Throughout the Legend of Zelda series, and especially with the more recent entries to the franchise, each instalment's art direction has been a real focal point for discussion and has given each game their own, unique identity. Breath of the Wild was no different; seeing Hyrule in its cel-shaded guise feels so right, even for those of us who had originally hoped for something more "realistic".
So what happens if you strip away the game's art style, leaving everything exactly where it was but with a completely different appearance? Well, exploring exactly that, YouTube user Arkh Longstride has shared a video of a heavily modded emulation of the game running on PC. Various areas have been almost undebatably improved from a graphical point of view - look at Link's breath, for example - but the general art direction, which takes away the cel shading, is just different.
Sure, in some ways it looks great (we love intense graphical detail as much as the next person), but in other ways, something gets lost. The game is running at 60fps, and the world has never been so detailed, but we're not sure we'd pick this over the original. It's definitely an interesting talking point; check it out for yourself below.
Now that you've seen it in action, what do you think? Better than the original? Worse? Would you like the next new Zelda to look like this? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
[source youtu.be, via polygon.com]
Comments 91
Eh, I dunno. It somehow feels a little sterile to me. Like it's a testing environment and isn't really alive. Maybe I'm just used to the art style.
Why? What is the point of this?
Looks like Jump Force, but with good character animation.
Hooray the world looks dull and drab. Good job Mr. Modder, you've gotten rid of the cel shading and brought us that elusive "mature" Zelda!
...ugh
Breath of the Domesticated. It's lost all of its charm - looks more like a fan made recreation
They don't even go to a very scenic place smh.
it suprisingly looks pretty good. i wouldnt have wanted the game to look like this because it looks soulless and bland. im suprised that the assets nintendo made for this game looks even decent without the shading
Like the original style more. But playing the Original at 2560X1600 at 60FPS would be amazing.
Maybe time to look into this 😏👮♂️
How I am running DMC5 now (and did NinoKuni2). It just makes it a better experience in both the visual and gameplay department.
I mean it's gorgeous, but so is the original graphic style.
Am I supposed to be impressed?
Removing all the fog and mist gives it a very drab look. I loved how the mornings after a rain would look blindingly bright and hazy, or how the landscapes disappeared into the mist the further you got. Yes, "Zelda fog" is looked at as a cheap draw-distance trick, but on BotW it was implemented with such beauty..
Soul has gone.
Watching this actually made me appreciate Nintendo’s work even more. Taking away those details made me realize just how much work they had put into the official look. Absolutely brilliant.
Yeah it lost something - fuzziness. This is beautiful.
If activision made a Zelda game
I like the original graphics better. Only thing I'd welcome, which I would for any game really, would be an up res and a solid 60fps.
@GrailUK I'm guessing they just did it because they could, that's how lots of mods happen
...it looks worse though...
It's weird. I really appreciate how sharp it looks...but the music for some reason clashes with the environment and it feels like an Unreal Engine showcase oddly enough.
Interesting!
> Various areas have been almost undebatably improved from a graphical point of view - look at Link's breath, for example
it looks like he's smoking
I honestly think it looks kind of ugly at first glance. It is too dark, but as I continue to watch it I grow increasingly fond of it. I don't know if Nintendo would ever do something like this especially without contrast but it does intrigue me. Almost brings me back to Ocarina of Time 3D remake days.
Leave the 60 fps and return the celshading, there, perfect game.
Uh, it looks dark and drab, what is the point?
60+ FPS, oh yes!
Removing the cel shading, that's like removing the soul of the game!
Still looks very impressive.
@electrogeist Frame rate wise, yes.
But taking the cel shading away from the game, and you've lost the artistic part of the game. It has no style.
"What if we made the wedding cake two sections taller, but took away the marcipan, the icing, and the whipped cream, and let a five year old write the names?"
I like it but I also like the cel shading. I like everything.
Looks pretty awesome honestly. I think the comments would be much more positive if we didn't have the botw we have come to know & love.
*Note: I do not prefer this 60FPS version
I'll be frank: It looks like garbage. It's lost all its charm.
I'll keep my ~29 fps charming Breath of the Wild.
Makes me wonder how this style would look with more vibrant colours. I definitely like the original style better, but it does looks nice and crisp on the higher resolution and with 60 FPS, though that's only natural.
The Legend of Zelda: Death of the Wild - Rated H for Hardcore...
