Breath of the Wild is the best "open world" game yet made. Never before have I been so obsessed with exploring every inch of the world I was presented. The horizon is littered with interesting sights, and investigating them always yields a worthwhile discovery. So many of these games devolve into chores over time. Sure, almost all of these discoveries end up being shrines in the long run, but they are often locked behind genuinely interesting puzzles and sidequests. Once inside, the shrines are ingeniously designed, with plenty of freedom for the player to solve puzzles in clever and diverse ways. The physics engine and systems for things like fire behavior encourage clever interactions, and if the player comes up with something awesome (keeping themselves cool in the desert by putting a giant popsicle on their back) it's almost always rewarded. I completed every quest and shrine, and was engaged the entire time.

The game's not perfect. The dungeons are weak compared to other games in the series (somewhat understandable given the circumstances) and the game runs pretty poorly in places. The bosses are all disappointing, and the player is likely to become ridiculously overpowered by the halfway point. It's also important to note that because the magic of this game lies in new discoveries, replay value is low. Once there are no more surprises left for the player, the game's strengths cease to thrill or impress to quite the same degree. Could this be true of all Zelda games? I think the answer is yes, but the rest are so much shorter than this. The combat of most 2D Zeldas is enough to keep the player's attention and most of the other 3D outings have a much more "all killer no filler" sort of mentality. Cruising through big moments one after another keeps them keen, but that's almost antithetical to what BotW is going for. This is a game of meditation, solitude, and countless hours of fucking around in the woods.

Flaws aside, BotW is one of the most impressive feats of raw game design talent that the world has ever seen. It only needs a bit more time and a few more pieces to become a perfect realization of the full Zelda vision...

If only there were a sequel...