A brief visual retrospective of my Breath of the Wild playthrough

I've still got plenty to do in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild but I've made some progress on my days off. I've still only done three out of four of the game's major story dungeons and 40-something of the game's shrines, but I'm content with playing through at a leisurely pace. It is a game that rewards easy exploration. I tend to fall into this habit of sticking to a game's main story beats and not indulging in optional content, but I think I'd really be damaging my experience if I did that with this game.

Almost, Zelda.

And of course I wouldn't want to. My start with Breath of the Wild was a bit rough while I got used to the controls and the open-ended nature of the game. Now that I've unlocked some abilities, upped my stamina, and acquired several more hearts, it feels pretty gratifying to just pick a direction and start walking. I'm going to run into something eventually, whether it be a new shrine, an environmental puzzle that might reward me with another Korok seed, or maybe just some monsters I can slay for their hard-earned treasures.

I'm gonna have to get up there, aren't I?

The way I approach the game has definitely changed. There was an impulse at first to blitz through the Divine Beast dungeons and get to a point where I knew I could then finish the game, but now that I'm more accustomed to it, I really like the leisurely pace of just uncovering new things in the game's huge world. I'm less frustrated dealing with environmental hazards like heat and cold because my exploration has rewarded me with new tools to deal with these things. I have more stamina now so I can clamber over pretty much any mountain you put in front of me. The breadth of the world is at my fingertips now. It feels very empowering.

Take that, mountain.

I may not dedicate the hundreds of hours that some Zelda stalwarts have to this game because at the end of the day I play a lot of games and I'm eventually going to want to move on. However, I've already invested a lot more time in the game than I thought I might, and I sense a lot more hours are coming. I'm looking forward to solving more physics puzzles, tackling tougher enemies, collecting stronger weapons, and witnessing more fun moments. It's a game full of a lot of great moments.

This sand seal is my best friend.

I'm also looking forward to finding more interesting equipment, because right now my Link looks like some sort of camel-themed samurai. Camelrai?

Definitely Camelrai.