As one of the few titles chosen to herald the arrival of Nintendo’s newest console, the Switch, Breath of the Wild has a lot of expectations to live up to.

Fortunately, the latest title in the critically acclaimed Legend of Zelda series delivers a phenomenal experience for longtime fans as well as new players.

Breath of the Wild is the first game in the Legend of Zelda series to feature an open world. Simply put, an open world is a fully rendered environment that players are free to explore almost entirely at any time after being given a few skills or tools at the beginning of the game.

This is a concept that has been explored in other franchises such as The Elder Scrolls and Witcher games.

The world in Breath of the Wild is incredible. From the moment you exit the cave that serves as the setting for the game’s opening, you are able to view how vast and beautiful the land of the game, known as Hyrule, really is. There are a wide variety of climates such as deserts, rainforests, mountains and oceans to explore.

Despite its massive size, the world never feels empty. I played through the game with two of my friends. On multiple occasions, they would talk to an interesting character or discover a secret that I had overlooked.

The music also adds to the gigantic feeling of the world. It’s very atmospheric, and it makes everything that you do feel huge as a result.

I actually found myself getting really invested in the story and characters as well.

The story is fairly simple, with the goal being to activate four “Divine Beasts” to defeat the villain known as Calamity Ganon.

It was nice to have a main goal in mind while exploring, and nearly every character that I spoke with was brimming with personality.

The only real flaw that the game has is its combat system. The combat itself is very fun, and it’s entertaining to find numerous ways to defeat enemies as you progress throughout the story.

However, the weapons that are used to accomplish this have a tendency to break very easily.

While this certainly adds a welcome level of difficulty to the game, it can also be quite annoying if your sword breaks while you are in the middle of a swarm of enemies, resulting in a game over.

Overall, Breath of the Wild is arguably the best Legend of Zelda game ever made, as well as one of the best games I have ever played.

As someone who has played several games in the series but would not consider myself a diehard Zelda fan, I had a blast with this game and am excited to see what else the Switch has to offer.

5 out of 5 Spurs.