No matter how big or how good a game is, it’s never going to be able to include every last feature that we, as gamers, have come to know and love. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the most sprawling adventure in the famed franchise, but even it had an omission or two. In some fans’ eyes, that was a dynamic, roller coaster narrative; for others, it was the lack of traditional dungeons, or the small selection of enemies.

There was hope that some of those missing elements would eventually make an appearance in the game’s DLC, which was announced shortly after Breath of the Wild released. When Nintendo announced a pair of content packs priced at $20 altogether, touting such inclusions like a “new story” and a “new dungeon,” many fans eagerly anticipated them as the bolstering that the already-impressive main game needed to become the definitive, ultimate Legend of Zelda experience. The Champions’ Ballad, the second of the DLC packs—and the one with that “new story” and “new dungeon”—attempts to fill in the few gaps that Breath of the Wild had. It starts off in a peculiar fashion that few fans probably expected. Instead of the emergence of some new threat across Hyrule or cinematics that set up a compelling narrative, fans are tasked to a gauntlet of challenges using the bizarre One-Hit Obliterator weapon. With it, you can kill an enemy in a single shot, even those pesky Silver enemies. The caveat is that, while wielding it, you drop to just ¼ of a heart, meaning that any single hit you take, no matter how tiny, kills you. To complete this ultimate trial that the ancient Sheikah Monks have planned in The Champions’ Ballad, you must first make your way through a series of enemy encounters and new Shrines across the Great Plateau with the One-Hit Obliterator in hand. Normally, this kind of rigid, ruthless gameplay sequence would be unfair at worst, and tedious at best, but Breath of the Wild’s regular autosaves make it more forgiving. Should you die in the overworld (and you will, probably a few times) you’re more likely to respawn right where you got your Game Over, instead of having to repeat any enemy encounters, although dying in one of the Shrines will send you right back to the start.

The sheer tension that arises from Link’s vulnerability has its charm as you cautiously navigate the traps and hazards. More than that, it’s a clever way to inject challenge into the game for those players who have upgraded Link to an unstoppable monster. By stripping away all of those weapons, hearts, and Champions’ abilities you’ve earned, the One-Hit Obliterator trial forces you to completely change your methods of combat and puzzle solving. For all of its entertainment value, however, this opening sequence is a portent of things to come in the rest of the DLC. The Champions’ Ballad does not offer many brand new concepts or setpieces; it’s more content to simply throw together some new scenarios using the same assets as those from the main game. What follows your outing with the One-Hit Obliterator is a miniature version of Breath of the Wild’s story. You’ll be going back to visit the Zora, Gorons, Rito, and Gerudo, although there isn’t much character interaction this time around. You’re instead returning to these areas to complete a series of challenges loosely connected to the deceased Champions, who once piloted the Divine Beasts 100 years ago before Calamity Ganon reemerged. You can do these in any order, but the allure of nonlinearity is somewhat lost when you soon realize that each leg of this new adventure is pretty much the same as all of the others, with some exceptions here and there. The Champions’ Ballad embodies the very same flaws that marred the core game. Where Breath of the Wild’s Divine Beast quests followed a strict formula that made their sequence of events nearly identical to one another (arrive at the new race’s settlement, find out that they’re down on their luck, recruit a sidekick, subdue the Divine Beast, complete the Divine Beast dungeon and the bland Blight Ganon boss fight), The Champions’ Ballad has you completing three [usually] menial tasks in the overworld, which each lead to a new Shrine. When the trio of new Shrines are completed, you’re then asked to ‘face your fears’ by having much of your armament temporarily removed before you face a dreaded, terrifying…Blight Ganon. It really can’t be overstated just how absurd it is that fans paid money to fight the same bosses we did in the core game.

