Zelda: Breath of the Wild has Towers and That's More Than Okay.

When Watch Dogs 2 came out it was big news that there were no “Ubisoft Towers” in it. Thank god, no more arbitrary climbing to open up side-quests. The entire world was open to exploration from the beginning and side quests revealed themselves over time either as a result of story progression or by searching through Marcus’ array of apps.

The thing is, other than finding that bit next to the Golden gate bridge I went to on holiday, there wasn’t much to encourage me to explore. Maybe I had a look around the Noodle headquarters or went to see the seals at the harbor. But exploration was never the aim of the game.

I’ve always been a fan of Ubisoft games and climbing the towers in Assassin’s Creed games used to be something of an addiction. In fact I would have just done them all in one go if I hadn’t purposefully paced myself. However on a recent replay of AC2, courtesy of the Ezio collection, that old buzz was very much gone. This could have been down to it being a replay of old content, the fact I’m a bit older and have less time for side missions or maybe it was just down to open-world fatigue.

When you break down Zelda: Breath of the Wild it shares quite a few elements with Ubisoft and other modern open-world games. Climb a tower, reveal a bit of the map, open fast travel points and repeat. There are side quests and shops and even a place to dye your clothes like you could in Assassin’s Creed. (Although you’re mad if you want to fuck up the colour scheme of the Hylian outfit).

If it really was open-world fatigue, why then was I feeling the same need to go over there, climb that tower and keep revealing chunks of the map? The answer is simple. It’s a more enjoyable world to explore than most open-world games of the last few years.

Back when Assassin’s Creed 2 came out, Florence and Venice were places worth exploring. They were pretty and the architecture made it fun to run and jump across roof-tops. The inability to recreate to a 1:1 scale actively worked in the game’s favour. It meant a tightly packed environment that didn’t get boring.

Lately that desire to explore has faded because crafting 1:1 replica of Paris and London doesn't actually make for an interesting world unless you make it that way. Especially when they're set in a time before most of the iconic buildings even existed. Ubisoft probably knew this which why we got those weird mini sections with the Eiffel tower. Because if you're playing a game set in Paris you want to see the Eiffel tower not the flat area of nothing where the tower would eventually be built.

In contrast Breath of the Wild offers a seemingly endless supply of landscapes to gawp at, interesting characters to talk to and surprises to discover. If you run off in any direction for long enough your journey will be rewarded.

One of my favourite moments so far happened when I was heading towards a tower at the other side of a bridge. The area didn't seem to offer much in the way of fantastic views or enemies. It was just normal fields and ordinary bokoblins. I fought my way to the bridge and once I was there was amazed by an incredible sight, a giant creature I just hadn't expected to see. **minor spoiler** It was a giant chinese-style dragon slowly gliding and curving through the air. **spoiler ends**

Was this things dangerous? A friendly beast? I still don't know yet and that mystery is just one of many things that will drive me forwards in Breath of the Wild.

The towers themselves at the most basic level are a small goal to attain, a reason to move forwards, just as they are in other games. Sometimes they are also a puzzle or a challenge. Some are surrounded by thorns or high-level enemies, which presents an interesting puzzle as you debate how to approach it.

The towers also open up the map, providing helpful geographical information. This is nothing new but what what they don't do is present you with a dozen or so markers and icons telling you where the side-quests all are. You have to do this yourself by using your Sheikah slate as a pair of binoculars and placing the markers on your map. You might not even be able to place it accurately meaning there could be some running around once you get there.

The lack of markers is a relatively minor feature but it's the difference between a game that presents you with an intimidating to-do list and one that presents you with a rich world that begs to be discovered and gradually unveils itself over time
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Zelda: Breath of the Wild is proof that the open-world genre still has a lot to offer and as a fan of Ubisoft (or Ubisoft trash some might say) I'm optimistic that these lessons will be learned (or copied) to make new worlds that are full of more intrigue and fewer checklists.