In the first few moments of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, you emerge from a cavern into a post apocalyptic Hyrule 100 years after your failed attempt to stop the calamity which had befallen the kingdom.
You failed. And the world as everyone knew it ended.
Your friends are long gone, because of you.
Of course, these memories come creeping back as you follow the storyline through the game to its conclusion. From no memory of what happened to the unbearable pain of remembering everything.
All that can be done is to try to remove the calamity from the kingdom, like excising a cancerous tumor.
First you have to gain access to the innermost chambers of Hyrule Castle, where you find Calamity Ganon. He's tough! But I did all four of the Guardian Beast dungeons, so he starts with half of his health. Even so, this was a tough fight!
Once Ganon is defeated, it doesn't end there! Like any good final boss in a video game, he transforms into something larger and more horrible than before. As Dark Beast Ganon, he strides tall, looming close in the field outside of the castle. You are teleported there and are given the magical arrow, the only means of defeating this world-ending terror. From horseback, you must strike several weak points on Dark Beast Ganon's blight riddled body before he destroys the last vestiges of Hyrule's survivors.
In short, it is brilliant! From the moment you emerge from the cave in the beginning of the game with no memory to the final acknowledgement from Princess Zelda that you are indeed the Hero of Hyrule, Breath of the Wild is a work of art. It took me quite a long time to finish the game, because I wanted to wander the breadth and depth of the kingdom. It is an extraordinary video game experience. A breath of fresh air.
