Overview

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is an open world adventure game that takes place in the lands of the Kingdom of Hyrule. Breath of the Wild received overwhelmingly positive reviews, in addition to receiving 2017 Game of the Year award for Best Action/Adventure Game and Best Direction.

WARNING! THE FOLLOWING SECTION CONTAINS SPOILERS ABOUT THE STORY AND GAME-PLAY OF BREATH OF THE WILD.

Field Notes

Great Plateau

The first thing new players experience when playing BOTW (Breath of the Wild) is a voice calling out to Link, the character the player controls. Link wakes up in a strange room with a pedestal in the corner, and is given a tablet called a “Shiekah Slate”. After exiting the room, and making his way outside, Link is greeted with the view of the Great Plateau.

With the lands of Hyrule before them, the player is launched into the tutorial section of the game. The voice instructs the player to place the Shiekah Slate on a pedestal found on the Plateau. This causes towers all around Hyrule to wake up, coming out of the ground, acting as landmarks, and future game mechanics. The player meets an old man who explains that there is only one safe way off the plateau, and that for Link to earn it, he must gather treasure from four shrines spread out on the Plateau. The old man shows up once more after Link completes his request, and tells Link to meet him in the center of the plateau before ]dissipating into a blue light. When Link meets the old man at the center of the plateau, a cutsene (shown below) begins.

The old man reveals himself as the late  King Rhoam, and explains that 100 years ago,  a Great Calamity befell the Kingdom of Hyrule, destroying it. He explains that Link was the appointed knight to Princess Zelda, and that 100 years ago, he fell in battle, and was taken to the Shrine of Resurrection.  Link lost all his memories, and while he was healing, Zelda was doing all she could to restrain Calamity Ganon from destroying what little was left of the fallen Kingdom of Hyrule. King Rhoam encourages Link to go out into the world, and defeat Ganon, bringing peace to Hyrule once more.

Beyond the Great Plateau

After completing the Great Plateau, the player is not required to follow any set story. The game reveals itself to be less of a classic RPG with a set story and questline, but more of an open world RPG, similar to Skyrim, with a flexible questline and multiple endings. The player may choose to complete the main quest line before exploring, or they may choose to run around the world of Hyrule, exploring forests, conquering mountains, and clearing shrines. Whatever path is chosen, BOTW is a world  just waiting to be explored.