Enter Hyrule.
Breath of the Wild.
Tears of the Kingdom.
Breath of the Wild takes place at the end of the Zelda timeline in the kingdom of Hyrule. In ancient times, the ancient Sheikah race had developed Hyrule into an advanced civilization, protected by four enormous animalistic machines called the Divine Beasts and an army of autonomous weapons called Guardians.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a 2017 action-adventure game developed by Nintendo EPD for the Wii U and Nintendo Switch. Set near the end of the Zelda timeline, it follows Link as he sets out to save Princess Zelda and prevent Calamity Ganon from destroying the world. The player explores the open world of Hyrule, collects items, and completes objectives such as puzzles and side quests. Breath of the Wild’s world is unstructured and encourages exploration and experimentation; the story can be completed in a nonlinear fashion.
The five-year development commenced after the release of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (2011). Led by the director Hidemaro Fujibayashi and the producer Eiji Aonuma, EPD sought to rethink Zelda’s conventions and introduced elements such as detailed chemistry and physics engines. EPD drew inspiration from Shadow of the Colossus (2005) and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011). Monolith Soft, which developed the open-world Xenoblade Chronicles series, assisted in designing landscapes and topography.
Breath of the Wild was released on March 3, 2017, as the final Nintendo-published Wii U game and a Switch launch game. It received acclaim, with praise for its gameplay, open-world design, and attention to detail, though some reviewers criticized its technical performance. Breath of the Wild won numerous year-end accolades, including Game of the Year at the 2017 Game Awards. It broke sales records for a Nintendo launch game and sold 34.51 million copies by March 2025, making it the bestselling Zelda game and one of the bestselling video games.
Breath of the Wild is an open-world action-adventure game. Players are tasked with exploring the kingdom of Hyrule while controlling Link. Breath of the Wild encourages nonlinear gameplay, which is illustrated by the lack of defined entrances or exits to areas, scant instruction given to the player, and encouragement to explore freely.
Breath of the Wild introduces a consistent physics engine to the Zelda series, letting players approach problems in different ways rather than trying to find a single solution. The “chemistry engine” defines the physical properties of most objects and governs how they interact with the player and one another.
For example, during thunderstorms, metal objects will attract powerful lightning strikes; the player must be careful not to carry metal, but may also throw metal objects at enemies to draw lightning to them. These design approaches result in a generally unstructured and interactive world that rewards experimentation and allows for nonlinear completion of the story.