As with most Switch owners who got the current Nintendo console right at the launch in 2017, Zelda: Breath of the Wild was also on my agenda at the time. I have in March and April basically played nothing else even Horizon: Zero Dawn had to wait in line until I was completely through with Zelda. It was just so much fun exploring the world, solving the shrine puzzles, using creative ways to fight the monsters, and experiencing the (a bit short for my taste) story. But there were still a few things that could have been better. As I wrote in my last column, I actually found the weapon durability mechanics to be okay, if a bit annoying at times. And yes, the titans certainly don’t have the flair of large dungeons from previous Zelda parts, but I still found them well done. But what really bothered me was the cumbersome cooking. I became particularly aware of this when I replayed Breath of the Wild in Master mode last year.
While that’s not something that spoiled the game for me. But for a feature that you use quite often (after all, you need food to survive!), I would have wished for more comfort. I can forgive the game that you always have to pick up the ingredients from the menu first and then throw them into the cooking pot. That’s kind of charming. But why can’t I cook by recipe in Breath of the Wild? Finally, the stables even have notes on the walls with recipes that could easily have been saved in a section of the Sheikah Stone.
So the only choice is to either photograph them or write them down. The same applies to self-improvised recipes. For me, this meant that I didn’t even cook certain dishes in BotW, but simply threw together the best ingredients and gave Link one mushroom, meat or fish skewer after the other to eat. That, or boiled fruit. My Link wasn’t a gourmet, he was a pragmatist. The main thing is that you are full and healthy.
In Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, discovered cooking recipes are finally saved and can be consulted.
Source: Nintendo
But apparently the annoyed noises I occasionally made while cooking were heard by Nintendo. Because as I saw when auditioning Tears of the Kingdom, the recipe book I’ve been hoping for is finally in the game! When I cooked a meal for the first time, the new recipe was saved straight away. If you then take a look at the recipe list, you’ll not only see what ingredients the meal requires – you’ll also see the amount of hearts restored. I praise that! The days of randomly throwing together ingredients are finally over.
From what I’ve heard, however, you still can’t cook multiple copies of the same meal in one go. Just one dish at a time. This was another improvement I had wished for. Because unlike in the kitchen at home, I prefer to cook properly in the game – in case I get into a tricky situation. And that happened more often, especially since the opponents in Master mode are a lot more capable. But well, I’m glad that at least the recipe book made it into the game. You have to appreciate even small victories. What innovations do you wish for in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (buy now €57.99 )? Feel free to write it in the comments.