On a serious note: it doesn't even look half bad, it just isn't a game with a Nintendo feeling anymore, so I agree with the other commenters who said that somehow, this mod managed to take the soul out of the original game.
Nintendo always plans their Zelda games VERY carefully, and thoughtfully, so everything from the story to the art style, is probably put to the test several times, before they decide upon a certain direction and combination of these elements. And that art style, along with the music composed for it, makes a complete product, a whole experience. Change any of the components, and you create a imbalance, a dissonance if you will. So, even though it does look kinda good, it just feels off, regardless.
Just throw in some fog and it's an improvement! That said, if they went without cel shading, there'd be far more pops of vivid colors here and there.
I own both the Wii U and Switch copy of BotW, but ended up playing through it on Cemu on PC. The game just looks stunning running at 60fps and native 1080p.
For me, this only makes me think: How good would a photograph of Mona Lisa look?
@Sinton Probably far less mysterious and more bland...
I love the cel shaded look even more now.
This game is a beautiful thing regardless of the skin used!! Few more dungeons in the same vein as Hyrule Caslte and we would have had the absolute perfect game!!
Feels like I'm looking at Ocarina of Time (with upgraded visuals, of course). Other than that, it's just "meh" to me.
Those trees and foliage hurt my eyes.
It's not a horrible thing per se, but there are some horrible things in it like this.
This is why pure graphics never actually make anything better.
It's straight up worse.
It just makes it all the more obvious that it was designed for limited technology, whilst also proving that art style is king
@JMR_Alden On the contrary, more media should be at 48/60fps. Especially games, being at 60fps or higher is always better.
I love this game so much I will always jump at the opportunity to see something like this. Fan-made variations and passion projects just activate my own enthusiasm for the game.
I just wish there was a low resolution 60 fps mode for the game running on Switch. Old GameCube and Wii games running at 480p and 60fps look and play fantastic as long as you've got a direct high quality digital connection between the console and the TV or monitor. Please, keep resolutions low and frame rates high!!
@Valdney
Agree... more dungeons!
Looks better with cel shading but interesting
Looks like plastic. Original looks much better...
@60frames-please
I think higher resolution is more pleasent for the eyes. BotW got too many dips below 30, but the avarage game doesn't benefit much from 60 fps.
@RasandeRose Yeah, different people find different things to be more pleasing. I just really love snappy response times, smooth scrolling or camera swings, and general goodness of super smooth movement on screen. Of course I like high resolution, but frame rate is so much more important to me that I wish HD TVs never came out. Or I at least wish HD was maxed out at 720p, which seems like a plenty high enough resolution to me. Bayonetta and Bayonetta 2 look totally awesome on Switch. That's one of the best exhibits of the wonderfulness of 60 fps, and the lack of need for higher resolutions, in my opinion.
I kind of dig this, of course if Nintendo were to apply this (more powerful hardware required), it would be more vibrant and stylized but just as a display of "possibility", I think this looks really good, definitely better than those UE4 ultrarealistic Zelda builds.
I just don't know why some people are obsessed in the thinking that cel-shading is bad. For me, this just took all the charm out of the game.
Makes me wish the game actually was 60fps.
Not impressed. There's a reason why the original game looks the way it does.
Never understood this need to take someone else's art and try to make it "better." It's kind of insulting, actually. It's the equivalent of taking a Raphael and adding crayon to it.
@LUIGITORNADO no you’re not, ever.
It lost its charm, this is not for me
It doesn't look bad. Ultimately, it's pretty pointless in that I don't necessarily see any benefit for the art style having been different gameplay wise. Unless someone more knowledgeable about these things than I am can point out otherwise
Should probably fix that asset pop-in.
It looks exactly like how I was playing BOTW on my new tv when I turned black detail to high.
It also eliminates the haze.
I quit using it because it was the true image.
Looks awful TBH. Sorta like Jump Force, but with good animations.
Cell shading FTW.
@60frames-please none of the 3D Zelda's have ever been 60fps and open world games in general on consoles never are. For these types of games it's not just a case of lowering the resolution to get to 60fps, CPU's in consoles have always been the limiting factor in that regard and hopefully the next generation will finally put an end to such a thing
That looks miles better!!!!
Like the original better.
