto a map and ask you to 'figure it out', it's startling to say the least.
Every weapon you take, every enemy you conquer and every Hearty Radish you pluck from the earth feels like progression. There are no levelling systems here, but the items you collect and the exploring you undertake allow for a far more rewarding progression system. The game conditions you to be resourceful and rewards you for doing so, but not with a number to dictate how far away from the level-cap you are, but with more knowledge of how to endure the harsh world around you. With each conquered shrine, Link builds either his stamina or maximum health. There's no lazy perks that come tied with a new level that allows Link to fire an additional arrow by holding L2 or anything of the sort. Instead, by removing the outdated and overused levelling system that's increasingly present in most other games in the genre, Breath of the Wild feels like the player is improving as a result of interacting with the game's mechanics and locations.

Scores of waypoint markers and a backlog of side-quests are a great way to shepherd the player through an open world but ultimately, despite the expansive map, there is seldom enough time to create truly unique moments as you sequentially make your way through a seemingly never-ending list of side activities.
Breath of the Wild is simple. Go to the castle in the centre of Hyrule and defeat the monster that dwells within.
That's it.
No prologue, no forced dialogue with half-baked characters and no repetitive fetch quests. The opening on the Great Plateau is simply a dress rehearsal for what's to come. At no point did it ever feel like a tutorial, a problem that has plagues the series for years (I'm looking at you, Twilight Princess).
You're given everything you need in the game's early stages, so there's no chance of the player running into an obstacle that cannot be overcome. You simply must become stronger, all the while Ganon mocks you while swirling around Hyrule Castle, protecting his prize like a lion to her cub.

The soundtrack is minimal, but memorable. The music's simple piano notes and flourishes recapture memories of my journey with the game, and while there are few songs in the game that I'll whistle on my morning commute, the sound effects and atmospheric tunes immediately transport me back to my exploits in Hyrule when I hear them. Make no mistake, Kass' Theme will go down as one of Nintendo's classics, but the beauty of the soundtrack is it's scarcity; only emerging during times of great pressure or discovery.
Arriving in Rito Village brought a tear to my eye, as the tranquil and ambient sounds of Breath of the Wild perfectly imitated the sweet melodies present in previous titles; albeit in its own way.


The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is my game of the decade simply because of its lack of distractions. A game like Horizon Zero Dawn is the top of the mountain when it comes to developing an open world game that we've come to know and love; but that's all it is. It's the very best example of a formulaic approach to game design, a true tour de force of open world games. Breath of the Wild takes chances and makes mistakes, the combat isn't particularly special, the story is forgettable and the dungeons pale in comparison to previous entries in the Zelda series. There are mechanics that shine in other games that are woefully underdeveloped here, yet Nintendo's decision to forge something truly unique stands testament to their unorthodox approach to game development sometimes paying off.

Go out on a limb, that's where the hearty radishes are.


GG,


Billy.