Nintendo cut right to the chase this morning during its live broadcast from E3 2016. The ongoing show opened with our first in-depth look at the upcoming Zelda, which now has an official title, The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild. And from what we see in the video, that’s quite the appropriate name. It opens with a voice—a real actual human voice, a first for the series—calling to Link, and proceeds to give an impressive overview of the game’s open landscape, showing deserts, lush forests, snow-covered mountains, and plenty of mysterious ruins.
Living off the land and putting those huge environments to good use looks to be a focus of Breath Of The Wild. In addition to taming horses, hunting, and cooking, Link can be seen chopping down a tree to create a natural bridge and shooting down a beehive to scare away enemies. He also appears to wield a few magical tools that let him take that manipulation even further, like a mystical magnet he uses to levitate a big plank and throw it at a bunch of monsters. Link also goes through some serious costume changes throughout the video, stripping down to his skivvies for a swim in one scene and donning a bulky suit of armor over his flimsy tunic in another. His arsenal of weapons is more flexible as well, as it seems he’s learned to fight with axes and spears in addition to his usual swords.
Nintendo will be showing off plenty more of Breath Of The Wild throughout the day on its livestream, and we’ll be reporting back with first-hand impressions later in the week. Breath Of The Wild is set be released simultaneously on the Wii U and Nintendo’s next console in March 2017.