Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild
2000's Era Game
Class of 2017 Inductee
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a 2017 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo.
Set at the end of the Zelda timeline, players control Link as he sets out to save Princess Zelda and prevent Calamity Ganon from destroying the world.
They explore the open world of Hyrule, collect items and complete 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.
Development lasted five years, commencing immediately after the release of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword in 2011. Led by director Hidemaro Fujibayashi and producer Eiji Aonuma, Nintendo sought to rethink Zelda’s conventions and introduced elements such as detailed chemistry and physics engines.
The designers drew inspiration from Shadow of the Colossus (2005) and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011). Monolith Soft, known for their work on the open-world Xenoblade Chronicles series, assisted in designing landscapes and topography.
Breath of the Wild is the best-selling Zelda game and one of the best-selling video games, with 34.51 million copies sold as of March 2025.
It is considered one of the greatest video games of all time, with it winning several Game of the Year awards. Critics described it as a landmark in open-world design, praising its emphasis on experimentation, physics-based sandbox, and emergent gameplay.
Numerous developers cited Breath of the Wild as inspiration, and it is a popular point of comparison among open-world games.
Primary Credits:
Developer: Nintendo EPD
Publisher: Nintendo
Director: Hidemaro Fujibayashi
Producer: Eiji Aonuma
Programmers: Takuhiro Dohta, Kenji Matsutani, Hiroshi Umemiya
Artists: Takumi Wada, Satoru Takizawa
Writers: Akihito Toda, Naoki Mori
Composers: Manaka Kataoka, Yasuaki Iwata, Hajime Wakai
Aggregate Scores:
Metacritic 96/100
OpenCritic 96%
Review Scores:
Destructoid 10/10
Edge 10/10
Electronic Gaming Monthly 9.5/10
Eurogamer Essential
Famitsu 40/40
Game Informer 10/10
GameRevolution 5/5
GameSpot 10/10
GamesRadar+ 5/5
Giant Bomb 5/5
IGN 10/10
Nintendo Life 10/10
Nintendo World Report 9.5/10
Polygon 10/10
VideoGamer dot com 9/10
International Video Game Hall of Fame Class of 2017 Induction: