Gabriel Kantor, 15, Jackson Hole High School, Jackson, Wyo.
You wake up from a 100-year sleep to discover a once-grand kingdom overtaken by nature after some great “calamity” occurred years ago. The camera pans out to unveil an enormous world teeming with ruins, shrines and hostile enemies. This is the great plateau. So great, in fact, that I initially mistook it to be the entire map — it was only one percent. The rest of the world? Snowy peaks, immense deserts, overgrown jungles, smoldering volcanoes and more. You name it, it’s probably there.
I was initially skeptical of how anyone could build a feature-packed game to fit such a large world, especially on something with hardware as limited as a Nintendo console. I was mistaken. The world of Breath of the Wild isn’t just filled, it’s overflowing.
There are eight diverse regions, six cities, four giant mechanical creatures (which you can explore), a treacherous castle and over 120 shrines. Wait, was that a dragon? You can climb any surface, paraglide from any point and even “shield-surf” down steep slopes. The most remarkable aspect, though, is that in the hourlong journey to traverse from one end of the map to the other, there’s not one loading screen, not one interruption from continuous gameplay. Furthermore, there are no restrictions to gameplay. If you wanted, you could finish the entire game in 30 minutes, or explore everything the world has to offer. Besides the main story line, players can tame horses, find Koroks (arguably the cutest creature in the game) or just take in the scenery. Even combat is open-ended. With an expendable weapon system, swords and arrows become rare commodities, forcing more creative decisions. Foes cannot only be taken out with swords and spears, but with bombs, boulders and even high-speed flying magnetic doors.
When you’re young, there’s a certain feeling when you finally reach the cookie jar and are rewarded with a sweet surprise; that’s Breath of the Wild. Whenever I discover some new game mechanic, hard-to-reach area or hidden secret, I feel the delight of a little kid. With little to no instructions, you’re encouraged to explore the world on your own, make your own discoveries and drive your own story. In my over 300 hours of gameplay, I have still to discover everything in the vast world of Hyrule. The plot isn’t perfect and the character design could use some work (I’m talking about you Bolson), but that becomes irrelevant when the player creates the plot. Thousands of video games have been released since Tennis for Two in 1958, but few of them have been open-world, let alone nonlinear. This confluence of openness, freedom and a constant state of discovery defines Breath of the Wild: a sweet treat for any gamer.