But that stale content is only part of the problem behind The Champions’ Ballad design. Like the Divine Beast quests before, once you’re engaged in your second leg of The Champions’ Ballad, the surprises are just about over. As you follow your second sequence of light rings across an area, or work your way through the second set of three Shrines, you realize that the remaining legs will all offer the same kind of challenges. Much like how the overworld’s mystery fell apart in the main game due to a lack of variety in enemies and rewards, The Champions’ Ballad becomes very predictable far earlier than it ever should. There are exceptions, but they’re a mixed bag. Fights with a beefed-up Molduga (aptly-named “Molduking) and a giant-sized Igneo Talus are exciting. Tasks like farming a horn from Dinraal or a truncated stealth mission through the Yiga hideout? Complete wastes of time. The difficulty that you’ll face in the new Shrines–as well as the new dungeon–will largely be dependent on how many you’ve completed prior to starting this second DLC pack. If you’ve surmounted all 120 Shrines in the core game, the new additions will see their difficulty dampened a bit, due to many of their obstacles being built from ideas already present in the original game’s content. That said, these new Shrines and the new dungeon will still test your resourcefulness, your intuition, and your reflexes no matter the degree of familiarity you have with Breath of the Wild. They house some fiendishly-intricate puzzles and platforming sequences, easily the best in the whole game. Suffice to say, if you dive into The Champions’ Ballad without having first seen much of the what the game offers, these new Shrines and the new dungeon are going to drive you up a wall. Your rewards for completing The Champions’ Ballad various trials is further background for the Champions: Mipha, Revali, Daruk, and Urbosa. The new cut scenes and diaries for these characters are all amusing, and occasionally enlightening, but never groundbreaking. Many of the characters in Breath of the Wild were so likable, and could have been among the most memorable in the series, if only they had been given a more cohesive, dynamic narrative to showcase them. These deeper looks into Link’s former allies should have just been in the core game, from the start. Perhaps they could have bolstered its underwhelming story. At least we get to see more of the Rito bard, Kass, who continues to be as cool as a trek through the Hebra region.

There’s also that motorcycle that the trailer from The Game Awards revealed, but the novelty of riding a vehicle that’s slightly faster than a horse wears off within about 30 seconds. If there were new quests or mini games that required its use, that’d be one thing. Sadly, they don’t exist. Most fans have had the game for nine months now. We’ve found everything in the overworld. Giving us a new way to traverse the overworld doesn’t cut it. At least The Champions’ Ballad ends with a bang. The closing cinematics are far more satisfying than anything the main story provided, and the final boss in this DLC is probably the best fight in the entire game; it’s right there with Calamity Ganon, if not, bumping him down a peg. It’s a lengthy, dynamic bout where the Monk continues to introduce new attacks and behaviors every time his pattern becomes predictable. Future Legend of Zelda boss battles should model themselves after this one; a heavy emphasis on reflex and precision-based action, but with an enemy whose movement and defenses are too intricate for you to simply run up to them and whack away at them. This was something that Breath of the Wild really needed more of: enormous enemies that created grand encounters. The game nailed a sense of scale and vastness is just about every capacity besides combat. Just imagine the possibilities if every Divine Beast had ended with a fight as dramatic and an enemy as unique as a Maz Koshia instead of the soulless Blight Ganons.

FINAL SCORE

7.25/10

The Champions’ Ballad has moments of brilliance, but it’s never ambitious enough for those moments to be lasting. With the quality and quantity of content found in it, along with The Master Trials earlier this year, Breath of the Wild’s $20 price point is asking a bit much for this DLC, especially compared to the far superior offerings from contemporaries like The Witcher III and Horizon: Zero Dawn. Ultimately, Legend of Zelda enthusiasts will find an entertaining 7-9 hour adventure in The Champions’ Ballad that’s sprinkled with some of the best challenges built from Breath of the Wild’s mechanics — nothing more, nothing less.

+ The new cutscenes highlighting the Champions are enjoyable looks into their time before the main game

+ Some of the best puzzles and platforming sequences that any Legend of Zelda fan has played in a long time

+ A couple of fun, unique boss fights that the Divine Beast quests needed more of

— No element of mystery, as the structure is so rigid that it quickly becomes predictable

— Reuses too many of the assets from the main game instead of building fresh content and concepts

— Repeat battles with familiar enemies and bosses are deflating

What do you think? Is the DLC worth it? What other thoughts do you have about Breath of the Wild? Leave me a comment below.