MDA Framework: The Aesthetic of exploration in Zelda: Breath of The Wild.
In Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the player starts in a Tutorial zone called "The Great Plateau". Once the tutorial finished, the player can choose where to go and could even choose to go face the "Ultimate Challenge" of facing the end boss right off the bat.
During this tutorial the player discovers some of the game Mechanics:
-Weapon Durability: All weapons break relatively fast (There is only one exception for an end game weapon). Weapons work as temporary power boosts that you can store in your inventory.
-Permanent Armors: Once the player has an unlocked an armor piece, he will keep it forever. This mean they work as permanent upgrades.
-Open Worlds: The entirety of the world is free to explore as soon as the tutorial is over. Leaving the player with the choice of where to go. The player is also given different ways of exploring; Riding, Gliding, Sailing, Walking, Running, Climbing ect...
-Cold/Hot zones: These zones need preparation to be explored (Either resist potions or resist gear).
-Rain: The weather affects all regions. The rain is the most important because it can virtually create walls around an area preventing you to explore them by making the normally climbable walls slippery. Depending on how much stamina you have, the gear you are wearing and if you have any active stamina effect active, some areas will be inaccessible until the rain stops.
-Chests: All the "odd" areas are worth exploring because the player will most of the times find a chest in them, awarding him with new weapons, armor or rare ingredients.
Those Mechanics, put together, generate an interesting Award System Dynamic were every time the player decides to push away the final quest of "Destrying Ganon" he will find himself awarded. Not by a quest, not by an npc but by himself.
This Mechanic joined to the world of Zelda creates a very enhanced Adventure/Exploration Aesthetic, were the player runs around the map, exploring anything he didn't visit before, getting new gear and destroying his old gear in the process.
