Two years later, is "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" the best game in franchise?

It couldn’t have happened at a more opportune moment. After 5 struggling years with a console that never caught on with the mainstream, Nintendo found itself at a crossroads. With the relative failure of the Wii U, there was a lot riding on their next console, the Nintendo Switch, to turn around the company’s fortunes and ensure they could stay relevant in the console space dominated by Sony’s PlayStation and Microsoft’s Xbox.

The Nintendo Switch launched two years ago today, and the rest is history.

Having sold 32.27 million units as of the day of the console's two year anniversary, the Nintendo Switch is a certified hit. The system also couldn't have started with better momentum without the release of one of the company’s most important games ever, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. With a whooping 97 Metacritic Score, life-to-date sales hovering at an 11.68 million sold, and a plethora of Game of the Year awards on 2017, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild stands tall not just as one of the best launch games ever, but one of the most highly regarded games of all time.

Two years removed from its release and accolades, here is the question now: Is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild the best game in the revered series? To answer this question, here is each individual take from some of the members of Stat X Media:

Alejandro Segovia (Director of Critical Corner) Take

The acquiring of the Master Sword, forever an iconic series' moment.

As the wind kept blowing as I made my way through the Great Plateau, I see a group of Bokoblins chilling in their camp with a couple barrels right behind them. Having just picked up five Fire Arrows from a random cave I found exploring, I was ready to light said barrels and roast the Bokoblins' butts. But then I see a huge rock and I think “How about I just push this thing down to them?”. So I did, hoping it would ram them over. Then the rock deviates and hits the barrels. The Bokoblins still end up roasted. And a huge smile is plastered all over my face as I keep going through my adventure.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a marvelous sandbox for physics experimentation that allows for stories like the one above. It’s a game of exquisite freedom and attention to detail that favors player agency over authored content. It is so weird how, even in the two years since it came out, no other open world sandbox feels as clean and malleable as the one on offer here. Having just finished my second playthrough after my original run in 2017, the game’s thrills for experimentation and exploration still hold up. But having finished this playthrough where I actually dug more into the game’s nooks and crannies, I also came into this big realization: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is one of the best open world games ever made, but it’s not my favorite Zelda game.

Nothing beats the feeling of wondering randomly into a legendary dragon.

This may have something to do with nostalgia getting the better of me, but I just can’t put my finger on how, despite how impressive Breath of the Wild is from a design standpoint, when I think about the Zelda series, my mind always goes back to previous entries like A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, and Wind Waker. The more I thought about it, the more I realized where Breath of the Wild succeeds mightily is by NOT being a Zelda game. The older entries just don’t offer the level of intrigue, world exploration and experimentation like Breath of the Wild delivers in spades. Stories like the anecdote in the beginning are almost non-existent in the older entries, where things are more authored by more structured design. For some people, the ability to craft their own stories based on how they experimented with the sandbox is more fulfilling than following a rigid structure. I’ve found out I much prefer something more authored.

I’m a huge fan of memorable stories in games. While I think Breath of the Wild offers an interesting take on a classic Zelda story with its more apocalyptic tone (as well as filling the blanks with the "Lost Memories" quest), it still doesn’t offer memorable moments like the introduction of the Dark World on A Link to the Past. Or the time traveling to your adult stage in Ocarina of Time. Or finding out about the fate of Hyrule, who Princess Zelda is and the identity of your boat in Wind Waker. These are a few of the moments that stick in my mind when I think about the series, and while the interesting experimentation of Breath of the Wild offers some really fun personal anecdotes, it’s just not the same.

Combat looks and feels like Zelda, held back by its weapon fragility.

It is also very telling how some of the weaker moments of Breath of the Wild come when it more closely resembles a Zelda game. Combat still feels similar as the previous entries, yet its hampered by the fragility of the weapons which break with reckless abandon. There are four major “dungeons” in the Divine Beasts, yet the design of how you solve them pales in comparison to some of the dungeons/temples of the previous entries, specially compared to the Divine Shrines you find in the game, where they are more creative and play more to the strengths of the game’s sandbox. These are the kinds of divides that hold Breath of the Wild back for me a bit.

