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Playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the most fun I’ve had ignoring Zelda. She’s been stuck in Ganon’s castle for 100 years, barely hanging on? Wait a little longer lady, I have 900 Korok seeds to find!
As the first Zelda open world game, there is so much to do. 76 sidequests are a lot to tackle on their own, especially as some of these quests have multiple stages and can last the whole story. Still, there’s much more that Nintendo crammed into this beautiful land just waiting to be explored.
After 200+ hours of gameplay, I can tell you that some of the best times I’ve had in Hyrule have been letting Ganon do his thing while I cook Monster cakes for demonic villagers or stealing weapons from a sleeping Hinox. Here are a few fun things you can do if you’re putting off fighting Mr Purple Smoke and saving the world.
Spoilers abound for gameplay. Minimal plot spoilers.
5. Find Your Noble Steed
Hyrule is large—and that’s putting it mildly. Traversing the land is a mammoth task, and finding yourself a loyal mount is vital for exploring a new region before you unlock its fast travel options.
Sadly, mammoths are not available to ride in Hyrule. While you can mount horses, deer, moose, bears, undead horses, and even a Lynel (very briefly!), there’s nothing more exciting than stumbling upon something even more special.
Climb to a high place in the Ridgeland Tower region at night and take a look around. You may see a green glow appear atop Satori Mountain. Climb it quick, and if you’re lucky, you’ll find a ghostly apparition grazing at the peak’s spring, surrounded by several glowing Blupees. The Lord of the Mountain.
This deer-like spirit is luminescent blue, with four golden eyes, frond-like antlers, a white lion mane, and a face that resembles a pair of barn owls. It is said to be the reincarnation of a sage that has sworn to protect Hyrule and the animals in the forest. If you’re stealthy enough, you can sneak up on it and tame it to go galloping down the mountainside. My top tip is to drink a Sneaky Elixir before attempting the capture so that it doesn’t run off mid stalk. It has superior speed and strength, making it the best mount in the game in terms of stats. The downside is that you can’t register it at a stable, and if you dismount, it will soon disappear.
The horsing around doesn’t stop there. There are sidequests available to tame the descendant of Zelda’s horse, or the giant black horse that roams the Taobab Grassland. You can even get Epona, Link’s loyal horse buddy, if you scan the Switch with the Twilight Link Smash Bros amiibo.
The only thing you shouldn’t do is seek out the horse god Malanya. She may resurrect horses from the dead, but she is one of the creepiest beings that Hyrule has to offer.
4. Seek Out Mythical Creatures
Satori Mountain’s not the only place you can find creatures steeped in Zelda lore.
Stumbling upon a Great Fairy Fountain for the first time is nothing short of magical. From a distance, you can see a giant, colourful fountain, with petals lining its edges and shimmering tiny fairies flitting across the water. Sidenote: make sure to catch these fairies—they will bring you back to life if you suffer a fatal blow! The iconic fairy fountain music from throughout the franchise kicks in, nostalgia aplenty. Once you interact with the fountain, a huge hand splashes onto the side, and out pops a giant, glittering fairy with a resounding ‘Ah-ahhh!’
Thankfully, she’s benevolent, and offers to enhance your clothing if you bring her the required materials. If you find all four fairy fountains, the upgrades increase exponentially. And with every upgrade comes a… different animation. What does she do with Link under those glistening waters? We may never know.
Plus, while climbing mountains or traversing across the open plains, you may hear the faint notes of an ethereal song. Look up. There might be a shining, colossal dragon curling its way through the sky.
If you don’t know about them, this experience is pure magic. It's organic discoveries like these that make Breath of the Wild such a special game.
There are three dragons in total: Naydra, Farosh, and Dinraal, all with different elemental characteristics. Just finding them is an exciting task all on its own, but they are all associated with a different spring that helps you unlock a unique shrine. You can also farm the dragons for their scales, which can be used in powerful recipes.
3. Go Bowling... In The Mountains
Tired of combing the landscape for the rarest creatures in all of Hyrule? It’s time to play a bit of light sport.
If you go to Pondo’s Lodge in Hebra, you can toss a snowball down the mountain to try to snowl
down the pins at the bottom of the hill. If you’re skilled enough, a strike will merit you a gold rupee, worth 300! It’s a fun way to have a ball, and there’s no cooler feeling than farming rupees whilst you play.
