Overview
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is an open-world action-adventure game developed by Nintendo and published by Nintendo, released in 2017. I played it on Nintendo Switch.
Story and world
Link wakes up in the Shrine of Resurrection after a hundred-year sleep, with no memories at all. Hyrule has been ravaged by Calamity Ganon, sealed inside Hyrule Castle and held back by Princess Zelda.
To face it, Link can free the four Divine Beasts, giant machines taken over by the Calamity, and gradually recover his memories.
Gameplay
It's a true open world: you can go EVERYWHERE, and I really do mean "everywhere". Link can climb almost any surface and glide with his paraglider, within the limits of his stamina gauge.
The map is huge and you never get bored. You go from one point of interest to the next: "oh, there are monsters here; oh, a cave; oh, a tower over there; oh, a side quest".
You never feel forced to go to a particular place for a quest or anything else. You're dropped in without knowing anything and you're free to make your own choices. You can feel the huge amount of work on the level design, which leads you to certain places without you realising it, or without you meaning to, and that's really impressive.
There is, however, a big risk taken: the classic dungeons, which were sort of the heart of the franchise, have been removed. They're replaced by over a hundred Shrines, small puzzle challenges, and by the four Divine Beasts. I still really enjoyed this entry.
I didn't really like the breakable items. I also didn't really like the weather at times, for example when it rains and you can no longer climb because the walls are slippery.
Graphics and music
The game is really beautiful, with cel-shaded art direction in soft colours. The music is deliberately understated during exploration, made mostly of a few piano notes.
Verdict
Despite the big risk of removing the dungeons, I really enjoyed this entry. The game is beautiful, the map is huge, you never get bored, and the freedom offered by the level design is really impressive. The only downsides: breakable items and rain that stops you from climbing.