the legend of zelda review

Test: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Adventure, with a capital A

A new Zelda is always an event. For 31 years now, the series has rhymed regularly with excellence, offering players absolutely unforgettable moments. Today, Nintendo opens the curtain on Breath of the Wild, an incredibly ambitious episode that returns to the sources of the series ... with a success that defies the imaginable!

Despite its age, the Zelda series is easy to define: Adventure games where the player clearly plays the role of the hero, defying challenges to save Princess Zelda and the Kingdom of Hyrule, with rare exceptions. Link is an avatar of courage and selflessness, often making him forget his small stature by his exploits in combat. But the Zelda series is above all the idea of a unique experience in which we discover a world to its depths, thus meeting colorful characters. The concept of advancing into the unknown and long and engaging quest was already what made the success of the first installment. The players were left to their own devices, with no indication of direction to take and no visible barrier. If the following episodes have often offered more structured frames, containing the player in a narrative line, Breath of the Wild takes an incredible step back. A barrier-free adventure that is automatically a redefinition of the term "open world". But let's go a little more in detail.

OPENING

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Adventure, with a capital A
As the various trailers explain, Link awakens from a sleep that lasted 100 years in desolate places. Only an old man gives him some information ... By visiting the area, we realize that we are on a large plateau from which we cannot descend. The only way out is to recover the four treasures hidden in sanctuaries and then recover the Paravoile, which allows us to soar. The treasures in question are specific powers: square or round bombs that can be triggered from a distance, a magnet that allows large metal objects to be moved, the possibility of creating gigantic blocks of ice from expanses water and finally the possibility of blocking time for certain mechanisms. All these powers, you get them during the first two hours of play, which lets you see the speed at which the developers wanted you to have access to your whole range of movements.

Because even blocked on this tutorial board at the beginning of the adventure, you already understand the great freedom that constitutes the game design of The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild. You can literally go wherever you want, without any restrictions on your horizontal or vertical movements. Go towards a wall and Link climbs it automatically! It's as simple as that. If an endurance gauge requires you to pay attention to the size of what you want to climb, you can largely influence this maximum distance depending on the inclination of the wall you are climbing, for example. From the start of the game, you can climb whatever you want with a minimum of strategy in your ascent, and there are many ways to temporarily or permanently increase your stamina. Believe me, it does something to realize how free we are of our movements. It is all the more remarkable that the world in which we live is a veritable ode to exploration! Breath of the Wild offers magnificent panoramas and breathtaking plans, so much so that you sometimes stay a good minute at the top of a cliff to contemplate its surroundings! The valleys and plains, the wind blowing in the grass, the incredible light effects, this new Zelda offers a masterful spectacle. However, it's obvious that the title suffers from some technical problems, like aliasing or clipping, not to mention some slowdowns. It is not uncommon to see the framerate drop, sometimes drastically, in forest areas for example. However, these problems are quickly forgotten and do not really have an impact on the overall gaming experience. Never before has a game offered us such a visual orgasm for such a vast universe on a portable console! Indeed, even on home consoles, there are few worlds the size of Zelda Breath of the Wild.

And this world is absolutely gigantic. The second you step down from your tray, the universe opens up entirely to you, and the least we can say is that there is a terrifying side to being offered kilometers and kilometers of places to explore. It will take you dozens of hours to walk the roads, and we are not yet talking about deserts, mountains, plains, caves, or the gigantic content of the title. Unlike Metroidvania-type games, you will never be told "no, you can't pass" or "You need this object to enter these places". The environments are varied and the magic operates at all times! But precisely, the question that everyone is asking is the following: What are we doing in this universe?

ADVANCED AND Dungeons

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Adventure, with a capital A
The structure of Breath of the Wild is very special. You have several main quests that you can follow at the same time. From the start of the game, nothing prevents you from rushing to the castle to try to face Ganon. No script barrier in any case. However, expect to die anyway, because you are not properly prepared! And that's precisely what the other main (and yet optional) quests are for. Not only do they develop the story and explain to you what happened 100 years ago, but they also allow you to recover additional powers, very useful for surviving. Note by the way that the narration is now helped by voice-acting, at least for the most important characters.

But the good thing is that even if you decide to follow one of the main quests, the watchword is still freedom. Not only can you progress through multiple quests at the same time, but within the same quest, you can do everything in the order of your choice. This is precisely the case of the different dungeons of the game, each assigned to a tribe, and whose development is rather unique, especially for the regulars of the series. Still without spoiler, let's say they focus much more on thinking than on fighting, some of them oozing ingenuity. Since we are talking about reflection, the sanctuaries are a new dungeon format, much shorter and much more numerous than usual. There are about a hundred of them, and they often ask the player to master the different mechanisms of the game, with rewards for the most gifted. Not only does each sanctuary also serve as a teleportation point on the map, essential for a game of this magnitude (yes, it is much larger than Skyrim, for example), but their completion also improves the life gauge and endurance of Link, little by little.

LET’S FIGHT

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Adventure, with a capital A
The most incredible thing with all this is that I have not yet spoken of the fights. And for good reason, they are fewer than what the series has offered us so far. Fewer, but also more tactical, Breath of the Wild clearly does not lack difficulty. Always pay attention to its position and its movements in the face of sometimes unpredictable enemies. The handling is fortunately fluid, allowing us to change weapons or type of arrows in a few tenths of a second via an active pause. Besides, on this subject, the title marks the coup by completely changing its weapon system with the principle of disposable weapons. You will spend your time retrieving those of your opponents and will have to choose what you keep with you, forcing you to be effective with all types of weapons. Obviously, this episode offers many tough challenges like hidden bosses, for example. We told you before, but Breath of the Wild is full of surprises.

And this is precisely the interest of the title. The eternal feeling of discovery. It would be difficult to describe the countless moments of amazement that will punctuate your adventure. Despite the density of the world, you will be rewarded each time you follow your own route, climb a hill that seemed to be useless or snoop around a seemingly deserted area. A chest, a little riddle or much more interesting surprises, there is always something to do, and this without counting the shovel of side quests given by the many NPCs in the game. Because yes, Breath of the Wild has its villages, with characters who sometimes act differently depending on the time of day. This density, and the beauty of the Kingdom of Hyrule, make Breath of the Wild the most intoxicating experience of video games.

I still have a lot to say to you and yet, this is where I will stop. Did I tell you everything? Not far from here. But for Breath of the Wild to be as unique an experience for you as it was for me, I have to make sure that you live it under the same conditions. You have to find out for yourself what the best adventure game since Ocarina of Time ... surpass it! There is no doubt, Breath of the Wild is a masterpiece that is already part of the pantheon of video games.

The notes
+ Positive points
A real vision of the term "open world"
A gigantic universe!
Magnificent panoramas
A real feeling of ramping up
Freedom of movement practically never seen
Music that will be remembered
Smart and ingenious puzzles
Gigantic content, 200h lifespan
An eternal feeling of discovery and adventure

Negative points
Technical below in TV mode
Some framerate problems in dense regions (forests)

Yes, we dare the 20! The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is simply a unique experience that puts real value on the term "adventure game". Never has a game offered the player such a feeling of freedom, always renewing the experience. The environments are magnificent, the dungeons are ingenious and we can only enjoy the trip! No doubt, this is already an unmissable event and the hours of play that await you in a gigantic world armored with content will remain forever in your memories!