It can be a daunting task to find all 120 shrines in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and there are shrine maps to make it easier, but they don't explain any of the shrine quests players need to complete. Of the 120 shrines in Breath of the Wild, 42 of them need to be unlocked by completing tasks in the overworld. This means that players using a shrine map may have a hard time figuring out what puzzle they need to solve to open the shrine.
Shrine quests range in difficulty and can be unclear, especially if players stumble upon a locked shrine location without first obtaining the quest. Each shrine quest will give the player hints about how to open a shrine, and the quests can take players far away from the actual location that contains the Spirit Orb. A lot of the quests can be obtained by visiting the various stables and towns around Hyrule and interacting with the NPCs there.
There are different types of shrine quests in Breath of the Wild, including challenge quests, NPC-based quests, and missions where Link needs to transport Ancient Orbs to specific pedestals in order to unlock a shrine. Although a marked map may indicate where the unlocked shrines appear, it doesn't tell the player where to start the quests or what the puzzle solutions are. Uncovering the 42 hidden shrines take much more work than looking at a shrine map.
Ancient Orb Shrine Quests In Breath Of The Wild
Many of the shrines in Breath of the Wild need to be unlocked by transporting an Ancient Orb to the proper pedestal. Some of these quests are pretty straightforward, like "The Undefeated Champ," where players must win a Sand-Seal race, then place the prize orb in the nearby pedestal. Other quests, like "Stranded on Eventide," require much more work. For example, on Eventide Island in Breath of the Wild, players are stripped of their weapons and need to find and place three separate Ancient Orbs in different locations.
Figuring out the Ancient Orb puzzles can be time-consuming, and the pedestals and orbs aren't always close to the shrine location that's marked on the map. Players that use a shrine map may not come across a pedestal or orb, so using the map may actually prove to be counterproductive in some instances. Shrine quests are usually started by speaking to NPCs, so players looking to find every Ancient Orb quest should talk to NPCs in towns or stables near the shrine they're attempting to find.
A few of the Ancient Orb shrine quests are also challenge quests, like the one in Breath of the Wild's Kakariko Village. Players will need to complete a series of side quests in the village just to unlock the opportunity to complete the Ancient Orb mission. Although shrine maps can be very useful, for quests like Kakariko's "The Stolen Heirloom," players will need to rely on their own skills to locate the hidden shrine and claim the Spirit Orb inside.
Breath of the Wild's NPC Shrine Quests
There are a few quests that revolve around helping or finding specific NPCs, such as "The Perfect Drink" or "Recital at Warbler's Nest." These quests will have Link traveling around to different, sometimes distant, areas to speak to, find, or aid NPCs. In "The Perfect Drink," players will need to go back and forth from the shrine to Geurdo Town, and to the ice vendor in Breath of the Wild's Gerudo Desert. This isn't clear from the start of the quest, and it finishing it can be tedious because the ice vendor is only open at certain times of the day.
NPC quests usually take place near the shrine they unlock, so using a shrine map should still help with finding them, but unlocking them isn't always straightforward. Players may need to do some trial and error when it comes to finding the right Breath of the Wild NPCs to talk to and providing the correct solution to some of the puzzles. However, some of the quest solutions, like the one "Watch Out for the Flowers," become fairly obvious once Link is yelled out and thrown out of the flower field.
Breath of the Wild - Challenge Shrine Quests
Some of Breath of the Wild's more interesting shrine quests involve completing challenges. Although some can be found while doing story missions, like the ones in Korok Forest, others will need to be discovered in random exploration and may not appear close to the shrine's map location. Challenges can range from withstanding intense heat to melting ice or even obtaining a dragon scale. Since the quests can be rather difficult to complete, the shrines that they unlock are usually blessing shrines, meaning players won't have to do anything except have Link grab the Spirit Orb once they're inside.
Along with simple challenges, players will be faced with intricate puzzles or Breath of the Wild's powerful enemies, like in "The Shrouded Shrine" or "The Three Giant Brothers," which have players navigating a dark path or fighting Hinox respectively. Some of the challenge quests are also Ancient Orb quests. In "The Three Giant Brothers," players need to defeat the Hinox brothers, then collect the orbs they drop and return them to the appropriate pedestals. Combining multiple types of quests makes using a shrine map useless because several tasks must be completed before players can find the shrine at its proper location.
Breath of the Wild: Labyrinth Shrine Quests
There are three labyrinths in Breath of the Wild that each has a maze at the end, but finding the right path can be difficult. Although the shrine map will lead to the location of the labyrinth, players will need to complete each of the mazes, which are full of enemies and dead ends. There are also various chests to open throughout BOTW's mazes, so players that use a marked map and attempt to go straight to the shrine may miss out on some valuable gear or items.
A shrine map for Breath of the Wild is useful but doesn't give players the ability to unlock every shrine. Players will need to complete 42 quests to open up all of the hidden, difficult shrines in BOTW. Some may require players to transport Ancient Orbs, complete mazes, or beat challenges. Players using a shrine map in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will still need to do some exploring to find and unlock every shrine in the game.