I’ve started collecting Korok seeds in The Legend of Zelda: The Breath of the Wild. I thought it would be frustrating, but it turns the game into a beautiful walking simulator.
I started chasing down all 900 Korok seeds, convinced that it was a fool’s errand. I imagined the process as a Sisyphean task. All I would do was mindlessly collect seed after seed after seed after… seed. I thought collecting them was for sickos and die-hard fans only. However, several weeks into my chase — which still isn’t over — I’m now convinced it’s actually the ideal way to enjoy The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Now hear me out: I’m not saying that people who don’t go after the Korok seeds aren’t “real fans.” Far from it. Collecting seeds is a completely different type of gameplay from the mainline quest and the boss fights that came with it, which were challenging even as a seasoned Zelda fan who loves 3D action-combat games. In contrast to that, collecting the seeds has been a delightful and leisurely way to revisit Breath of the Wild in 2023.
Like any good hero, Link has a few tools at his disposal to take on this particular challenge. You will definitely need Revali’s Gale if you don’t want to spend copious amounts of time climbing. Additionally, I beat all the DLC for the game, so I had some important items like Master Cycle Zero (Link’s tricked-out motorcycle), a Korok mask that shakes when a seed is nearby, and the Travel Medallion, which allows you to place a teleportation waypoint anywhere on the map you’d like. I also, fortunately, had roughly 200 arrows starting out, since you have to play a minigame where you shoot fast-moving balloons to get many of the seeds. But among the tools, the most important resource I used was an online map that saves and tracks my progress.
Kind of like with playing Elden Ring, you need to be ready to laugh first and get frustrated second.
