AH NEAL

As someone who is neurodivergent I love to have a degree of familiarity in a game. Over the years LoZ games have all had some elements that were familiar and a few elements that were unique to it alone. But at their core they all had that comfortable feeling of familiarity and you knew where you were and basically what you were doing. I started this game in awe. It's beautiful to look at and started well, but then I was confused as to why I was collecting ALL the weapons so early on. The plateau you start on is in many ways a very mini version of a Zelda game. But as soon as you leave the plateau all bets are off. The constant need to replace weapons and shields or hope you stumble over better ones is a grind I just can't handle. It's beyond frustrating. The rain is so annoying. Yes it makes the surfaces you climb up slick and harder to climb which is realistic but they've taken it to a point where you literally can't make any progress up a small cliff. Gone are the occasional hearts or rupees that enemies drop that help out. Now you have to forage for ingredients for recipes, assuming you find somewhere nearby to cook those recipes. The story almost vanishes the second you drop off the plateau, and there's no helping hand accompanying you to give you a hint as to where to go if you're not sure. This very quickly became a slog, and for no good reason that I could tell. People are raving about how amazing this radical new direction it's taken is. The problem is this that in an effort to make something a bit different they have taken out almost everything that makes a Zelda game. It's become an open world survival game with little to no direction and a frustrating combat system. I bought Immortals a few months ago and I honestly feel like that is the game Breath of the Wild should have been. Still an open world game, but without the grueling slog of the combat physics and a more developed storyline. It still has many of the same gameplay elements but it has better and more challenging puzzles and is far more accessible. I have tried twice to really get into Breath of the Wild now and I just can't see it's appeal and have just given up. A crying shame.