In terms of the evolution of open-world games, there was IMHO the before and following GTA III, the before and following Assassin’s Creed, and the before and following The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Clearly, the latter strongly inspired the development of Elden Ring, but it would not be surprising if Elden Ring in turn inspires the sequel to Breath of the Wild, the release of which has just been postponed for a year. In my opinion, the release of Elden Ring has something to do with it. In the meantime, these two games, although very different in certain aspects, are often compared. So let’s analyze who does what better.
3 things Elden Ring does better
1- The risk/reward factor is more satisfying
The aspect on which the two games are rightly compared is their amazing open world where exploration is its own reward. Both Elden Ring and BOTW take very little of the player by the hand and that pushes us to rediscover the joy of exploration in a video game.
That said, where the shoe pinches for BOTW is that following the discovery of an extraordinary place with incredible enemies… the reward at the end is often disappointing. A chest with rupees? Okay. A cool weapon that will break following 5 hits? Okay. Cool armor, but not as good as the one you already have. Disappointing. Elden Ring doesn’t always offer extraordinary treasures, but the risk/reward factor is definitely better balanced.
2 – Various dungeons and enemies
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was a huge success for Nintendo, but that didn’t stop some players from being disappointed with the lack of more classic dungeons. Besides that the four big bosses to fight before Ganon are rather generic. Elden Ring is packed with dungeons, unique and memorable bosses, and a hugely varied bestiary that makes every encounter dangerous and unpredictable.
3 – Multiplayer
Obviously, Zelda BOTW has no multiplayer at all. And while I don’t think Nintendo would make the jump to adding a co-op mode in the sequel, Eiji Aonuma might certainly take inspiration from some of the online aspects of Elden Ring, such as the ability to leave messages with clues for others. players. Elden Ring is an intimidating game, but the constant feeling that we are not the only ones to face the same challenges, comforts us. Who knows, maybe the developers of BOTW 2 played Elden Ring and decided to push back the game’s release to implement a similar multiplayer aspect? I speculate, but it’s possible.
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3 things The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild does better
1 – Traversing the environment
Link can climb, swim, glide, and even ride flying rock using the powers of his Sheikah Slate. Our Tarnished, in Elden Ring, dies instantly if it touches deep water. And definitely don’t try to climb or even just hang on to a ledge; you’ll have to do some platforming with a rather rudimentary jump system that’s definitely from another era.
2- Interactive environments
One of the reasons why, 5 years later, BOTW remains a popular game for streamers, content creators and speedrunners is that Hyrule’s environment is interactive, destructible in places, and that combined with the “physical” powers of the Sheikah Slate, there are always new ways to move, fight and solve puzzles. The Lands Between, although visually extraordinary, are not very interactive.
3- Link and NPC animations
Another aspect where Elden Ring feels like it’s from another era is in the character details and animations. Whether it’s our Tarnished or the NPCs we’re talking to, they have little to no expression, and while they have voiceover, they’re only allowed a very rudimentary animation of their mouths opening and closes. That’s a shame.
Here is an interesting example in BOTW where the NPCs react to the mere presence of Link in Dark Link costume: