Overseas gamers choose Zelda: Breath of the Wild as one of their favorite Japanese games – here’s why

User comments

– Hyrule looked more amazing than it ever has before. It added to the desire to explore. – ADDA, 20, male, North America
– It is absolutely visually stunning, every landscape looks incredible and almost every character is excellently designed. – Prevot, 20, male, South America
– Everything felt fresh to me. – Misterallstar, 10, male, Europe
– I thought it was really cool that metal weapons conducted lightning in a thunderstorm, and that fire and ice weapons would warm you up or cool you down while equipped. – Semmi, 20, male, North America
– It’s a beautiful game, and it makes me want to explore every inch of the world. – skferret, 20, male, North America
– The sound effects are amazing. I could listen to Link walking in shrines forever. – Taitotu, 20, male, North America
– Finding new places even if they aren’t the main objective was fun. – ana, 20, female, North America
– Being able to climb anything is just amazing and I really feel the environment is the star of that game. – Lapis, 20, male, North America
– No one wants to tell us where to go. We can go everywhere, not like many other open world games… – ZigZig, 20, male, Europe
– The gameplay is very unique, because it is physics based puzzles with multiple answers. I like how the graphics were rendered. – endspire, 20, male, North America
– I never felt limited. I could solve puzzles or do fights in a multitude of ways. – Justin, 30, male, North America
– The feeling of adventure, to discover a whole new world without any indication. – Igor, 30, male, Europe
– The freedom. The way you can decide where to go and when. Despite this freedom, the story is beautifully brought by the encounters with important characters and the memories. – Fariagon, 20, male, Europe
– The possibilities – as in, you could try EVERYTHING that might logically work and it had a great chance of actually working. – Anya, 20, female, Europe
– I could spend hours just running through the world. – Windywyll, 20, male, Europe
– I liked being able to go anywhere or climb anything I could see. – Joshua Joyner, 30, male, North America
– The scenery was beautiful and the atmosphere was gorgeous. – Okan, 20, male, Europe
– It felt like being a kid again, exploring the forest near my childhood home. – Eric, 20, male, North America
– Mipha love story and Link’s motorcycle. – Muhammad Pahlevi, 20, male, Asia
– I also loved the fairies, haha! – Aisosa, 20, male, Europe
– Despite being a massively open world game there is something to do in almost every inch of the map. Each area is well thought out and everything is perfectly spread out to make you feel like a real explorer. The boss fights were unique and difficult enough to challenge both children and adults. – Kyle Tosczak, 20, male, North America
– All. – Momolink, 20, male, Europe
– The desert was awesome! Such a wonderful area. I hope I can go to Gerudo Town one day… – Liam, 20, male, North America
– Being able to beat final boss without playing through the story. Art Style. – edge, 20, male, Asia
– Unmatched exploration. Fun physics mechanics, smart survival loop, engaging world design. Just a master class in open world design, endlessly playable. – Dane, 30, male, North America
– The final dungeon, Hyrule Castle. This area was extremely well designed, with painstaking attention to detail. While the other dungeons felt separate from the main game, Hyrule Castle worked with the game’s strength of open exploration, and expanded on it with indoor environments. I would like to see more of this kind of dungeon design in the next Legend of Zelda title. – Caleb, 20, male, North America
– I liked how magical the world design felt especially at the beginning. It feels like a real hike in the world.
– It broke the traditional Zelda formula to deliver an adventure that was fresh and new. – Thomas, 20, male, North America
– The world design and climbing system. They lent a sense of freedom and pure adventure that’s been unmatched in the series and in the industry as a whole. – Tyrus, 20, male, North America
– This game really expresses freedom in a way I had never experienced before. – David Infante, 20, male, Europe
– IT IS SO BEAUTIFUL!!! – Esther, 20, male, North America
– Feel like Princess Mononoke. – wapplew, 30, male, Asia
– The open world~!! It’s so different from past Zelda games, but it’s done so wonderfully, it still has the spirit of Zelda. – lonelydays17, 20, male, North America
– Mechanical depth and freedom of choice. – Pride, 30, male, North America
– An open world where I could think “Can I do this? Will it really work like how I think it should work?” and the answer was almost always “Yes!”. – Heather, 30, female, North America

Note: ages were based in different groups, not specific ages (20s, 30s, etc.)

Rankings for what they liked the most

Gameplay – 3,188 votes
Story – 1,160 votes
Art – 2,829 votes
Music – 1,699 votes
Other – 316 votes

Ranking for Runes

Stasis – 1,164 votes

– Once you find out you can use it against enemies, it is your strongest and overpowered tool. – Hakairo, 20, male, Europe
– Stasis allows you to do a lot of bizarre things including flying through the sky on a log like Tao Pal Pai! – Josh, 20, male, North America
– Very fun mechanic, especially the ability to fling items with stored kinetic energy. – HurdyGurdyMan, 20, male, North America

Remote Bomb – 1,130 votes

– Unlimited resource of damage. Awesome in situations where you don’t have any weapons. – Liftea, 20, male, Europe
– Fishing! – Hazem, 20, male, Africa

Magnesis – 904 votes

– Manipulating heavy objects freely was not only fun, it was useful for many puzzles AND combat situations. – Alex, 20, male, North America
– To scan my surroundings. – AyeHaley, 30, male, Europe

Cryonis – 210 votes

– Whenever it rained, or I had to cross a lake, Cryonis was really helpful. It wasn’t always helpful as you needed water, but it’s probably the one I appreciated the most. – BT, 20, male, Oceania

N/A – 331

Rankings for the Champions

Mipha – 1,471 votes

– A sad, but truly beautiful love story. – Misty, 20, female, Europe
– Because she gave me that healing ability, which was very helpful to me. – JuergenKnete, 20, male, Europe
– She just made me want to protect her. – Enrique, 30, male, North America

Urbosa – 1,069 votes

– Strong and beautiful. I liked her interactions with Zelda. – NinonNinja, 20, male, North America
– She reminds me of Wonder Woman my favorite superhero. – SnivyLink, 10, male, North America
– Charming and strong, also seemed to give Link strength/encouragement. – Jason, 20, male, Oceania

Revali – 483 votes

– He is not very friendly, and that is good. – Gaijin, 20, male, Europe
– He was very proud and boastful, plus his ability is very useful with the glider. – SweetieAshe, 20, male, North America

Daruk – 367 votes

– I liked Daruk’s personality the best. Also his power is the most useful. – Brent, 30, North America
– Because I look like him. – Mark, 40 years old, male, Oceania

Demographics

Ages

– 20s – 2,470
– 30s – 819
– 10-19 – 373
– 40s – 69
– 50s – 3

Region

– North America – 2,062
– Europe – 1,217
– South America – 168
– Asia – 144
– Oceania – 119
– Africa – 10

Gender

– Male – 5,606
– Female – 887
– Other – 122
– N/A – 63