Despite the somewhat negative tone of these previous paragraphs, I just want to make it clear: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is still a tremendous achievement in open world design, and all these gripes I mentioned in comparison to previous entries are just that: comparison to previous entries. This game attempted to refresh how a Zelda game could be, and for the most part it succeeded mightily in the ways a Zelda game never was. The idea this game is the ultimate fulfillment of the “I see the mountain in the distance, I wanna go there and climb it” idea is something that can’t be undersold, specially done with the craft, polish and care you usually only find in Nintendo’s games. For all I gripe about some combat inconsistencies, a not-so-memorable story and some unfulfilling game dungeons, the more I can praise the moments where the game surprised me to no end. I thought I’d seen most of what the game had to offer, and the second playthrough proved me wrong.

The art design in the game is unmatched.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild truly succeeds in the areas it shines, and two years removed from its release, I still feel the accolades and praise it got is still well deserved. While I may not hold it as in high regard in my mind as classic entries like A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker, it’s still just a personal preference. If you still have not tried Breath of the Wild, give it a shot. The game still is as good as it was back in 2017, flaws and all. For my money, it's still the best game released on the Nintendo Switch so far.

Paul Edwards (Creative Partner) Take

The design and atmosphere is unrivalled in the series.

My take on Breath of the Wild is that it not only mastered something that many games fail to capitalize on, but it actually made me aware of what this idea even was, something that I could never quantify but knew when I saw it: atmosphere. I could tell from those first shots of the trailer as we saw the different environments. As I watched snow foxes trace the gentle hills of Mount Lanaryu and the swaying flowers of Hyrule Fields, I believed I was about to experience quite a unique journey. I still look back with fondness from time to time on the moment I was unleashed upon the entirety of Hyrule, and the moment that child-like grin broke out on my face. I remember being told to head to the East but purposely dropping off to the South and telling myself, “I’ll make it there eventually”. It was such a bizarrely freeing moment where I was told I could go anywhere and I actually could do exactly that. For managing to make me feel that sense of unbridled adventure as an adult, I will always cherish it.

That being said, I’m not going to consider it a flawless game. The sense of “emptiness” that was such a drawing force for me at first began to cause a growing dread which built up as the hours flew by. All of the character interactions I was so looking forward to from the trailer and depth I was preparing myself for were entirely through non-contextual flashback cutscenes. As I realized this, a weight settled into my heart that refused to leave until I’d completed the game.

The story leaves MUCH to be desired.

I adored the four champions that I was introduced to in the trailer, and finding out that they were all long dead by the time I could control Link put a damper on my experience. I was so excited to have this Fellowship of the Ring-style adventure with everyone, which was so clearly conveyed in the trailer. But in the end, I couldn’t help but feel like I was jumping into the middle of the “darkest hour” of an epic tale, when I wanted to experience said tale from the start. I just felt like I was only part of a much grander tale that could have skyrocketed the game into another level. Yes, I understand that was the developer’s intention, but instead of accepting my role in this halfway point, I only imagined what could have been had those gaps in the story been told more organically. I would have been more satisfied had they allowed us to begin the story with the four champions and playing a portion of the game in a “before the fall” state to really connect us with these characters and the world before destroying it.

In the end we can all harp on a piece of media until we’re blue in the face, but that will never change what it is. And what Breath of the Wild is, is a pretty darn great game. If I were to ever go back to play a Zelda game, it would be at the top of my list to re-experience, but I would put it under another game that takes place “after the fall”, Wind Waker. This was another game that felt like the jump into a scarred world, but the story it told was concise in where it began and ended. I didn’t feel like I’d missed anything by playing it, and Link’s coming of age story was equal parts adorable and inspiring; to see this small child stand up to the worst of the forces of darkness, while pushing past any fear. He was no trained and chosen knight. He was just a scared child. But that’s a testament to the power of courage, and, at least to me, that’s what The Legend of Zelda is really about.

Zac Jones (Production Intern/Art Team) Take

The final battle with Calamity Ganon ends the game on a resounding thud.

I don't know if I can say anything more elegant about Breath of the Wild than what my partners already did. For me, it's a really good game hampered by some bad boss fights and a truly terrible final boss. Would I still recommend Breath of the Wild? Absolutely. However, I rather play The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.

Agree with our opinions about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild? Disagree? Let us know!!!

All pictures in the article taken from the in-game capture system of Alejandro Segovia's Nintendo Switch