So I’ve been playing Zelda Breath of the Wild over the past…months and really struggling with it. It’s such a strange game for me as it does a lot of things I should and usually do love in a game but also is severely lacking in many others. It’s a very good game by most objective metrics but for me just not a great one.
Exploration has become one of my favourite things in gaming full stop, I love wandering around gaming spaces either admiring their detail or discovering stuff happening, as well as a sense of freedom and ambiguity. So on those counts the game definitely excels but in terms (and they’re interconnected) of fun factor / impact / reward of the gameplay loop, it does not. While I love heading it out in any direction to chart my course, I am also constantly left with a sense of dissatisfaction at no tangible reward for doing so. I’ve probably put in 50-60 hours but I can barely recall any moments that I remember fondly. I always like playing the game but I rarely find myself really wanting to play it. And IMO it’s because the game lacks a hook.
At the end of the day, korok seeds, shrines, towers - it’s far too checklisty - combined with the odd combat set piece just isn’t fulfilling enough a loop for me meaning that I never walk away from the game feeling wowed / fully satisfied. As points of comparisons, I am also playing through God of War Ragnarok and just completed Dying Light (original), and GoWR has me by the balls to the point where I can recount most of my 10 hours playing it and every part is so expertly crafted whereas Dying Light is a mediocrely written game but the moment to moment gameplay - traversal and combat - is so exceptional and full of tension, that it feels highly rewarding..
I’m still enjoying Botw and will see it through for what it does do well but I do find it extremely overrated, and wish it had something more to latch on to. Will give my usual rating once I’m done.