5 Years Later, Breath of the Wild Is Still A Masterpiece
It's been five years since The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild launched on Wii U and Nintendo Switch, where it was met with critical acclaim and became a commercial success (and cultural phenomenon). In the years since, BOTW has developed its own kind of mythos, become a go-to comparison for open-world games, and caught the adoration of many people who may have not played a Zelda game otherwise. It can be easy to romanticize Breath of the Wild (although the game certainly has its detractors), but even from an objective standpoint, there is something masterful about its innovation and experimentation.
There will likely always be debates over whether Breath of the Wild is the best Zelda game or one of the worst — and both arguments are rooted in the ways that BOTW broke away from the series' formula in major ways. It's easy to throw around the term «masterpiece» simply because someone loves something, but it's not a title given to BOTW casually. It's something that can be seen, even five years later, by looking back on what makes the game so special. Much like Link roaming the ruins of Hyrule and stumbling upon Memories to collect in BOTW, certain memories of the game stand out — falling off a cliff and dying about 30 seconds into entering the Great Plateau, seeing one of the three dragons flying across the sky at a distance for the first time, or stumbling up the Lord of the Mountain late at night and having no idea if it was friend or foe.
Related: BOTW's Most Impressive Trick Shots & Attack Combos
For many fans — this writer included — Breath of the Wild was all about discovery. It was easy to get sidetracked. There were always mountains to climb, Koroks to find, and wild horses to tame. Finding a new creature to
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