There are a bunch of minigames dotted around the vast landscape for you to find and take (another) break from saving the world. They’re primarily a way to rack up some rupees, but I never used them for that. In Breath of the Wild, a game that always offers something fresh to find and do, it allows lovers of Hyrule visit its breathtaking beauty again and again.
What else can you do? You can play Boom Bam Golf in Tanagar Canyon—like mini golf, but using your Stasis rune to freeze the giant ball and whack it with one of your weapons. You can measure the length of your glide off the top of Ridgeland Tower. You can learn to shield surf or race sand-seals like a pro. The right NPCs even challenge you to foot races or gut check challenges. Try and beat your high scores, or stomp off to take out your frustrations on an unsuspecting mobgoblin. The choice is yours.
2. From The Ground Up
Hudson, a carpenter who works for Bolson Construction, has started his very own settlement in Akkala – Tarry Town. However, he needs your help.
If you bring him bundles of wood, over time, the town starts to form. Shops and houses are built, and this little town on a stony island connected to the mainland only by a rocky bridge starts to feel like a community. But how can a town be a home without villagers?
That’s up to you, too. Hudson asks if you can find people to help build the town on your adventures: someone with brute strength to move heavy rocks, a tailor, a shopkeeper, and so on. The problem is that, much like the workers at Bolson Construction, Hudson wants everyone’s names to end in “son”. To maintain unity, he says. Well, we can’t all be that picky, can we?
Turns out, Bolson can. You’ll find people from across the land willing to relocate to Tarry Town if you search hard enough. Eventually, you can even find a priest to officiate marriages there—if the betrothed promise to give their children names that end with “-son”, of course.
If you’re anything like me, the more the town becomes built due to your actions, the more fulfilled you’ll be. The individual requests are rewarding in themselves, and every time you meet someone with a name that ends with “-son”, you’ll get ridiculously excited. In my opinion, this lengthy quest is much better than buying your own house in Hateno Village. It’s like you’re building your own little corner of Hyrule.
1. Stranded On Eventide
And my number 1 fun thing to do in Breath of the Wild is… the Stranded on Eventide shrine quest.
To start this quest, you need to set foot on Eventide Island. You need an upgraded stamina wheel to make the glide over (Link is awful at swimming), but once you’ve made your way to Faron and shored up on the beach, you hear a voice. Whilst this isn’t a weird occurrence for Link, this is the first voice that takes away every item in your inventory.
Dun dun dun!
The challenge is to find three metal orbs and reunite them with their platforms. Easy, right? Not so much. You have to contend with Moblins, Hinoxes, and other monsters, as well as death threats from the very skies themselves due to frequent thunderstorms. Without your armour and weapons, you have to prepare heavily and get creative before running off into the island to avoid a premature Game Over.
For a lot of people, this quest might be extremely frustrating. You’ve worked hard to get the best gear and weapons, only to have to go back to basics. But I like the challenge of being taken out of my comfort zone and beating up some low-level monsters in a unique, insular experience with very specific conditions.
Sidenote: you’ll lose any items you found on Eventide, so don’t get too attached. If you really want to keep anything, drop them before finishing the challenge.
When you’re done, a shrine will rise out of the ground as a prize for all your efforts. Now only 119 shrines to go, yay!
Final Thoughts
Breath of the Wild is unique. The huge world, inventive side quests, and distinctive powers means that you can wander around Hyrule for hours finding new ways to exploit the mechanics and screw with monsters. As you can imagine, I’m waiting with bated breath for the second series in this instalment.
There’s so much more to do that I didn’t mention: delivering ancient material to Purah at the Ancient Tech Lab to upgrade the runes on your Sheikah Slate; finding all 120 shrines to get Link’s classic armour set; and the Hylian Homeowner side quest, where you make your house your own by spending your rupees to decorate it or adding weapon, bow, and shield mounts. You can even comb the land to find all 900 Korok seeds to deliver to Hestu, allowing you to expand your inventory to the max—if you’ve done this, I do question your sanity.
Or, you can head straight to Ganon’s Castle and see how fast you can speedrun the game (again, I question your sanity). 24 minutes and 10 seconds is your time to beat. Game on.
Ultimately, Breath of the Wild is a game of discovery. Enjoying the scenery and taking it slow is a core feature. I personally love wandering through the villages, alive with quirky characters and homely details, and imagining living there. Take it in. Explore. Find your own little corner of Hyrule that you can’t help but visit time and time again.
With so much to do, everyone will have their own list. That’s what makes Breath of the Wild such a fantastic, unique experience for everyone.