The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild review: hard to fault, impossible to put down

When Nintendo tries its hand at a new genre, the result is typically unexpected and brings something vital and new to an established theme. But with the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the company's first modern open-world roleplaying game, it has well and truly outdone itself.

Not only is this possibly the greatest Zelda adventure to date, but it's also the most fun I've ever had with a game in this genre. When you consider that includes Ocarina of Time and Skyrim, respectively, it's a huge deal.

Breath of the Wild is filled with ruins and landscapes to explore.

The unique hook here is that the world itself feels truly like a living, breathing space. There are no arbitrary gates to stop your progression, and no set order in which you need to do things.

When you're faced with a puzzle (or when you decide on your own an objective you'd like to accomplish), there's rarely a set solution you need to intuit. It's more a matter of using your knowledge of how the world works and the tools at your disposal to craft a creative solution at your own pace.

Exploring one of the game's many villages.

Despite the shift the game is still very recognisably Zelda, with a beautiful Ghibli-esque aesthetic and the very high level of polish in animation and design you expect from Nintendo, but the series has been given a refreshing and non-linear twist.

As a result each player is going to have a slightly different experience in the world, as narrative events will occur in different orders, and completely random and unique stories emerge from the dynamic characters, enemies and world at play.

Our hero Link wakes at the beginning of the game with little more than a pair of shorts and a hair tie to call his own, having lost all memory of who he is. He soon learns that he's been sealed away for 100 years, after a massive war with an entity called Calamity Ganon destroyed much of the world and left him almost dead. Princess Zelda has kept the beast in check for the past century, but with her power waning and Ganon preparing a final assault, it's up to Link to find a way to stop him.

At first glance the sprawling world might not look different to that of any other open-world game, but when you start to play you'll notice how reactive and interactive everything is.

Rain will reduce your visibility, but that's not the only danger storms bring.

You can climb any mountain or structure, for example, provided you have enough stamina to reach the top. You can forage in fruit trees for food. You can cook the food in fire. If you find a cooking plate, you can combine multiple foods into a dish, which replenishes health much more effectively.

But it goes further than that. Hit a tree and it will fall down, maybe making an impromptu bridge to cross a chasm, raft to cross a river or bludgeon to fall upon an enemy's head. Hit the tree again and you'll get a bundle of wood, an essential item to build your own fires.

That cloud seems ... unusual.

It's up to you to learn all these rules for yourself, which is why I'm deliberately not describing anything beyond what you can do with trees. The whole game is governed by a set of logical rules that you'll gradually uncover as you explore, and experimenting by putting two and two together is incredibly gratifying. Often you'll discover something important by sheer accident, or because it kills you, and that's highly entertaining as well.

All the actual tools you'll need to finish the game are with you from the start, or given to you early on. This includes a glider to make getting around easier (and really fun) and four magic spells that let you summon bombs, control metal objects, stop the flow of time for an object or freeze water.

Rafts can be handy to get around the water if you don't have the stamina to swim.

Locating the best equipment and finding ways to increase your health and stamina will help you on your way, but technically the only thing preventing you going from the start of the game to face Ganon is that you'd need a sterling understanding of the game world to do so.

The genius here is that even though this open-endedness is very different from recent games in the series, it ends up feeling very much like Zelda. Except progression is no longer a matter of unlocking items in a linear fashion but of learning how to use your tools and the world around you.

Chuchus are mostly harmless, but can be a source of handy materials if you know what you're doing.

In a previous game you might get a new item and realise you can now go back to interact differently with a previous area. In Breath of Wild, once you realise for example that grass fires cause upward wind drafts above them, everything changes. It's another tool you combine with the rest of your knowledge to craft creative solutions to any number of environmental puzzles.

Of course there are more traditional goals to accomplish in order to improve your character as well, but they all hook smartly into the massive system that keeps you wanting to explore.

No weapon lasts forever, so you'll need to keep collecting them.

Self-contained puzzle rooms called Shrines are hidden around the world, and once defeated they'll impart a special item that can be used to gain more health or stamina.

Meanwhile a network of giant towers can be located and scaled in order to survey the world and fill out your map.

Following the main quest will lead you to some interesting places, and ancient machines.

Melee weapons, shields and bows all have to be found in the world or taken from enemies, and all will degrade and break with use. Clothing meanwhile will provide various forms of protection, and can be customised to look cooler or perform better throughout your adventure.

All of this effectively boils down to a need to scour the world for materials, and you're always rewarded for going off the beaten path.

Entering one of the game's many shrines.

Classic Zelda enemies return in the form of monsters littering the land, but for the first time in a long time they actually present a danger to Link.

Many monsters will kill you immediately if you just run into them, meaning some areas of the map will be impossible to explore for players who haven't developed strong strategies and defences.

Fire serves many purposes, just keep it away from dry grass unless you have an escape route.

People of various races also inhabit the land, offering goods and services but also filling up your adventure log with side-quests which effectively act as incentives for further exploration and storytelling.

Cutscenes that are triggered at important story moments or when Link encounters something that jogs his memory are fully voice-acted, which feels a bit weird for Zelda, but on the whole the bizarre characters and eerie sense of humour the series is known for is intact.

There are many side activities to be found, like 'snowling!'

Like any game it does have its flaws, but they're almost entirely technical. The world can often look a bit unpopulated when viewed from up high, for example, as monsters and details don't pop in until you get closer. The framerate can also dip noticeably when a lot is going on, which is jarring.

These issues rarely bothered me for too long though, when everywhere I turn in Hyrule there's something new to learn about. What can I do at the horse stables? How can I stop from freezing to death on this snowy peak or bursting into flames on this volcano? What is that massive flower bud in the distance about, and how can I get there? It's these questions and the elation of finding out the answers that kept me exploring.

Raiding a moblin camp made of fish bones.

My wife became dedicated to finding out whether she could mount, tame and ride a wild deer, after she once accidentally landed on one and noticed she seemed to cling to it before being booted off. It took her an entire Sunday but eventually she managed to do it. At that point I'd been playing for dozens of hours and had barely noticed there were deers.

Many games have presented a "go anywhere, do anything" structure, but few have been filled with places, challenges and mysteries as intriguing and charming as Breath of the Wild. The massive land of Hyrule, from beautiful grassy plains and craggy mountains to marshy swamps and long-forgotten ruins, is rife with wildlife, monsters, villages and all manner of suspicious landmarks that tug constantly at your curiosity, and demand to be investigated.

Zelda fans will appreciate the many nods and references to previous games, and the new lease on life given to many of the items and systems here, but really this is a must play game for anyone looking for a fresh and exciting adventure.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is out now for Nintendo Switch (reviewed) and Wii U.