Game of the Year 2017: Rebekah’s picks

Rebekah’s Game of the Year – The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

115+ hours into The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, only a few Shrines off from completing all 120, I discovered that you could not, in fact, soar into the air, land atop a Sentry Guardian, and ride it. That moment represents the first and only time this video game has disappointed me.

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I lead with that because it sums up what this entire video game has led me to expect. Never before have I played a game that so clearly, cleanly, and consistently played by its own rules. I can expect a fire to burn things and create updrafts, rain to make things slick and turn into puddles, enemies to use objects around them in the same ways I can and for the environment to help and hinder them just as it does me. Certainly, there are not an infinite number of systems at play in Breath of the Wild. But there are many, and their believable interactions allow me an unprecedented level of freedom. Forget Skyrim, where I can’t properly walk over slightly elevated ground. In Breath of the Wild, I really can go anywhere that it looks reasonable for me to go, and do anything that it looks reasonable for me to do. Except, apparently, ride a Sentry Guardian. Dangit.

I could praise Breath of the Wild for days, though I already have done some of that work in my initial review. I love the subtle storytelling. I love the music. I love the beautiful world that draws you from one objective to the next so fluidly and makes travel an enjoyable experience in of itself. I love the characters and most of the puzzles (burn the Apparatus puzzles to the ground). I love the dungeons and the DLC. If there were more game, I’d easily pour 115 more hours into it, but with 120 Shrines done, I’ve finally put it away.

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I wish I could restart the game and experience its opening hours for the first time again. Once you know what’s over the mountains, that wide-eyed feeling of freedom and discovery is tough to recapture. But it’s a memory I’m always going to cherish.