I’ve poured hours into Breath of the Wild, and surprisingly my favorite mechanic isn’t part of the core gameplay.
Any Zelda fan worth their Rupees has poured their fair share of hours into The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Whether that’s by repeating the story time and time again, exploring the highs and lows of Hyrule in search of Koroks, or trying your hand at using Sheikah Slate abilities for pure chaos.
I’ve spent hundreds of hours in Hyrule’s highs and lows, sure, but there’s one mechanic in particular that drags me into playing for hours, and it’s not as conventional as a campaign. Rather than repeating the story, I’ll jump into the game to saddle up for a couple of hours and ride around Hyrule with my hooved companion.
Even though it’s not a central part of the core gameplay loop, horse riding in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is some of the most accurate representations and animations of horse physics and articulation within video gaming.
It’s clear that the animation team behind our beloved horses did a lot of research into the movement and nature prior to implementing them into Breath of the Wild specifically, which is why I have no shame in admitting it’s one of my favorite features of the entire game, and I hope it makes a return in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. I wanna be a cowboy, baby
I’m no expert by any stretch of the imagination.
