The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the nineteenth main installment of. It was released simultaneously worldwide for the Wii U and Nintendo Switch on March 3, 2017.

Story
Link awakens from a deep sleep and a mysterious voice guides him to discover what has become of the ruined Kingdom of Hyrule. Link meets an Old Man, who turns out to be the spirit of the deceased King of Hyrule. Link learns from the King that 100 years prior, a great evil known as the Calamity Ganon rose up and laid waste to the kingdom and its people. Unable to be defeated, it was sealed within Hyrule Castle, while the ruins of the land were ravaged by nature over time. Although trapped, the Calamity Ganon has grown in power, and Link must defeat it before it breaks free once more and destroys the world.

After escaping the confines of the Great Plateau, Link is encouraged to meet the wise Sheikah elder Impa and learn about the Guardians and Divine Beasts: 10,000 years prior these machines were created and successfully used by another Hero and another Princess to defeat the Calamity. But throughout the ages, knowledge about the ancient technology was lost until excavations in Hyrule brought them to light once more, coinciding with the expected return of Ganon a hundred years ago. The Guardians were reactivated and four Champions were chosen to control the Divine Beasts: The Zora princess Mipha, the Goron warrior Daruk, the Gerudo chief Urbosa, and the Rito archer Revali. All the while, Zelda was unsuccessfully trying to gain access to her own prophesied powers, accompanied on her quests by her knight, the Hylian Champion Link. When the Calamity Ganon ultimately attacked, it devastated the Kingdom of Hyrule by taking control of the ancient machines and turning them against the Hyruleans. As a last resort, Zelda was able to place the gravely wounded Link in the Shrine of Resurrection and use her awoken sealing powers to trap herself with Ganon in Hyrule Castle.

As Link sets off on his quest to defeat Ganon, he is asked to investigate the fate of the Divine Beasts and their former Champions. His ultimate goal, however, remains to reach the Calamity and free the trapped Zelda before the whole world is laid to waste. But with the entire Kingdom of Hyrule before him to explore, it is up to Link himself to decide how he wishes to fulfill his foretold role as the Hylian Champion.

Open World
Breath of the Wild features a vast open world for Link to explore. Most of Hyrule's scenery is accessible by walking, paragliding or climbing. While the game still includes barriers (such as weather effects, inhospitable environments or strong enemies), many of these can be overcome by using Food, effective weapons and armor or finding alternate routes. The world also includes an elaborate physics system which allows for creative interactions (e.g., cutting down a tree and using its trunk as a raft on a river, or setting grass ablaze and spreading the fire with wind gusts).

Unlike many previous Zelda games, Breath of the World does not enforce a specific order in which quests or dungeons have to be solved, with the exception of completing the starting tasks on the Great Plateau. It is possible to challenge Ganon right after leaving the starting area, though the game does encourage exploration in order to solve Ancient Shrines (and thus gaining additional Hearts or Stamina), find useful and powerful equipment, and defeat the game's own version of dungeons, the Divine Beasts. Additionally, many of the game's puzzles can also be solved in various different ways, often rewarding Link for creative solutions.

Controls
Link's controls in Breath of the Wild are reminiscent of previous 3D Zelda games. However, the game is the first to require manual jumps as opposed to auto-jumping over small gaps which was introduced with and a long-time staple of The Legend of Zelda series.

Cooking
A new feature introduced with Breath of the Wild is Cooking, which enables the creation of Food that recovers Hearts and bestows various effects on Link. Meals are cooked by broiling up to five edible Materials at cooking pots, such as meat, berries, fruits or herbs. Elixirs can be mixed by including monster parts in various recipes. Depending on chosen ingredients, Link's health will be replenished and/or he will receive effects such as Elemental Resistance, additional Stamina or Hearts, or buffs to his Defense or Attack.

Equipment & Durability
Link can equip a huge variety of different weapons and armor in Breath of the Wild, allowing for adaptation to the ever-changing environment of Hyrule and tactics used by different enemies. Notably, almost all weapons found in the game will break after a certain amount of hits. This new Durability system often forces Link to use weapons gained from enemies, even weak ones, instead of just wielding the best sword available in the game. An indication of a weapon that haven't been damaged is indicated by a sparkle on the top-right corner of the icon.

