At a certain point in my gaming life, everything changed. After spending most of my twenties marathoning titles for hours on end, emerging bleary-eyed from all-day gaming stints, my priorities shifted. I can't binge-play now, even if I still hear the call of the console and yearn to be swept up into a game. Moderation is key, but finding a way to unlearn unhealthy gaming habits is tough. Or, at least, it was until The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Casual GamerWhy I’ll Never Finish The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the WildSwapna Krishna
together foreverGaming With My Husband Made Our Marriage StrongerEmmie Harrison-West
e3Nintendo Has Been Stuck in a Creative RutCecilia D'AnastasioA lot has changed since this game came out in 2017. For one, I have a toddler now and my gaming time is limited to bursts of 15 minutes or a half-hour, and Breath is the kind of game players get lost in for hours. But in anticipation of the game's sequel—Tears of the Kingdom, which is scheduled to come out next May—a replay felt necessary. So I set out to find a way to make a big game fit into my small allotment of playing time. The trick? Goal setting. Now, every time I pick up the controller, even just for a few minutes, I make sure there's a very specific task to accomplish, then I do it. It's just as satisfying as getting lost, but fits much more comfortably into the time I have.
At first, I worried this method wouldn’t work. I’d tried to replay Breath once before and abandoned it before getting to Dueling Peaks Stable because I never had time to get fully immersed. But by giving myself a clearly marked to-do list, I get sucked in much more easily—and have a clear way to tap out. It’s completely changed how I play games.
Sign Up Today
Sign up for our Games newsletter and never miss our latest gaming tips, reviews, and features.Sometimes, when I have a rare couple of hours to play, it might mean tackling a Divine Beast. When I have 15 minutes, it might be finding five Hyrule Bass to upgrade some armor or exploring the top of a mountain (I’m looking for all the Korok seeds this time, so there is a lot of climbing involved). Part of the joy of a game like Breath of the Wild is that there’s always something around every corner, and I absolutely allow myself to get sidetracked. But if I know I don’t have time to fully explore something, I just mark it on the map and continue on—and then that marker becomes the goal for my next gaming session.
It’s a weirdly systematic way to play such an open game of endless possibilities, and frankly, it might be the opposite of what Breath’s designers intended. But it works for my brain with the time that I have. I’m enjoying this playthrough so much, even when I’m playing it in Tetris-sized blocks of time.
Who knows, this time, I might actually even let myself finish it.
The open-endedness and freedom of Breath Of The Wild-the incomparable level design, dynamic battles with living creatures spanning vast landscapes הרня磋ive gameplay devices that made me rethink my approach to video gaming entirely.
'The Breath of the Wild' revolutionized my gaming experience by pushing open-world design to an unprecedented level, inspiring me with unconventional gameplay mechanics and encouraging a sense of exploration not seen before in video game history.
In its innovative open-world design and ephemeral storytelling, 'Breath of the Wild' irrevocably transformed my approach to enjoying video games; it elevates adventure into a new realm.
