The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

An astonishing, freedom-defining open-world adventure regarded as a best-of-all-time contender, with an enormous overworld you can climb and explore however you like. Innovative traversal tools and rune abilities make puzzle-solving endlessly creative, and a world overflowing with shrines, Korok seeds, and surprises rewards constant wandering. Near-perfect ambient sound design only slightly undercut by repetitive shrine music and the relentlessly recurring map-open chime.

NintendoLife: pure magic, running to be the very best game in the series; Nintendo's brave efforts paid off.

A monumental achievement that reinvents the open-world genre through quiet, contemplative exploration and an immaculately crafted, physics-consistent rendition of Hyrule that pulls players onward without relying on busywork quests. Its weakness is the thinned-out legend: breakable weapons, a late-arriving Master Sword, a vacuous Calamity Ganon villain, repetitive shrines, and one-dimensional combat that ratchets difficulty only via enemy health. Less Legend of Zelda, more Legend of Hyrule, but still deserving of its acclaim.

Snapshot on leaving the Great Plateau — the ultimate call to adventure. ''A high watermark for Nintendo and the medium as a whole'' — replayed half a dozen times.

Exceptional open-world game with amazing exploration, freedom, and creativity, though weapon degradation and weak story/characters prevent a perfect 10.

Masterful open-world Zelda; exceptional exploration, challenging combat, stunning art; only weapon degradation is a flaw.