LogFAQs > #968278910

CE is a very jaded place - I once posted a King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard song that was like a Turkish-inspired club song, and somebody told me that it was the worst song they'd ever listened to. That was probably the most direct negative feedback I've ever gotten over something so pointless.

And CE is especially jaded about stuff like Breath of the Wild. Mario Odyssey, too. But that's a topic for another time - nothing has gotten such a weirdly bitter reaction like Breath of the Wild.

I just picked the game up again for the first time in four years, and it still holds up. It's a masterwork of the open world sandbox genre, the open world looks lush and gorgeous to this day and they nailed the quiet, contemplative tone that comes with the juxtaposition between the thriving, natural, green world and the bones of the conquered civilization that it sprang up around.

The openness of the setting is unmatched, too. You can go anywhere. You can climb anything. This is the most open that an open-world game has ever been, the only unreasonable video game progress gates are around the play area and in a handful of areas like the Hyrule Woods. Nobody has been able to capture that unrestrained feeling, that freedom to go anywhere you want, like Breath of the Wild has. The game is almost six years old, and nothing has really approached its level of freedom or polish since.

I understand that people feel like there's nothing to do, but to me? What you do is play. You explore, you try shit out, you tinker and run and explore. This game captures that feeling of "play" that other games lack. I can respect if you feel like it lacks focus, but the lack of focus is absolutely, without question, the point of the game. And it excels because of it.

Like I don't think I understand how someone could play this and just go "ehh, mid game". I can respect that someone feels that way, but I don't understand it. Even in the face of a direct competitor like Immortals: Fenyx Rising, BotW stands out for its quality. Its stripped back nature and gentle, encouraging sense of freedom makes Breath of the Wild a truly inimitable game, and I do genuinely still believe that it's a masterpiece.