It’s been a little over two weeks since The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild came out, and I’ve been loving it. There are so many things that I could talk about — and most of them, spoiler-free — but there’s something that really struck me as I was playing last week: just how beautiful the world is.
Now that I’m learning to paint, I have a new appreciation for the aesthetic. To date, all of the games have had things about them that are beautiful, but the way that this world comes alive is so different than anything I’ve experienced before. The environment changes with the weather and time of day. The animals respond to my footfalls when I get too close. The sky is as dynamic as the real sky.
The most stunning moment I’ve had so far was atop a cliff. I had to gather arrows and take a picture of an enemy down below. (One that killed me several times with one hit! Thank God for all the auto-saves.) Then I had retreated to safety above. It had been raining lightly, and the rocks had even gotten slick.
I turned around to see if the monster below had chased me, and I found the most dazzling sight instead.
A double rainbow and a sunset.
I’ve never seen anything like it in a video game. It was absolutely stunning. Once I’m more proficient in painting on my own, I want to recreate this.
This is one of the coolest parts about Breath of the Wild. These sorts of beautiful moments aren’t a rarity. They happen all the time. It definitely is the most beautiful video game I’ve met so far.
The Everyday Epic 