The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,since it was released as a launch title for the Nintendo Switch, has consistently received praise from fans and critics alike. The open world, characters, story, and gameplay all blended together to make a modern masterpiece. Unfortunately,there was one section of Hyrule that stuttered, lagged, and skipped framesto makeBOTWa less than perfect experience: the Korok Forest.
While the misty forest was improved over the course of updates and better technology in the form of the OLED Switch and Switch 2, it wasundoubtedly a problem when the original Switch debuted withBOTWas its launch title. While another sequel afterTears of the Kingdomhasn’t been announced, it’s certain to come, and the next game has the chance to make up forBOTW’s worst problem.
Korok Forest Was A Major BOTW Struggle
Stuttering, Freezing, And Frame Skips Were Common Issues
The one section ofBreath of the Wildthat objectively did not perform well was the Korok Forest, though it wasimproved on the Switch 2. The misty, sprawling woods, which Link must venture into toreclaim the Master Sword, take up a large portion of the northern part of Hyrule. Unfortunately,the foggy atmosphere of the forest took a huge toll on the Nintendo Switch’s performance, as walking through the area often caused the game to stutter and lag.
The scale of the Korok Forest was so large and unwieldy for the Switch thatthe game was forced to limit how players entered and explored it, strictly limiting them to certain paths and a small villagesurrounding the Great Deku Tree. Trying to enter from alternative angles would fade the game out and spawn Link outside the forest boundaries, which was a disappointing experience for players used to tramping around anywhere they wanted across the map.
Zelda’s Next Game Should Have A Huge Forest
An Improved Version Of The Korok Forest Is Needed
Breath of the Wildwas almost the perfect game, and if the nextLegend of Zeldatitle wants to one up it in terms of technical quality, it shouldinclude a large, playable forest for players to explore. While players could partially walk around in small sections of the forest, they couldn’t freely navigate around like in the rest of Hyrule.
Having one sizable portion of Hyrule that players can’t wander around is a huge drawback, but with the technical capabilities of the Nintendo Switch 2, this is an easily solved problem. The nextLegend of Zeldatitle could best show off how the series has improved sinceBreath of the Wildby including a large, foggy forest that players can enter freely. Exploring the Korok Forest freely, like in past titles, would put a lot of magic back into traversing Hyrule.