Rune Abilities
Completing the initial four Ancient Shrines on the Great Plateau bestows Link with four Rune abilities: Magnesis, Stasis, Cryonis and Remote Bombs. These abilities allow Link to manipulate the environment by lifting magnetic objects, freezing objects (and later enemies) in time, creating blocks of ice on water surfaces, and summoning bombs. Together with climbing and paragliding, these abilities are used throughout the rest of the game and (for the very most part) sufficient to solve puzzles and access most of Hyrule. As a consequence, the game does not feature traditional dungeon items that grant abilities to Link.

Development
The Zelda HD Experience, a The Legend of Zelda tech demo of the Wii U, was shown at. In June 2011 Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed that Nintendo is planning on creating an HD The Legend of Zelda title.

Breath of the Wild was officially announced in a Wii U Direct presentation on January 23, 2013. Eiji Aonuma stated that the game intended to challenge what was expected of The Legend of Zelda franchise, such as having to complete dungeons in a specific order. The game was already expected to have a long development time, so Nintendo released for the Wii U to decrease the gap between releases. During, the first video of the game was shown, revealing Link riding a horse, in addition to a Guardian and Hyrule Field. During the Game Awards 2014, Miyamoto and Aonuma showcased another gameplay video. It demonstrated the scale of Hyrule, which was designed with the open world concept of the original The Legend of Zelda in mind. It also showed the first use of the Paraglider, map features, as well as additional riding and fighting mechanics. Features to be used on the Wii U gamepad were also shown during these videos, which were later removed during development, when the game was ported to Nintendo Switch.

The game's original release was intended for 2015, but as new ideas were implemented during development, the release date was pushed forward several times. The final release window of the game was first revealed in financial documents released in March 2016, and later confirmed by Nintendo via Twitter.

During, the game's first playable demo was made available for visitors. It featured the Great Plateau area and showed many new elements of the game, such as dodging, the creation of Food by collecting Materials, the use of enemy Weapons, the return of the Stamina Gauge, new mini-Dungeons called Ancient Shrines and the Sheikah Slate.

Nintendo revealed the final March release date of Breath of the Wild during the Nintendo Switch presentation in January 2017. Shortly afterwards, on February 9, 2017, the game was completed after more than five years of development.

Release
Breath of the Wild was released simultaneously worldwide for the Wii U and as a Nintendo Switch launch title on March 3, 2017. The game was later released in Taiwan and South Korea on February 1, 2018, only for the Nintendo Switch. The game is the last Nintendo-published title on the Wii U platform.

Special Editions
Various special and limited editions for the Switch version of Breath of the Wild were released worldwide.


 * In North America, the Special Edition included the game, a tapestry map, a Sheikah Slate carrying case, a soundtrack with 24 songs, and a Sheikah Eye coin. The Master Edition included the same content as well as a Master Sword statue.
 * In Europe, the Limited Edition included the game, the soundtrack, and the Master Sword statue.
 * In Australia, the Limited Edition included the game, the tapestry map, the soundtrack, the Sheikah Eye coin, and the Master Sword statue.
 * In Japan, the Collector's Edition included the game, the Link (Rider) amiibo, the soundtrack, the tapestry map, and an interchangeable alternate cover. The Deluxe Collector's Edition included the same content as well as the Master Sword statue and 20 postcards.

On November 17, 2017 an Explorer's Edition of the game was released in Mexico and later on in North America and Japan on November 23. This edition featured the game, a 100-page explorer's guide, and a two-sided map. No special edition for the Wii U version of the game was released.

Pre-Order Bonuses
Several retailers offered bonus items for pre-ordering the game. These included a black t-shirt featuring the Sheikah Eye in the Nintendo Official UK Store, a Z icon keyring and a poster featuring artwork from the game in GAME retailers, a wristband in Grainger Games, two double-sized art cards in Argos, and a pin badge in ShopTo. In GameStop retailers, a poster featuring the game's cover artwork was included.

Timeline Placement
The plot of Breath of the Wild directly refers to events that take place 10,000 years and 100 years prior to the game's setting. Before the game's release, Eiji Aonuma revealed that Breath of the Wild takes place after. In an interview following the game's release, Aonuma touched upon the idea that details of the history of Hyrule may have changed from previous games, similar to how real-world history books are often revised. In an interview with the game's director, Hidemaro Fujibayashi, he stated that Breath of the Wild takes place in the most recent age, long after the previous games. In an interview with Jeuxvideo, Eiji Aonuma clarified that though Breath of the Wild does take place somewhere on the timeline, its exact placement has not been decided, as definitively placing it during development might limit their ability to further develop the story.

