Before Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom releases, some players may want to go back and do everything they've left unfinished in its predecessor, Breath of the Wild. There's a massive amount of things to do and see in BOTW, some of which are easy to overlook or difficult to complete, and there are still secrets being discovered in BOTW 5 years after its release. Tears of the Kingdom releases on May 12 of 2023, leaving plenty of time for players to go back and scour Hyrule for everything they might have missed.
There are a number of objectives, both official and unofficial, in Breath of the Wild. There are a total of 76 different side quests to complete, some of which form extended questlines, in addition to 42 shrine quests and the 15 main quests. There are also 120 shrines, where players can complete challenges in order to obtain Spirit Orbs and rare loot. Players can also seek out a grand total of 900 Koroks in various hidden spots across Hyrule to exchange their Korok Seeds for more gear slots. In addition, things like minigames can offer a fun way to kill time and ignore Ganon in BOTW, and players can even add their own twists to the game for an additional challenge if they so wish.
The big objectives such as conquering the Divine Beasts, collecting every memory scene, and finishing out the main questline by defeating Ganon and saving Princess Zelda are things that players may have done numerous times before. However, finishing every small objective in BOTW might not be something they've done so often. There's no reward for completing the game to 100%, but it is a nice challenge and no small accomplishment. The time leading up to TOTK's release is a good opportunity to do things that players still have left in BOTW, and even if they don't have a particular objective, going back and playing through games before sequels release is still very fun.
There Are Plenty Of Obscure & Hard To Complete Quests In Zelda: Breath of the Wild
The quests are the primary objectives in BOTW, and it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to complete all of them. Half of the challenge is simply finding them all, since there's very little indication of who has a quest to give and who doesn't, and quest givers can be found in the most random and unexpected of places. Even after players manage to find all the quests, they still will need to put in quite a bit of legwork in order to complete them. Some particularly difficult quests involve gathering extremely rare ingredients, or facing off against enemies that can easily vanquish them if they're unprepared, or fulfilling incredibly specific or rare conditions. Whatever the reason, players can easily leave a few quests behind in even their most thorough of playthroughs, so it's worth doing a few sweeps of Hyrule before TOTK comes out.
There are a great many side quests that players probably miss in BOTW unless they're actively seeking them out, and some stand out as worse than most. "The Stolen Heirloom" and "The Thunder Helm," for example, both require players to finish multiple other side quests before they can be completed. "Zora Stone Monuments" involves hunting down hard-to-find stone tablets scattered across Zora's Domain. Missing in Action has a quest giver that's very easy to overlook and sees players going up and down the cliffs of the Koukot Plateau canyon. "Under a Red Moon" is a particularly hard quest to complete, as players need to travel to a remote area to talk to Kass, then stand on a platform under a rare Blood Moon with nothing equipped. There are also others such as Rushroom Rush that require a great deal of farming in order to get materials that players may want to put towards other purposes.
Breath Of The Wild Has A Lot Of Small Things To Do
There's also smaller side objectives such as Hestu's quest for Koroks in BOTW, which don't have markers to guide players and sometimes may not even have rewards for completing them. Some of these are rather extensive and can require a good bit of grinding to finish fully, and may not seem worth the trouble compared to other aspects. However, they're still part of a 100% playthrough and are just as hard to complete - if not more so - than the quests. Players have to search through every nook and cranny of Hyrule for them, but thankfully they can be done as they're completing other objectives so long as they keep a sharp eye out.
Some notable side objectives include finding all 900 Koroks, for which players will receive a thoughtful final Korok Seed from BOTW's Hestu. Players can also finish all 120 shrines to get all the Spirit Orbs and the heart and stamina upgrades, in addition to a special armor set reminiscent of Link's classic green garb. If players wish to truly dive deep into all of BOTW's side activities, they can make it a mission to master all the minigames such as Gut Check Rock, or the Paraglider course on Eventide Island. There's also even smaller unmarked objectives such as fully upgrading every armor set, taking pictures of all the creatures and weapons that BOTW has to offer, and cooking every possible recipe.
Players Can Complete Their Own BOTW Challenges Before Tears of the Kingdom Comes Out
If players have already completed everything they wanted to in Breath of the Wild and still wish to play the game before Tears of the Kingdom comes out, a good way to make it fun is to play through using custom challenges. Speedrunning is a big one, where players use tricks like wind bombing to finish BOTW as quickly as possible. Hearty food recipes for more hearts and gathering only a few good weapons and pieces of armor before the big boss fight are also good strategies to get a good run time. Players can strive to complete as many or as few objectives as they wish in a speedrun, but generally the only goal is to vanquish Ganon quickly.
There's also more creative challenges like custom builds for Link to use in Breath of the Wild. For example, players might only wear the Guardian Armor and use Ancient and Guardian weapons, or the Barbarian armor with Bokoblin and Moblin weapons. They can play through the entire game with only the starting clothes and terribly weak weapons like Tree Branches if they so wish. Playing through the game on Master Mode - which is something of a survival mode that was introduced in BOTW's Master Trials DLC - can also add an extra challenge. Players can even set smaller rules like only using archery in combat, or only using bombs. Breath of the Wild's open-world format and its focus on player freedom mean that there's plenty of ways to play and keep the game fresh until Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom comes out.