Zelda, Zelda, Zelda! Zelda was the core focus of Nintendo’s E3 campaign and they delivered big time with heaps of new news, trailers and gameplay footage. Let’s break it down.
First up, the game has been renamed to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Straight away, you know this is a very different Zelda experience, one more focused on open world exploration, survival and RPG elements. The world looks beautiful and also full of variety with many different locales shown in the trailer such as fields, beaches and canyons.
The new trailer also opens with voice acting. Yes, it seems this new Zelda may be the first to feature voice acting. We don’t know if Link himself will be voiced, but it seems characters around him will. Also note I said himself there. There have been a lot of rumours about Link being able to be a female in this game but those rumours were squashed.
Link’s ‘female’ appearance was likely a consequence of the new ability to have different outfits in the game that will not only change your look but affect your stats and bestow special abilities upon you.
There’s also heaps of other cool reveals in this trailer so I’ll list them in dot points below.
- Link can mount any wild horse he discovers.
- Time of day seems to be important, with a time shown on the mini map indicating a day/night cycle.
- The game will also sport dynamic weather. Rain for example may put out fires.
- As expected the world is littered with secrets. The map will have around 100 ‘shrines’ which are like mini dungeons with puzzles to solve.
- There is a sprint and jump button.
- Link can climb any vertical surface. This will be tied to a stamina meter similar to how actions were in Skyward Sword.
- Link can chop down trees to make a bridge.
- Link can swim, hunt animals and set fire to grass. Using the environment will play a big part in surviving. If you kill an animal, it will turn into meat with a puff of smoke.
- Links weapons will break with use, forcing you to find enemies and take their weapons.
- Link has access to various technologies in this game. It seems one item grants him the ability to create platforms anywhere in the world, even generating them midair to fall on enemies. This item is called the Shiekah Slate.
- Dodging and attacking with good timing seems to initiate a slow down mechanic allowing you to do more damage and unleash a new rush attack.
- There seems to be a large variety of clothes you can wear including a full set of armour. In colder environments, you will have to dress warmer or else lose health as you progress.
- There also seems to be a lot of variety in the in game weapons which have an ‘attack value’. Examples include sticks, bows, swords, axes, clubs and more.
- There are now square bombs, conveniently shaped to not roll everywhere. Round bombs are back too.
- You can ride your shield down snowy mountains like a
- The Master Sword is in the game somewhere/somehow.
- Enemies live in colonies and inhabit certain regions of the map.
- The big spider mechanical things from the first trailer are called Guardians.
- There is lot’s of wild life and resources to gather such as fruit and meat. This is important as Link now needs to eat to restore his health, cutting grass (which you can still do) will no longer yield hearts. Food may also grant other abilities such as increased strength.
- Reggie describes the E3 demo as only a tiny bit of the map, but says it is also huge and no one at E3 will be able to explore the whole thing.
- Ganon will be in the game in some capacity.
- The Wolf Link amiibo can be scanned in and then helps Link hunt animals and attack enemies.
- Off-screen play on the GamePad is confirmed, the Pro Controller can also be used.
- There will be no difference between the Wii U and NX version of the game although we theorize the NX version will definitely look and run better.
Wow that’s a lot to take in. This Zelda looks like it could eclipse all before it. Of course, what would a major Nintendo release these days be without a new amiibo tie in. Nintendo will be releasing three new amiibo, including Link on a horse, Link firing his bow and a Guardian amiibo. The legs on the Guardian amiibo can be posed to your liking.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be releasing on the Wii U and the Nintendo NX sometime in 2017.