Many references to previous games in the series can be found throughout Breath of the Wild. These include the history of the Zora, which tells the tale about the Sage Ruto who aided the hero in his fight against Ganon. The "Subdued Ceremony" Recovered Memory shows a speech by Zelda which contains references to SS undefined,, and , as well as to and  in Japanese and German. Many locations are also named after characters and landmarks, such as Arbiter's Grounds, the Temple of Time, and Darunia Lake.

amiibo Support
Breath of the Wild is compatible with all lines of amiibo figures, scannable by using the amiibo Rune ability, which can be activated via the game's options menu. All regular amiibo will grant random items and Materials, while most of The Legend of Zelda-related amiibo will summon treasure chests, containing rarer and sometimes exclusive items (like costumes or special weapons related to the respective games). Additionally, Epona and Wolf Link may be summoned into the game, using the Super Smash Bros. Link and the Wolf Link amiibo, respectively.

A line of Breath of the Wild amiibo figures was also released on the same date as the game, making it the second mainline Zelda game (following ) with its own line of amiibo. The figures include two versions of Link, Zelda, a Bokoblin and a Guardian, all featuring their in-game design. This line continued with four amiibo released for The Champion's Ballad DLC; Mipha, Revali, Urbosa, and Daruk. Each amiibo is based on the character's artwork and unlocks a helm based on each Divine Beast.

Updates
Several free patches have been released for both the Wii U and Switch versions of Breath of the Wild. These updates expand content and patch certain bugs. Unlike the DLC packs, these are downloaded free and automatically upon release.

An initial download intended for the retail Wii U version of the game containing extra game data is required to be installed in order to run the game. The update requires 3 GB worth of space to be installed.

Expansion Packs
An Expansion Pass, offering paid downloadable content for Breath of the Wild, was made available upon launch for both the Wii U and Nintendo Switch versions. The Expansion Pass includes two content packs which are not available to purchase individually, as well as additional chests with an exclusive item as a bonus for purchasing the pass. The regular price for the entire DLC is $19.99 USD (¥2500, $28.19 CDN, €19.99, £17.99, $30.00 AUD, $33.00 NZD).

The Expansion Pass content is divided as follows:

Sales
Breath of the Wild was estimated to have sold approximately 1.3 million copies in its first three weeks and around 89% of Switch owners were estimated to have also purchased the game. Sales of the game have remained strong and as of December 31, 2017, the Switch version has sold 6.7 million copies worldwide while the Wii U version has sold 1.08 million copies worldwide as of March 31, 2017.

Reviews
Upon release, Breath of the Wild was met with critical acclaim by many game reviews. It also earned a Metacritic score of 97 from more than 100 critics, placing it among the highest-rated games of all time. Notably, the game received the most perfect review scores for any game listed on Metacritic up to that point.

Awards
Throughout 2016, Breath of the Wild won several awards as a highly anticipated game, including IGN's and Destructoid's Best of E3, at the Game Critic Awards 2016, and at The Game Awards 2016. Following its release, Breath of the Wild received the title of "Game of the Year" from the Japan Game Awards 2017, the Golden Joystick Awards 2017, The Game Awards 2017, IGN, and GameSpot. The win at The Game Awards was notable as Nintendo's first "Game of the Year" award at this ceremony. Breath of the Wild also won in the categories "Best Game Direction" and "Best Action/Adventure Game".

Trivia

 * Breath of the Wild is the first main game in the series to be localized into Russian and Dutch. Eiji Aonuma himself appeared in the Russian and Dutch Nintendo Switch presentations to introduce the game to Russian, Dutch, and Flemish players. Although the Dutch localization is text only whilst retaining the English voice-overs, the Russian localization covers both text and voice acting.
 * During development of Breath of the Wild, various designs for Link were planned, including him riding a bike in a tracksuit and a musician Link wielding a guitar. Other concepts for the game included Hyrule Wars and The Legend of Zelda Invasion, the latter featuring an alien attack.