Duller tints and a bafflingly placebo-crutched FPS effect is what I see. Seriously, I'm staring at it and telling myself, "okay, this is holy 60 FPS, it's obviously... er... no, wait, there, that moment was definitely smoother... ish... er... okay, that vapour from Link's mouth, right? No, it's the camera during the glide, right? Oh, come on, there must be something standing out enough to make people go nuts over the difference, especially in an action open worlder like this!" Same with the level of detail, frankly.
Where is your god now, graphics and specs-worshipping gamers? Sorry, nowhere near me, it seems. I tried.
I know it gets compared to Horizon at lot, but BotW is such a better looking game.
Love the dark souls-y look. I would probably play the game again if I can play it this way.
Imho the original is better. Is it the Wii U version?
@GrailUK Why not?
I really prefer this look over the cell shaded original. I don’t think it looks boring at all. Does that mean cell shading = interesting? I doubt it.
Hideous hideous hideous
I like it. I’d probably play this version.
I really prefer the cell shaded original.. Great to see it this way for kicks, but it really loses some of the magic of the original.
This is definitely what Breath of the Wild would had look like if it was released for Xbox 360 instead of the Wii U.
Just confirms that Cel-shading was the right call.
Wow tough crowd...
@carlos82 The thing that worries me about the next gen is that they will be geared towards extremely high resolutions. I hear you that resolution isn't the only thing hindering games from reaching 60 fps, but it seems like a pretty big one when Fire Emblem Warriors can run at 60 at 720p docked. And yeah, open world games are much more complicated. I can't imagine how difficult it is to manage the rendering, loading, etc all while keeping even frame pacing and a constant frame rate.
It looks so much better, except for the exaggerated breath.
@60frames-please resolution is definitely a sticking point but for the Switch in particular there are so many limiting factors to consider such as memory bandwith. Hence why games like BOTW have better performance in handheld as there is only a 20% increase in memory bandwith to accommodate a 56% resolution bump in docked mode, whilst Doom has to drop to around 438p to maintain something near 30fps. So it's not just a case of dropping resolution to double framerate.
The best example of what i mean is probably The Witcher 3 on the Xbox One X as that has a performance mode to target 60fps, which it can do in the opening area and out in the woods. However near the big cities it drops to around 45fps and this is at 1080p and despite it's 6tflop gpu which is around 5x that of the standard Xbox One and huge memory bandwith but it's CPU is the same just with just a clock boost. This is the limiting factor here and in most open worlds as that console is capable of running the likes of Halo 5 in 4K at 60fps. Next gen they will have access to a big leap in CPU technology so at the very least we should get more of these performance type modes for any game still targeting 30fps to get to 60fps at a lower resolution.
Like you I do hope so as they do play much better and games like Resi 2 and Devil May Cry 5 have been a dream to play this year and Nintendo still target 60fps when they can
Maybe it's because of the weather, but it looks a bit more grim.
Personally I prefer the original look of the game, I can appreciate getting to see it in a slightly more realistic form but I can’t help feeling that I wouldn’t have been as enthralled had this been the style. I played 300hrs of it so far and still have quests to complete, part of that is down to the beautiful colours and unique look of the game.
Not keen on ‘vape lord’ link either, its just a little overdone in that respect really.
The higher resolution and frame rates are welcome but I prefer the original cell shaded art style with atmospheric fogging in the distance better than this.
Nah, the cel shaded breath of the wild (original) looks way more beautiful than this.
Kind of looks like Twilight Princess, but with a less mysical feel to it. It’s not looking very good to be honest.
@carlos82 Nice, thanks for the explanation. As to your final comment, I really love how Nintendo's focus on polish often translates into 60fps gameplay.
Although it’s nice, I prefer the original.... I’ve never considered myself a “gamer” — I’m 53 years old, for crying out loud! But my daughter bought me a Nintendo Switch for Father’s Day, and ... I love it! Then in October she persuaded me to buy Zelda, Breath of the Wild.... I’m embarrassed to say it, but I have spent hundreds, maybe thousands, of hours immersed in this beautiful game!
gonna be honest, i like it. Lol gives me such OoT vibes:p
Definitely not an improvement. The graphic style simply doesn't fit-in with real-world shading-- the characters look like dolls. Nintendo could never get away releasing a modern game that looked like this.
@EvilLucario Not to me
Looks better then expected. A bit dark though.
Can't polish a turd.
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