Since it's full reveal at e3 2016 The
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has been one of the most
anticipated games for every Nintendo Fan. A huge open World and never
before known freedom of choice mark a fresh start for the franchise
and personally I can hardly wait till the game finally releases.
Sadly we're still more than a half year
away form that day, but luckily there are several great games that
can help bridge the gap till Breath of the Wild finally releases. The
most obvious choices are, of course, the Remakes of Wind Waker and
Twilight Princess for the Wii-U. However I'm more looking towards
open World kind of games, which fall more in line with the newest
Zelda title. So here are my five choices for games that help bridge
the gap until The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
5: Minecraft
Minecraft offers a huge open world, a
deep crafting system and nearly endless possibilities. It isn't
without reason that this game became the phenomena it has. It is a
truly open World game without any boarders or end in sight. It's all
about you and the goals you set for yourself.
Of course Minecraft is a very basic
game, but that's exactly the strength of it. Because of that I can
offer a near limitless variety. You can craft, build and explore
nearly everything. And while some may find such a game without a
clear end boring or see it growing stale after a while, there are
many others who enjoy Minecraft for hours upon hours.
In the end it's up to the preferences
of the Player but Minecraft offers something to engage everyone. At
least for a couple of hours. And if you like exploring and/or setting
your own goals and don't mind the simplistic graphics Minecraft has
the potential to provide you with countless hours of fun, until
Breath of Wild finally releases.
4: Hyrule Warriors
This game was a pretty obvious pic and
I promise it will be the only Zelda related title on this list.
Hyrule Warriors it's different from other games on this Top 5 in the
way that it doesn't offer an open world. But still it provides over
100 hours of content and with it's DLC that number can easily be
doubled.
It's not on this list however because
of it's similarity to the newest Zelda game, but because it's the
ultimate Fan Game. You get to play as fan favourite characters from
nearly every Zelda Game (With the notable exception of the best one,
Groose), fight in familiar places and enjoy an ultimate power
fantasy. It's extremely satisfying to kill one hundred Bokoblins with
one special attack or to absolutely decimate huge armies.
As a Zelda Fan you'll get plenty of
fanservice too. The game oozes with nods and innuendos to all Zelda
Games. And the original storyline isn't half bad either.
And on top all of that Hyrule Warriors
offers an insane amount of content. Next to the lengthy Story Mode
the gigantic Adventure Mode with several Maps provides literally
hundred of hours of content. Levelin up your characters, equipping
them with new weapons and getting all the Upgrades for them, also
fits well with the slight RPG approach Breath of the Wild has shown
so far.
Of course Hyrule Warriors has some
weakpoints. If you don't like the Warriors style of gameplay from
Koei Tecmo then you'll get bored pretty fast and to be honest even if
you like this kind of game it can get quite monotones some times.
But even though it has some flaws
Hyrule Warriors remains the quintessential Zelda Fan Game.
3: Assassins Creed: Black Flag
Some of you may not have seen this
coming, but I quite like this game. Assassins Creed has grown quite
stale over the last couple of years, but this doesn't concern us
Wii-U gamer. Because this is the last title of the series we got to
play, and, luckily for us, it was one of the best. It's not only a
good Assassins Creed but one of the best pirate themed games out
there. I would even go so far as to say that the Assassin part of the
game is more of a side story, and Black Flag would have functioned
just as well if not better as a pure Pirate game.
The game offers a huge, open and quite
good looking Caribbean sea to explore. Jacked full with side missions
and distractions for you to embark upon you'll hardly ever get bored
while sailing across the sea. Especially the ship segments are truly
great. Unlike Wind Waker they don't become a chore, but stay engaging
and fun. Even something as mundane as sailing from one point to
another is made quite enjoyable by the sea shantys of your crew. And
with waters full of cargo loaded ships and an excellent ship battle
system and handling, the next action packed confrontation is never
far away.
Of course Black Flag doesn't offer the
most varied of open world, the Caribbean consists mostly of tropical
islands and water after all, and the Assassins Creed mantle of this
excellent Pirate games often gets in the way, but this game still
offers countless of hours of great entertainment in a huge open
world. And it will increase your desire to drink some rum. Cheers!
2: Darksiders 2
When I first played this game I
immediately thought of Zelda... only darker. And looking at some
reviews I'm not the only one who felt that way. Darksiders has often
been called a Zelda game for adults, and I can't really talk against
that notion. It truly is a Zelda game for Adults. Especially the
second one. I am quite fond of the comic style aesthetic of the game,
which fits the world perfectly.
And the World of Darksiders is what
drew me in. The varied locations and great lore help you really get
invested into the story of the game, which is, to be honest, quite
mediocre. Still Death is an intriguing protagonist and the outlandish
worlds he visits really have a lot charm. Especially the Land of the
Death as well as the destroyed earth.
This all coupled with a nice, but
pretty shallow talent tree, and a great combat system make this a
great bridge till Breath of the Wild. There are countless challenges
and side quests do delve deeper into the fascinating world of
Darksiders, as well as some really great boss fights during the main
story.
But the one thing that reminded me most
of Zelda in this game were its dungeons. They don't quite reach the
quality of Zelda dungeons, but they are quite good. Some of them
offer great puzzles and I even got stuck one or two times. They may
not have quite the same excellent ''flow'' that many Zelda dungeons
develop, but they are very enjoyable to play through.
From all the games on this list this
one is probably the closest to a classic 3D Zelda experience, so if
you haven't tried it, you definitely should give Darksiders 2 a
chance.
1: Xenoblade Chronicles X
Xenoblade Chronicles X is probably my
favourite game on the Wii-U. Only Donkey Kong Country: Tropical
Freeze manages to get the same feelings of joy out of me. But while I
adore the Ape, he isn't really a suitable game to bridge the gap till
Breath of the Wilds release.
Xenoblade on the other hand is more
than that. Calling it a gap filler wouldn't do this game justice.
Mira is still one of the greatest open worlds ever created. In no
other game I had the same feeling of exploring a true alien planet.
Monolith Soft truly managed to create a world that is not from this
world, if you allow me the bad word play. Mira truly offers near
limitless freedom. I say near, because the hostile inhabitants of the
planet often hinder your advances at low levels.
But once you got your skell and took it
into the skies the game opens up a whole new dimension of
exploration.
And while some may lambast the weak
main story, the countless side and affinity missions are the true
star of the game. At least in the quest department. They flesh out
Mira and its inhabitants brilliantly and help filling the world with
life.
All this coupled with an extremely deep
and well thought out class and fight system (which is sadly quite
badly explained) make Xenoblade Chronicles X the perfect candidate to
fill the upcoming winter months with hours upon hours of
entertainment. If you haven't played this game yet, then there is
only one thing I have to say to you.
So what games do you think are perfect
to bridge the gap until The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
finally releases? Let me know in the comments.
And as always
thanks for reading
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