BREATH OF THE WILD - and Ambrosia

Sooo I just just started playing Breath of the Wild recently and I LOVE IT SO MUCH!! After watching Zeldathon this year I really felt this desire to get back into video games, especially the Zelda franchise. I played a lot of video games as a kid - probably too much - but they were a big part of my life until college, when I cut back almost entirely. I still played a lot of games with friends (smash, mariokart, cod zombies) but I definitely didn’t feel like part of the gaming community anymore. I let my PlayStation+ subscription go to seed, I didn’t buy the most recent Nintendo console, and I used the only console I have at college (PS4) exclusively for Netflix, Hulu, and Blu-Rays. And that’s all well and good - my main priority now is making the most of my college time and boosting my art skills, both of which are non-compatible with lots of video game time. I didn’t really miss the Playstation games, but I did kinda miss the Nintendo ones. The color. The adventure. The not-so-subtle nostalgia. So after ruminating on it for a while, and knowing that I would both be wrapping up internship applications very soon and encountering a large expanse of free time, I bought a Switch and the new Zelda game, Breath of the Wild. 

And wow.

I may be two years late to this party, but let me tell you that game is wonderful. It’s like walking around in a studio Ghibli movie, nay, it’s like being the protagonist of a Studio Ghibli movie. And that is COOL. The setting is lush and green and well-realized. The score is delicate and drifts through on the breeze. I’ve realized recently that I play games primarily to explore and be in a new world, and I love being in BotW’s Hyrule. It’s verdant and mysterious and somber and hopeful. It feels alive, with sparrows and cranes scattering as you run through a field. It’s the kind of game that makes me go outside and think, “Wow! Those clouds are really wonderful. Isn’t it cool that we have birds? Does the moon seem a little brighter tonight?” Not things I typically think, but when I see these phenomena mirrored in Hyrule, they seem all the more amazing in the real world. I’ve been playing using the “Pro” HUD - meaning that almost all the notifications and meters and minimaps have been stripped away, leaving plenty of room to see the world and get lost. I’ve been having so much fun just exploring the wilderness and finding things on the other side of hilltops. BotW is basically what I want to being doing in real life, but with less indoor plumbing. 

And there’s horses too! This is my horse, Ambrosia. She’s a very good girl and we’re best buddies! I rescued her from some goblins and we’ve been traveling Hyrule ever since. I feed her apples and take very good care of her. She’s just one more reason this game is so delightful! I don’t know what I’m going to do when Spring Break ends and I get hit in the face with a bunch more work, but I’m glad that for at least a few days I got to jump into Zelda, fight some Bokoblins, and ride around looking at the rainclouds on the horizon.

-dh