The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (jap. The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild Dzeruda no Densetsu Buresu obu za Wairudo) is an open-world action-adventure video game developed and published by the Japanese company Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch and Wii U consoles in 2017. It is the nineteenth game in the series. The Legend of Zelda; it takes place in the same fictional country of Hyrule as the previous games in the series, but a long time later. The game's protagonist, Link, awakens from a hundred-year slumber; he must challenge Calamity Ganon, an evil being that has threatened Hyrule more than once for millennia.

Unlike a number of previous games in the series - but similar to the very first game - Breath of the Wild places the player in an open world without any explicit instructions on what to do, leaving the player to independently search for interesting places and tasks in the game world. Many items and abilities in Breath of the Wild can be used in a wide variety of ways, allowing the player to creatively solve puzzles and overcome obstacles. The game world encourages experimentation and the narrative is non-linear; Unlike previous games in the series, Breath of the Wild contains a sophisticated physics engine and high-definition visual effects. Nintendo developed Breath of the Wild for five years, wanting to bring something new to the series; when creating an open world and terrain, the developers collaborated with the Monolith Soft studio, which already had experience in developing open worlds. Announced in 2013, the game was originally planned for release in 2015 as a Wii U exclusive, but was postponed twice due to the difficulty of implementing all the planned mechanics. Breath of the Wild is the first title in the series for the Switch and one of the first titles for the platform, as well as the latest entry in the series for the Wii U. In 2017, two downloadable add-ons were released for the game.

Breath of the Wild received the highest marks from critics, who especially noted the extraordinary freedom that the game gives the player, and exceptional attention to detail; it has become one of the most highly rated games in history and has also been seen as a major milestone in the evolution of open world games. Some criticism from reviewers stemmed from technical issues that were present immediately after the release of the game, but were corrected by subsequent updates. Breath of the Wild received a number of awards from various publications and organizations, including as the best game of 2017. Over 2021 million copies sold worldwide by the end of 21 Breath of the Wild, making it the most commercially successful game in the series. A game Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (2020) serves as a prequel to Breath of the Wild - its action takes place in the same world, but a century earlier. Sequel game in development Breath of the Wild, its release is scheduled for spring 2023