Still the benchmark open-world on Switch. Climbing anything and gliding wherever you want feels liberating, and the physics-driven systems reward experimentation. Weapon durability remains divisive, yet exploring Hyrule keeps its quiet magic.
Your verdict
Category
Open-World1 player12+
Description
Link awakens after a long slumber and roams a ruined Hyrule, free to go anywhere. Published by Nintendo, released worldwide in 2017. Climbing and gliding, four Divine Beasts, over a hundred shrines, physics puzzles and weapons that wear out.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild review
MAX
Art direction
★★★★★
"Iconic"
MAX
Music
★★★★★
"Legendary"
4/5
Story
★★★★★
"Captivating"
Hyrule rendered like a living watercolour: softened ridgelines, distant haze and light sliding over the hills constantly pull you toward the horizon. That semi-realistic choice, neither cartoon nor photoreal, keeps everything perfectly readable and gives it a timeless charm that hasn't faded.
Manaka Kataoka and her team bet on restraint: a sparse piano, stray notes drifting over a ruined Hyrule, silence treated as an instrument. The score holds back, then blooms during a skirmish or a sunrise. That quietness mirrors the wandering and the wonder, and it remains one of the most debated and beloved sonic choices in modern gaming.
Gameplay
"Masterful"
Scaling any cliff, then gliding toward a peak spotted on the horizon: that freedom of movement is still the heart of it. The physics-and-chemistry engine rewards improvisation, and every solution feels like your own. Brittle weapons still grate, yet roaming Hyrule with no hand to hold remains a rare thrill, undimmed years on.
Fun
"From the very first minutes"
Addictiveness
"Obsessive"
Setting foot in Hyrule means a chain of detours: a tower you climb reveals a shrine, which leads to a Korok, which points to a village. The freedom to tackle every obstacle through the world's physics and chemistry turns each hill into a self-imposed puzzle. You keep starting up 'just one more shrine' before veering off ten times over. The open structure remains a benchmark; only the scattering of objectives can dilute a session.
Difficulty
"Easy"
Lifespan
"Massive"
Hyrule sprawls in every direction, and every distant hill turns into a detour. Between a hundred and twenty shrines, the Divine Beasts, the endless Korok hunt and the simple urge to climb higher, the adventure stretches far past Ganon's main thread. That freedom feels like a journey with no imposed ending, which is why it still serves as a benchmark today.
Technical info
💾13,4 GB📅03/03/2017
Published by Nintendo
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo Switch) price, value & rarity
Tackling a Divine Beast means scaling it, disabling its limbs, then striking its core: every colossus becomes a mechanical puzzle before it's a target. Guardians turn open fields into deadly hunts, and Ganon distills the entire toolkit into one climactic duel. The improvised, physics-driven approach makes each clash feel personal.
A cult cover
A tiny figure before a boundless Hyrule: Link, seen from behind atop a cliff, gazes over a world stretching beyond sight. The airy composition and soft blues and greens capture the game's promise of pure freedom. Nothing here shouts; it whispers an invitation to explore that has lost none of its pull.
Is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild still worth playing in 2026?
Seven years on, Breath of the Wild still teaches open-world design. Its freedom of approach, its physics and chemistry systems that reward improvisation, and its pure sense of discovery have aged remarkably well. The brittle weapons and some samey shrines remain valid gripes, yet the thrill of climbing a peak first spotted on the horizon stays unmatched. On Switch the aliasing and occasional framerate dips betray the ageing hardware without spoiling the core experience. For anyone who likes to explore without being led by the hand, it remains a living benchmark and an ideal entry point into the modern open world.
