Breath of the Wild manages to create this picturesque, childlike whimsical world which often feels tender and serene. The feeling of trotting along the sprawling green plains of Hyrule on your horse as you just barely avoid an enemy chasing you, the melancholic piano notes that play after are sublime. These, for me, are the best moments in the game. The pseudo random encounters, though not many, helped create much of my love for the game. Unfortunately there is way too much time spent going through the repetitive and an almost monotonous gameplay loop. Far too many stretches of area in the game feel rather empty as you walk your way along from one region to another. The lack of intricate and explorable dungeons is disappointing, there were moments where I expected to explore a decrepit castle or fortress only to be let down by a single line of broken blocks with pretty much nothing to do. The only example I encountered was Hyrule castle, which admittedly, is well designed and enjoyable. But that is one example across 40 hours.

The gameplay started off intriguing as there was a lot to mess around with using the Sheikah slate but that slowly became redundant as only your normal high attack weapons work, what becomes frustrating is your weapons constantly breaking until you get the master sword. After that you swing your sword and carve your way through almost every enemy. I really loved some of my earlier moments in which I experimented with the time stop or the magnet or the items the game presents you with. The shrines aren’t particularly interesting either as most are too easy and linear, divine beasts were good in comparison but are visually bland, feature mediocre bosses, and are the only 4 instances of dungeon type levels where I had some levels of enjoyment apart from Hyrule castle.

It’s a shame that the game slowly degraded into boring repetition where I eventually couldn’t care about playing the game anymore, the champions are one dimensional stereotypes with nothing interesting about them and no major character really piqued my interest. The combat becomes trivial as flurry rush timing is too forgiving and as I’ve already mentioned the Sheikah slate isn’t as utilized as it should’ve been. Bosses and enemies lack any variety and challenge apart from the first time you encounter the Lynel, and guardians as well as maybe Ganon.

It is easy to overlook everything I’ve said in favor of the tidbit moments of discovery and enjoyable exploration of items and gorgeous looking areas but the shortcomings hampered the experience for me. Any sense of restriction or challenge is almost non existent by the end of the game. Here is to hoping Tears of the Kingdom is a better game.