The entire pitch of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was freedom. It offered a then-unexpected fully open world, the ability to tackle quests in any order, ignore most of the side content, and solve problems in any wacky way that occurred to you. This is one of the reasons why playing Breath of the Wild for the very first time is an experience that so many of us ache to recreate. I’m so, so, so sorry to confirm that despite all of my research, we still cannot deliver that precise feeling — but playing the game with one of these replay strategies in mind can make Hyrule feel new again (and give you a new excuse to be a menace in that beautiful, oh-so-breakable open world). See which one of these feels right for your next run.
12
Cap your hearts and stamina
The rule: Don’t spend a single Spirit Orb on hearts or stamina upgrades. Ever.
This is the challenge run equivalent of choosing your own in-game difficulty slider. It’s a popular run for a reason: Keeping your health and stamina to tutorial-level, survival-mode levels throughout the whole game makes every single fight with, even a blue bokoblin or a simple keese, matter a lot. If you’ve never tried it, know that you’re going to use stealth to avoid many fights and bring a full banquet to every boss battle. If, somehow, this isn’t enough of a challenge, level up the stakes and attempt this run on Master Mode.
11
Commit to permadeath…for your horse (or your dog)
The rule: Keep your horse and/or Wolf Link (unlockable via amiibo) with you at all times. If either one dies, reload.
Here’s the hill I’m going to die on: Horses in Breath of the Wild are criminally underused once you get your paraglider and unlock fast travel — which tends to happen before you even meet your first horse. This run forces horses back into the spotlight. Adding your canine companion, if you have access to him, gives you a full trio of characters to care for who can die for good if you aren’t careful. Whenever you’re about to trigger a dangerous encounter — or, say, attempt to climb a snowy cliff on horseback — you’ll need to think: If you’re risking your party, time to find another way around.
10
Live by Majora’s Mask rules
The rule: Every three in-game days, drop everything but your arrows and armor and warp back to the start.
Breath of the Wild doesn’t have a ticking clock on purpose. Even though Calamity Ganon’s ominously swirling around Hyrule Castle in the center of the map, he’s happy to wait — which means you can explore the map to your heart’s content. What if you added your own time constraints? Merge the logic of Majora’s Mask into Breath of the Wild and see how that feels. Every three days, lose your gear and reset to a fixed point on the map. This means every run outward has to be planned around what you can accomplish — and what you’re willing to lose — before time’s up.
9
Cut off every merchant in Hyrule
The rule: No buying, selling, or trading with any NPC. Survive only on what you cook, hunt, and gather.
Steer clear of any shops, ban bartering, and skip past any convenient armor purchases in Hateno. The only gear or food you can use is what you scavenge, hunt, or grow yourself. Suddenly, rupees don’t matter, and you’ll be forced to engage with the cooking and foraging systems that many veteran players skip entirely. Unfortunately, this one’s going to sting a bit — there will be some armor sets and weapon upgrades you simply won’t be able to unlock. (No worries, they’ll be waiting for you on another playthrough.)
8
Eat like a carnivore
The rule: Only eat meat, fish, eggs, and recipes made from them — no fruits, vegetables, or grains allowed.
Perhaps you’ve tried a vegetarian or even a vegan run in Breath of the Wild. Why not flip that on its head — any possible ethical reasons aside — and see what happens when you cut out produce? This might seem like a joke run (and it is) but once you get into the game, you’ll realize, with horror, that many of the game’s best buffing foods are plant-based. You’ll need to rely on risky hunting and a smaller safety net during the game’s toughest battles as a carnivore.
7
Turn all of Hyrule into Eventide Island
The rule: Every time you cross into a new region, strip down to nothing and start from scratch.
Eventide Island is a fan-fave side quest in Breath of the Wild, a remote island that forces you to solve its shrine puzzle with none of the gear you’ve come to rely on up to that point in the game. If you’re looking for that same sense of necessitated strategy, do a DIY Eventide run by completing a full Link reset — no shirt, empty inventory — every time you cross into a new tower’s region. This will be a difficult run, yes, but the spotlight here is on rediscovering each region. With no inventory brought across borders, you’ll be forced to engage with whatever you find locally…instead of merrily skipping right past new plants with your gear from three zones ago.
6
Skip the Divine Beasts
The rule: Head right for Ganon the moment you’re off the Great Plateau.
Breath of the Wild never actually requires you to free a single champion, or fight one of the game’s four regional bosses. Racing straight from the tutorial area to the endgame at Hyrule Castle feels very, very strange; the dialogue and cutscenes you’ll see there are clearly built around the assumption you’ve done more than you have. This is a popular speedrunning route, and, if you can face the difficulty, it won’t take you very long — but if you (and Link) can save Hyrule that quickly, you get distinct bragging rights. Good luck.
5
Write your own linear story through an open world
The rule: Use the game’s own quests, environmental storytelling, and NPC dialogue to invent your own single “critical path” through the world.
Before you hit “new game,” take a deep breath. Think about everything you know regarding Breath of the Wild’s basic plot and your objective as Hyrule’s champion. Then forget all of that entirely. As you make your way through the early game, wander where curiosity takes you, and then treat every quest trigger, NPC comment, or visible landmark as your unique priority guiding you through an open world. How long will it take you to get to the “main” story — or will you spend 65 hours absorbed by a community of NPCs, blissfully unaware of the chaos brewing a few villages away?
4
Cosplay as your favorite Champion
The rule: Pick a Champion and restrict yourself to their home region and their combat philosophy for as long as you can.
Which fighting style suits your fancy? If you take after Urbosa, you’ll embrace lightning and electric gear. Daruk means heavy weapons only. Followers of Mipha might be basically banned from voluntarily leaving water, and if you’re a fan of Revali, you’re using a bow, and nothing but a bow, no matter how badly you want to swing a sword instead. Part roleplay, part combat challenge, this run is a good way to force yourself into fighting patterns you might normally never consider.
3
Cook your way across the map
The rule: Before leaving any region, cook a dish using only ingredients found there.
Hear me out: What if there was a Food Network show set in Hyrule? What local delicacies would get their fifteen minutes of fame? Enjoy a slower, more deliberate way to experience Hyrule that turns your usual supply-run instincts into a full culinary tour. The map’s snowier regions might force you into heat-focused dishes made from local finds; deserts may push you toward more melon-based cuisine. If you have a small set of go-to recipes, no, you don’t. Not anymore. Will you create delicious dishes or dubious food more often over a campfire? Only time will tell.