As an open-world adventure game, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is filled to the brim with exploration opportunities, though longtime players may find that after enough playthroughs they've run out of new ways to interact with the vast world of Hyrule. One way to breathe new life into the game is to undertake unique personal challenges that help make Breath of the Wild more difficult. Some Legend of Zelda fans have also gone out of their way to search for unusual ways to traverse the game, helping players to deviate from the more standard pathways they might have previously taken through Hyrule. There's one trick Breath of the Wild players can try that's surprisingly simple to pull off.
Perhaps the easiest way to make The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild feel like a brand-new experience again is to change up the order of how players free the Divine Beasts. The difficulty of Zelda: BOTW's Divine Beasts makes them one of the more notable parts of the game, so it's little surprise that choosing how - and when - to approach them can vastly change the overall gameplay experience. Each requires players to venture to a different part of Hyrule, and Breath of the Wild doesn't enforce any one particular order, meaning that there's no reason not to take new paths around the map each time the game is restarted. The order of BOTW's Divine Beasts also impacts a few other areas of the game, as well, making the decision carry even more weight.
How The Order Of BOTW's Divine Beasts Changes The Game
There are four Divine Beasts in Breath of the Wild: Vah Ruta, Vah Medoh, Vah Naboris, and what many consider to be BOTW's worst Divine Beast, Vah Rudania. In order to reach them all, players will have to forge a path across every corner of the map, from Goron City to Gerudo Town. As Breath of the Wild is perhaps one of the largest open-world games in recent history, the exploratory elements are likely what many fans remember the most strongly about it. Tackling each region in a new order not only changes the progression of the story but helps to paint an entirely new image of Hyrule.
Beyond that, Breath of the Wild's shrines are closely tied to the Divine Beasts in a few instances. Most of the game's shrines can be cleansed before tackling any of the Divine Beasts, though the order of them may change depending on how players opt to traverse the map. However, a small handful has conditions that require a certain area's Divine Beast to have been cleansed in order to progress. These include the shrines involving the sand seal rally and the recital at Warbler's Nest.
Additionally, the defeat of each Divine Beast rewards Link with a Champion Ability that can assist in combat or exploration. For example, Revali's Gale, acquired by calming Vah Medoh, allows players to create an updraft that can be used to formulate unique battle tactics or just to make getting around easier. Seeing as BOTW 2 is probably changing Link's Champion Abilities, now is a good time to master them for what could be the last time by revisiting the original game. It might even be worthwhile for experienced Breath of the Wild players to choose which Divine Beast to tackle before the others solely based on which ability they want to receive early on. Although the game does subtly nudge players towards Vah Ruta first, seeing as it's the easiest to reach, there's no actual obligation to do so.
As the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the upcoming sequel to BOTW, draws closer, it's a better time than ever to undertake the challenge of experiencing Breath of the Wild all over again. The game is so extensive that people are still discovering BOTW secrets years after its initial release. Using the Divine Beasts to take a new approach to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild can provide returning players with a great incentive to explore further than they might have in the past. There's plenty of time ahead of spring 2023 to revisit Hyrule, and BOTW provides no shortage of incentives to do so.