It has almost been a full year since Breath of the Wild was released. My intention is to not beat a dead horse by writing about my love for this game again, but rather discuss how it’s holding up just short of a year later. As sappy as it sounds, I still remember exactly how I felt when I first booted up the game and stepped foot on the Great Plateau. This was an entire world for me to explore, and the Great Plateau served as the training wheels to my stunning adventure ahead. There were no tutorials to get my feet wet. It was a matter of exploration, failure, and most importantly, education. You had to learn how to fight, when to run (a strategy much more relevant in this Zelda game than any other in my opinion), how to glide, how to cook, how to climb, and so much more. For the majority of these, I learned by failing, and that is the reason why I am still playing the game today. A year later, and I am still learning things.

At this point in my adventure, I have about 140 hours of gameplay in. I have about 200 Korok seeds, completed all Shrines, both main and DLC, completed Trial of the Sword, and finished the game. One would think this would be close to the end of the road, but I still want to keep coming back. Of course I am finding Korok seeds all over to add to my count and zooming around on my Master Cycle Zero like it’s a guilty pleasure, but I’m also learning. Every time I play I discover a new location. I learn more recipes. I meet new people. Just recently I was roaming around at night and started hearing some ominous music playing. Music I haven’t heard in my previous 100+ hours in the game. I was baffled what it was until I finally ran into the culprit: Kilton the Monster Parts Merchant. It is absolutely astonishing to me that after everything in this game that I have accomplished, there is still so much to educate myself on and explore. After meeting Kilton, I have the pleasure of doing it with a sweet Lynel mask.

A year ago I wrote about Breath of the Wild being a special game. Present day, I can not only confirm that, but add to it. Breath of the Wild has to be in the top five games I have ever had the pleasure of playing, if not the top spot. I never thought that Wind Waker would ever be dethroned, but this might do it. I can’t say for sure because I still have so much to explore in Breath of the Wild, and I’m just not satisfied putting it down. A year later and I feel as I haven’t mastered the game. There is still so much to learn. My hope is that Nintendo keeps releasing DLC, but that’s hard to predict at this point. Whether or not this is the case, I know I will be riding around on my Master Cycle Zero rocking a Lynel mask for hours to come.