Mario games may be the best sellers for Nintendo, but nothing is quite as great as a Zelda event. Nintendo’s entire booth at E3 2016 featured The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and the line continued on out of the door.

From what we have seen so far, the game looks pretty amazing. The game opens up in a rather mysterious way. Link wakes up in a strange shrine, and he seems to have been in some hibernation or stasis. He dons some clothes and comes out into what appears to be Hyrule.

Hyrule appears to be post-apocalyptic, filled with dilapidated buildings and empty spaces. The only signs of life in this world are the voice of a mysterious woman who urges him forward, and there’s a strange old man as well.

From the look of it, a terrible beast took over the region. He was locked away but he will soon break out of imprisonment. Unless Link finds a way to stop him, The Calamity Ganon threatens the whole world.

A brief gameplay demo revealed that a lot of Zelda traditions had been broken. You will no longer find any hearts by cutting grass and smashing pots. You need to collect food from the environment instead.

Based on how the food has been cooked and prepared, it will heal you. A piece of meat that has been well-baked will be a lot more filling compared to a single apple. The post-apocalyptic environment also means that money isn’t a big deal here.

There was no notion of money, and it seems like early in the game you will have to focus more on cooking and eating, rather than collecting money.

Link now has weapons and armor which can be scavenged from the wild. The Master Sword was seen in the game’s trailer but don’t expect to get it very soon.

What you’ll find are old rusty broadswords, heavy sticks and woodcutter axes, and they can all be used as weapons. But they are not the most durable things out there in the wild. Therefore you need to keep finding new weapons and steal them from your enemies as well. However if your weapon breaks, you will always find one nearby. A major change in the game is its sense of freedom.

Till now, Zelda has always featured a guided experience. The new game seems a lot like Far Cry. Link has been introduced in an open world, and he needs to find and do things on his own. You will see a lot of stuff in the game but some of the comforts you expected, might not be there. You don’t have a helper character like Fi or Navi.

What you have is a Shiekah Slate, which includes a combo of binoculars and key. It further allows you to activate some objects. It also shows you shrines which come with possible power-ups. One of them features a stasis power that can freeze objects.

Meanwhile, it was confirmed by Nintendo that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be available from 17th to 21st August on Gamescom. It is a huge game, both in scope and regarding fan base.

With a game like that, a lot of people will be expecting to get their hands on it. Sadly, it seems like only 50 attendees will be allowed to play this game during the convention. The lucky people who get selected will of course be chosen by Nintendo.

The player needs to be from Austria, Germany or Switzerland to play this game. Secondly, there are three options available to the players: take a photo of their Zelda collection, draw a picture related to Zelda, or take one of their costumes that are Zelda-themed.